Missing Disney after 2 months - feeling down

[daz1985]

hi i wouldnt be borrowing more money to go - definitely not.

the mortgage wont be finished for another 30 years so no chance of that saving going towards a holiday. £735 a month will feel nice once it has stopped though!

 

[scoobydooby]

Have you tried writing menus before you food shop? I save over £100 a month doing that and actually we eat better too

 

[wayneg]

hi i wouldnt be borrowing more money to go - definitely not.

the mortgage wont be finished for another 30 years so no chance of that saving going towards a holiday. £735 a month will feel nice once it has stopped though!

I remember first starting out with a mortgage 25 years ago, felt like a fortune but over the years it gets less of a burden, when we bought our last car it was almost as much as our mortgage balance.

 

[Wills Mom]

Oh I hate the Disney Blues!! I definitely found them worse after out first and second trips, it got a little bit easier once we came to the understanding that we would be going back annually. Now that was before we had our kids, we went on Honeymoon in 2011, skipped 2012 cause we had our first child, went in 2013 for his first trip and skipping this year cause we had our second boy earlier this year. We'll be back there next June and I am most certainly counting the days Its much more pocket friendly to book things individually, be willing to spend a part of each day checking flight prices etc to make sure you don't pay over the amount you are willing to spend. Have a budget in your head for every single thing - for example our trip next year shouldn't come to more than £3k to include indirect flights for 2 adults, 1 child and 1 lap infant, car hire for 17 nights, shared villa for 17 nights (with 2 inlaws and their 3 kids) 21 day Ultimate WDW tickets and 2 day park-to-park tickets for USO/IOA. Shop around for tickets, we have used Undercover Tourist and Travel Republic in the past and found them excellent. Almost half our budget will consist of flights so it really will pay off if I can get them at a good price. We had contemplated doing a DLP trip this year to whet our appetites, then realised the cost was just a waste in our eyes. We also contemplated and came very very close to booking a 7 day trip this October. We decided at the last minute that it really wouldn't be worth it with the kids being so young, by the time they got over the jet lag and started to get used to the new place it'd be time to come home, we have done a short 3 night trip in the past with friends when we were visiting NYC but that was an all adult trip so we didn't mind going at a fast pace to fit stuff in.
Hope the Blues ease for you soon, it really helps to have a trip in mind whether its sooner or later - at least you know now that you will most definitely be going back!

 

[Julia Ann]

I understand how you feel. It's been 8 years since our last trip and that was due to finances and having our daughter, but it's come around very quickly and although we have already been 4 times before I have always thought that it might be the last time (only due to finances). but we have saved hard and it's nearly here. We are staying on site for the first time this time, and got a great deal with Thomas Cook as a package but I know you can get cheaper DIY.

We live quite modestly and haven't had a proper holiday in 8 years because orlando is the only place we want to go to.

Good luck with the savings and keep your chin up

 

[scoobydooby]

Money saving tip number two

Go mad and spend a tenner on a teramundi money box -the kind you have to break with a hammer to get into. Save £2 coins. Ask for them in change. Takes me about a year to fill one and they hold about £500 in £2 coins.

 

[wayneg]

Another way to save a little is use a cashback site (if you don't already)
Quidco & Topcashback are 2 popular ones.

This is my Quidco statement for this year:

17 Jul 2014 65.82 Paid by BACS
05 Jun 2014 146.49 Paid by BACS
22 May 2014 71.49 Paid by BACS
18 May 2014 75.22 Paid by BACS
27 Mar 2014 87.18 Paid by BACS
20 Feb 2014 62.64 Paid by BACS
30 Jan 2014 74.64 Paid by BACS

Total £583.48 cashback for doing nothing, just buying what I would anyway but going via Quidco.

 

[daz1985]

thanks all for comments I guess i'll just have to keep saving when I can. i'm only 29 but i'm very impatient lol

 

[scoobydooby]

thanks all for comments I guess i'll just have to keep saving when I can. i'm only 29 but i'm very impatient lol

daz I was 28 the first time I went and as I have said waited several years for my next trip. I couldn't imagine I would ever go annually then. Just start saving small amounts. You'll get there I'm 43 now and we go every year and have been doing for about 9 years.

 

[happyj]

We do not do much else as we save for our disney holidays.we bought into DVC in 2005 so yes we have dues to pay but stay in lovely resorts. we fly with miles and pay tax or miles plus money with virgin.we save miles with telco, I do surveys to get miles.
We buy an annual pass so get 2 holidays out of it in 2 years .
We plan discuss and zoo look forward to our next.
we fly out 3 weeks sunday yippee
BUT we cannot go next year as ou DD is getting married.so happy :good vibes:good vibes
But we are already planning 2016
I am 61 and my husband 67
we are not going to grow up

 

[Laurafoster]

thanks all for comments I guess i'll just have to keep saving when I can. i'm only 29 but i'm very impatient lol

Same age as me I also have 2 kids and have just enjoyed my last term time holiday. Whilst I'm not against taking my eldest out of school (she's only starting in sept) I'd rather her not miss too many days so will be tagging days onto half term etc.

Other than my Mortgage (£820 a month eek!) and my huge childcare bill which is nearly as much as my mortgage, Disney is our one big expense.

We are lucky and bought into dvc several years ago when the exchange rate was $2/£1 so essentially other than our annual dues it's just tickets and flights for us now.

We try to do cheap or free things with the kids at weekends, we don't go mad at Xmas and birthdays and instead put our money into a disney pot. (We have a cheap one from pound land at the moment).

 

[jackieleanne]

We don't earn crazy amounts around £40k between the two of us though no kids at the moment. We have one of the pots full of £2 coins last time we broke it we had £800 in an that was after collecting for around 11 months.

Like Wayne I also use Quidco.

 

[Elise79]

thanks all for comments I guess i'll just have to keep saving when I can. i'm only 29 but i'm very impatient lol

You just need to get smart with money.

Borrowing for luxury items is never a good idea. Start by getting the loan cleared as soon as you can. Check to see if you can overpay the loan - if you have an extra £20 at the end of the month pay it off the loan and you will be saving interest and may clear it sooner. Once the loan is clear then you can start saving for your next trip.

Others have given you ways you can start saving now with £2 coins. I also use Quidco and I haven't had as much as Wayne but have had a decent amount too.

Having a gap between trips isn't a bad thing and something most of us have done. We went in 1998 and 1999 then we got married in 2000 and didn't get back until 2006 as we couldn't afford it as we had other things that we needed to spend our money on. We have been at least once a year since.

 

[winniepie81]

I first took my bf in 2008 and he was confident that would be our only trip to orlando and we would try new places afterwards. I had previously been 6 times and knew he would catch the bug! Now in 2014 we are about to leave on trip number 5 and planning number 6!! We are pretty low income too.
We don't stay on site, would love to but just can't justify the extra cost. We do try and cut back once we have a trip booked, for example birthdays and Xmas we just get little gifts and put more cash towards balance or dollars. I would rather buy myself a nice bag or uggs or cosmetics whilst in florida than get ripped off paying uk prices!!
This trip is a little shorter for us and has made it so much easier to pay for.

 

[Kath2003]

Similar age to the OP and have to say that, whilst we do love Orlando, it would be the first big thing to go if we needed it to. Like others, we don't spend huge amounts on life's other luxuries (clothes, shoes, makeup, cosmetics, electronics, outings, gifts - working long hours helps!) so all of that money saved throughout the year goes to pay for our Orlando vacations. We don't stay onsite, we fly indirect, we budget sensibly. We would skip a year, or two, or three, if the "bigger priorities" (house, bills, cars) took up the budget.