Loose change for Disney World!

[heidilee2003]

Just counted our wine jug that is about one quarter to one third full of mostly loose change, over $100 saved for our February trip in about a two month time period! Woot!!

Pockets, purses get emptied nightly of change, extra quarters after laundry at the laundromat, and half my $1 bills once in a while go in the jug! It is fun to watch how much you're saving ))

Also am enrolled in bank of America program Keep the change, will be putting that amount and the 100% match after three months in the jug too (up to $30+ after two months).

How is everyone else doing??

 

[LockShockBarrel]

My actual coin change turned into $25.94 after Coinstar. I can say I won't be using it again, at least my local machine. I really wasn't interested in any of the fee free giftcards and I had hand counted my change before I stuck it in the machine to see if I was getting an accurate count. I was very diligent with it and the numbers didn't add up. The machine spit out 26c of non acceptable coins but the difference between what I put in and what it counted was 60c. Not a huge deal at all but enough to make me go "hm..." and wonder how much that machine has made with little amounts adding up or taking advantage of people who don't count first.

As far as paper money, I tried to tell myself not to buy a bottle of pop at work and throw the 2 bucks in my bucket and get a water instead. Save money and be healthy right? Yeah well that was when I discovered pomegranate Arnold Palmer. I managed probably $14 bucks with that little plan (I wasn't buying pop everyday at work, maybe twice a week) So instead I just started sticking in whatever I had handy. The couple bucks in my pocket, the change from lunch, and an occasional $20 before I really had a chance to miss it. Over May til last week, that added up to $146.

I tried to not buy too much extra stuff that I really didn't need so there's a little cushion in the bank account too, so I feel pretty good about my spending money.

 

[deakam]

I do not spend change. I have a large plastic Disney Princess teapot that came filled with dishes and junk. Every night all the change goes in. We do not even use pennies. If a bill is $2.01...$.99 to Disney. We usually have between $600.00 and $800.00 a year in savings. And to make certain that it does not get cashed in and used somewhere else--every time I hit $100.00 I get a Disney gift card.

Another great way to save for Disney is to round up in your checkbook. If you write a check for $23.52 put $24.00 or $25.00 in the check register. Don't balance the account--just make certain everything cleared--after 6 months you will be surprised how much "extra" you have. It works with debits as well. Also, with this method the money is already in the bank so there is no fee to cash it in.

 

[sticker231]

I like to collect my change also. Every couple of days I cash in, the people at work laugh and say there goes some more paper dollars to your Disney fund.

 

[StephyDee]

I've been saving loose change, earning rewards on my credit card, debit card and such, and so far what I have would certainly help towards my next WDW trip, but I have a ways to go, and that's a year of saving.

So far I have:

Loose change: $296.53
Bank rewards: $100
Credit Card rewards: $217.95

**Total so far = $614.48

^^Not bad for money I wasn't even using, huh?

 

[Casperina]

We have what I call "laundry tax". Any change that comes out of DH's pants, he leaves around, etc goes to Disney or Amazon fund. Last deposit was ~$50 and the jar is growing again!

 

[bethd]

I've been rounding up in my checkbook for the last year and have an extra $535.00 so far towards my spending money for a cruise in November.

We also have a huge plastic barrel that we dump our change into everyday. It's half full and I can't wait to take that to my bank and use the free change counter to see how much we've saved. We always throw our dollar bills in the barrel too. Last time we counted them up there were $202.00.

 

[donac]

We have had as much as $700 in one coin bank a few years ago.

To encourage saving change I just ordered Disney banks for my ds's and their gf's. I also ordered one for dh and one for myself to give as Christmas presents.

 

[monica213]

Just changed 272 in coin.... Kept saying we are going to change it for something good. Can't think of anything better the Disney in October!

 

[kaismommie]

We do lose change as well and I round my bills up to dollars too. We're going to Disney in November, but I have not been saving up by this method. I already have a budget set for the trip and the money put aside.

I will probably start back at it again once I plan our next trip

It's a good technique to use to save money!

 

[dryvithome]

It may not help everyone as it is tougher to come across anymore. But quarters and dimes from 1964 or earlier are made of silver and worth more than $.25 or $.10. A single 1964 quarter is worth $5.87 and a dime is $2.34today according to http://www.coinflation.com . Being that it is almost 50 years now, they may be tougher to come across. Pawn or local coin buyer places would probably pay close to those prices, but a bank or coin machine is going to give you $.25 or $.10 for them. Might be worth checking, or not. YMMV. We typically look before dropping them into the change jar. Either way, good going on the change jar! Any savings towards a trip is well worth it!

 

[softballmom3]

We have had as much as $700 in one coin bank a few years ago.

To encourage saving change I just ordered Disney banks for my ds's and their gf's. I also ordered one for dh and one for myself to give as Christmas presents.

That is awesome! We usually have a couple of hundred dollars but never have had that much! I will say we have a facebook page that is local to the county I live called For Sale In....... I have posted a few things on there are have made over $400 for our trip so far! It's like a free yard sale without all the work .

 

[jjj444]

We have a change jar as well with maybe $60 in and was wondering do you guys roll it up, coinstar or what bank has a counter?? Thanks

 

[antree]

I just counted my jar today. $260.00 so far for our Nov. trip. I started in Nov. last year, but then DH lost his job in January. So we stopped saving until April when he found another job and we been saving ever since. I thought it would have been more, but I'm happy with whatever we have

 

[softballmom3]

We roll ours. Our bank accepts them with name and phone number on them. No way I'm paying anyone else my saved up $$$

 

[jerseygirl81]

Over a couple of years we saved up $600 of change, I put them in wrappers I sat rolling them up as I watched tv. The most time consuming part was separating the coins. After cashing them all in for our trip in August we started saving change again but now I have a separate container for each different coin. Saving change and rewards points have been the most painless way of saving some money towards our disney trips. I also saved singles and $5 for tips. Linda

 

[Glittercat]

Yay for all of you that save loose change! We started years ago, and in lean times it has helped buy food. We save it no matter what our financial situation, and early last year it became Disney money. Every penny we find goes in the jar, along with every other denomination of coin. Our local store is quite used to 3 of us being giddy and one a tad grumpy. *they* don't know he has just as much joy at Disney as the rest of us! we keep his secret... mostly. Yesterday, we cashed in 108$ in change. The other way we save is that the kids donate allowance money to the Disney fund. The Mister and I pop in between 1$ and 20$ whenever we have a wee bit extra. We turned in 78 1$ bills yesterday *blush* and a few larger bills. The entirety meant we were able to put a good (for us) payment down on Disney!
What other money saving tips & tricks do you do to save for Disney? *cheers* ~Rebecca

 

[Andrea464]

Our bank has a fee free for members coin star in there! We save change. Anything extra I sell goes into the cash savings pot also, whether it is online sales or my Scentsy paycheck or stock!

 

[cluvsdisney]

We save change too! I think once we cashed in close to $700. Now we accumulate around $30 a month. It used to be more but I don't buy breakfast or lunch during the week too frequently anymore. Luckily, DH has an account with TD Bank so we can use their coin counting machines for free.

 

[ktrask]

We save our change too! I keep a beer growler in the kitchen, and anything other than quarters goes into it. The reason no quarters is that we need the quarters for laundry.

I have no idea what's in it, but the growler is a little more than half full right now. I will probably roll what's in it after the new year. I'd like to convert it to Disney Gift Cards using my Target card...extra nickels built in that way using my Red Card to buy the gift cards!

The initial goal was to be able to pay for BBB for our daughter on the trip. I'm thinking we will have enough for at least that and maybe a character meal...all saved with minimal effort and never feeling the hurt.