My new way to save $$$for Disney...

[SRRN]

At the end of August,I started saving all my one dollar bills.When I go to the bank on Thursday,I get 20, one dollar bills,10 for my DD school lunches and 10 to put away for Disney.If,during the course of the week,I have a lot of ones,I put them away,too.Yesterday,I paper clipped them by 10's and I have $300.00 dollars so far. As soon as our Disney arrangements are made,for our trip Christmas 2004,I'll turn some of them into Disney dollars and keep the rest of general spending in WDW.This works well for me,because I don't want to go into a store with $100.00 ones's,so I'm not apt to spend it now. I also convert any change I save into ones,as well. Any other suggestions?

 

[Tiggerlover91]

What about your loose change too? I don't have an exact date, but I've been throwing odd dollars and loose change into my savings jar, since about late October I guess, and I've got $100 saved up so far. This money is not for my Disney trip, as that is 2 years away still, but if nothing major comes up then I will use whatever I save for that trip.
I also do something strange when it comes to my checkbook. A lot of people can't do this as they are down to the penny when it comes to checkbook balances. Everytime I do an online transaction to pay a bill or buy something online, everytime I write a check or use our debit card I charge myself one dollar. A fee you can say for using my money! I know that sounds strange, but let me tell you how well it works. For example, if I write a check at Walmart for $55.67, I actually round up to $57. So I actually charged myself $1.33 instead. I don't like odd amounts in my checkbook. Since August, when a friend gave us this suggestion, I have saved over $100 just in my fees. The bank also had an extra $40 so that was really nice. As it stands right now, the bank has an extra $179 more dollars than I show in my checkbook. That makes me quite happy! It's nice to know the money is there if I need it for anything. In just a couple of months DH and I will do our income tax refund and hopefully that will be a good number also. We are going to take that money(tax refund) and the money in our savings jar and move it into an account just for savings. It will be used for nothing else.
Congrats on your $300! That's great work! Try that loose change too as it adds up very fast also.
Denise

 

[crazyforgoofy]

We put change and spare ones in our "Disney change can" and have accrued $285 since June that's safely in the bank. That's not bad since we live on a small income.

I've also started putting 'car payment' money into savings since our Cr-V was paid off a couple months ago. We'll probably trade it for something larger in May and I'll need as much as I can for a down payment, the smaller the car payment the more trips we can make to WDW!

 

[travel with kids]

We collect our change in a 1 quart glass milk jar (my brother bottles milk at his dairy farm). Usually, we have 3 jars per year for our annual WDW trip. Last year we had saved $435.00.
This year it looks like we will have more jars (not sure why!). The kids love to roll the $$$. We start a month before our trip. Whatever we collect during the month, we use for tolls to and from Maine. We split the money four ways (DH, DD, DS, and me) and that is our $ to spend at WDW. This year we are doing the DCL, so the kids are very excited to have the extra $$. My DD,8 told her grandmother she wanted change for Christmas this year!!

 

[HaleyB]

In my younger days I waitressed. I saved all my change from tips, one 2 gallon bottle (water) full of mostly silver over 3 years. I went to Europe on it, I can't remember how much I had, but I think it was about $3000.
Currently I work as a crossing gaurd for a big 1 hour a day (actually I get paid for an hour, but only have to be there 25 minutes!). Since I was going to the school everyday to pick up my kids I was there anyway for about 20 minutes, so for 5 minutes extra a day I earn about $200 a month and every penny goes to our Disney fund! As an added bonus I get school pictures at 50% off because I work for the school! Plus I have gotten to know many of the kids, which helps me sort out what is going on when my kids come home with playground stories. Oh and I live in Texas so the weather is nice all but maybe 8 weeks of the year, and did I mention I have lost 10 pounds (and this is the only lifestyle change I can think of).

Boy do I ramble on.

 

[jgates]

HaleyB - good wise use for your time!!!!

My problem with the $1 bills, is that they still will fit into a slot machine!!!!! I'm better with the coins because I hate carrying them around!

 

[barbeml]

Thumbs up for those dollar bills! For our trip this year (we just got back), I saved change as usual, but also all $1 bills at the end of each week, plus garage sale earnings, etc. I had saved about $850 by the time we left. I paperclipped the $1 bills in piles of 20, and they were so convenient for purchasing all those samples at the Food & Wine Festival.

 

[christianweecare]

I started saving dollar bills two years ago along with the change. It really helps with the saving process! I never spend dollar bills and I never give anyone exact change. Not only have I been able to save for WDW but I have paid for quick trips to the beach, birthdays, and Christmas. It really does help! I am a firm believer!

 

[tebookie]

I have been insprired by all of you to try the $1 bill theory! No time like the present to start! Just counted the $1 bills in my pocket......my fund is already up to $12....lol. I'm liking this already!

 

[Sally Bradley]

I collect all my "extra" dollars and put it into an envelope. For example, if I get reimbursed for mileage or misc. expenses at work, I cash the check and it goes into the envelope. If I need $$ for parking, I take out $10 and the rest goes into the envelope. I claim all coins in our coin jar and have even resorted to charging my DH for "over the top" assistance I give...say if he needs a seat cover repaired or a bag made for a motorcycle helmet. I also do sewing for a dance school, buying the supplies w/my own money and getting reimbursed. The $$ goes in my envelope. I finally opened a bank acct to put my "money I dont know about" in...and now use the acct to transfer all the $$ I make on ebay sales. It really adds up...its not money I notice is there until I need it.

 

[SnowWitch]

When my youngest child was 6 and collecting any spare change he could for Disney, I suggested checking the washing machine and dryer weeekly. In 6 monthes he collected $221 from them.

This probably tells you I'm not a pocket checker.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Hahahaha....just this morning, my dryer spit out 60 cents at me! The best amoutn of money I found in the dryer at one time was when I pulled a pair of jeans out, put them on, stuck my hands in my pockets to flatten them out...and found $10.

Now I can truly do that silly Bennigan's "I found ten bucks in the pocket of my jeans" song and dance Hehehehe

I have really cool piggy banks from Michael's crafts that I use for change. It's a HUGE white piggy that cost me $2. He's getting heavy from all of the change, finally!

 

[wdwmom2]

I have a job every Friday and Saturday night from 9:30 until 7:00 a.m. taking care of an elderly lady. I also have a regular day job. I try to put the majority of this weekend money in my safe. I save anywhere from $400 to $600 a month. In the beginning I had over $1000 dollars saved and then we decided to refinance our home. I used the majority of this for the cost of the loan but it was definately worth it financially. Yes it was depressing to see my Disney fund so low, but now it is building back up. I really don't mind working the weekend because it is at night when everyone is sleeping and no one will miss me. Well, except my DH!!!!!! Well, I am a bed hog so maybe he really doesn't miss me, hum..........................................................................

 

[MELSMICE]

Keep saving that change - we ended up using about $6000 in change towards our DVC purchase!!! (it has been deposited in a bank account over the years) We still save change & every few months now I put it towards an extra payment on the loan.

We had always talked about taking a Disney Cruise with our "change" some day but then decided it would be better to purchase DVC with it so we could enjoy it over & over instead of just once!! Sure am glad we made that decision!

We have always rounded up when we write checks, but just recently started charging ourselves $1 per transaction. DH figured out the other day, we probably have about $1500 extra in our checking!!! Hmmmm........do we need more DVC points!!

I try to not spend $1 bills, but my it seems they are always going into the "kids lunch money envelope". I do put extras toward Disney $'s though.

Anyway, it's the little things that everyone is doing that help to pay for those Disney Dream Vacations!

 

[mcgrawfan]

Every week when I go to the bank to deposit my paycheck I take out $20 cash to put into my Disney stash. I wish I would have thought of it sooner because I only started in November. This is the money I am going to use for our excursion on CC. I have mine saved up now I need to save for DH.

DH never spends change. It used to annoy me---Until he brought home a baggie FULL of change home from his desk at work. He even buys pop from the machine with a $1 and saves the change. We also save the change from recycling our pop cans. It really is unbelieveable how fast change adds up.

I also work an extra Saturday job, sell Avon and do eBay. Sometimes when I am getting burnt out, I just think of what the money is for and it is all worth it.

 

[abbyndrewmom]

I guess we are lucky in Canada because our $1 and $2 are coins. We have been saving since the beginning of October and already have a good size jar nearly filled. i amnot sure how many "loonies" & twonies" are in there but i can't wait to cash it in for our March trip. it will hopefully cover some of our food cost and souveniers.

Allison

 

[Efastpitch]

We have been doing the $1.00 and coin saving for number of years. It becomes a game to see how much money you can put in the jug in one day. We never, never , spend $1.00 bills. If we buy a cup of coffer or a coke, we never use a $1.00 bill. Also make sure that the jug you use to store your money in is hard to get the money out of. We use a large water bottle (jug). We can save up to $1,000 in a years time.

 

[off2disney]

I started saving my $1 about 6 or 7 months ago and it's amazing how much you can save that way. I also sometimes bartend at my job and every bit of my tips go into my change jar, along with all my change - I almost never spend change. Whenever I get $150 or $200 saved up, I would buy travelers checks (at no fee at my bank) and stick them aside. There's no temptation to cash one of them like it sometimes is with cash. I've got $1350 set aside for my trip in ten days. I also opened a Christmas club account and every paycheck I put $20 in it before I deposit my check. I received over $1000 with interest last month. So my airline ticket is paid for- my room at Pop Century is paid for, with $85 extra on my account - and my park tickets are paid for, so I am good to go. Just 10 more days and I will be visiting the Mouse!