Need budget ideas to save for Disney

[luckygirl539]

My hubby will not go for our December trip to disney is I cannot get it paid off by October 10. That is roughly 2 months! Does anybody have ideas to cut corners?? I already cut coupons for double coupon days. I have been conserving energy. I have been doing yard sale shopping for Christmas gifts. I need to get really creative!!! Ideas????

 

[usnuzuloose]

Well do you have enough for a yard sale. Maybe you could do some pet sitting in the neighbor hood? Or maybe make some extra cash doing housework for someone? Running errands. Recycle cans and bottles? Every little bit helps. Thats all I can think of hope this helps a little. Jo

 

[dyna]

Eat at home instead of going out an put the savings in disney fund.

Stay at home on days you don't work put money saved in disney fund.

Cut out all uneeded stuff candy bars, magazines etc put in disney fund.

Save all change. Are their services you pay for now that you can do yourself?

Early christmas present to each other could be disney tickets.

Will you stay onsite or offsite. Over the holidays is not the most cost effective time to go to disney we go early December get to see the decor etc yet we stay cheaper than over Christmas an New Years.

We also stay offsite for about the same price as a value room at disney an we have 2 or 3 bedrooms kitchen an washer an dryer etc. I cook a full breakfast before going to the parks we usually eat lunch or dinner there an on the rare occassions we actually eat at the parks we eat CS an even then usually share meals.

 

[luckygirl539]

We are coming mid-December, so it is somewhat cheaper than comin during the christmas week. We are staying at Pop with free dining. It works well to get the free ME. . .Ideas are great! Keep them coming! I gotta stay on top of this!
Kelly

 

[abmitch01]

cancel cable and use netflix for a few months

 

[luckygirl539]

cancel cable and use netflix for a few months

Good IDea! We already have Netfix 2!!!!

 

[CowboyCO]

My DW has a system where every time the grocery store overcharges here on a sale item, she gets the bill corrected and puts that money in a jar for Disney. Last time we had over $150 in that jar for spending money at Disney.

 

[quagmire0]

double post.

 

[quagmire0]

Plan larger meals for the week that you can use as leftovers. (Soups, stews, chili, lasagna), that way you can cut your grocery budget in half.

Examine ALL of your monthly expenses. What can be cut? Have you been a customer of one company for a while? Can you call them and ask for a discount/threaten to go to a competitor? Will your mortgage company adjust your rate to a lower one for free/low cost?

Other than that, it gets down to the smaller stuff: going out to eat, that daily coffee at Starbucks, etc. etc. But really the stuff I listed above will make a greater impact.

http://www.pfblogs.org/ Collects finance articles from a ton of different blogs. There's usually some great budgeting advice listed there if you dig.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Good IDea! We already have Netfix 2!!!!

Second on this motion, saved 100.00 a month.

 

[debbiedana]

Sell your gold
Have a garage sale
Sell better items on craigslist
Do online surveys for money
Use a change jar religiously
Odd jobs/babysitting/dog walking
Bring your lunch to work

I also saved money my grandma would give me for driving her around. And I'm 34 years old, but I still get birthday money

We're going with my mom in 8 days, splitting the cost of a room at Pop. My share (incl DD10), with airfare, was about $1178. I saved every penny of that amount in about five months! I was very aggressive with the garage sale and craigslist stuff. In fact, I organized my entire neighborhood garage sale to attract more people. I recommend latching on to friends garage sales too. That way you can have several and only have to do the boxing & pricing work once.

Good luck! If I can do it, anyone can!

 

[RobynMarie]

We try to carry bottled water/soda in our van all the time so when we do have to do take-out etc. we have drinks on hand. usu can get a cup of ice at the drive thru...eat off the value menu an.d feed 4 for about $6-$8.

Drink Water when you eat out. Save at least $10 a meal for a family of 4.

Plan ahead so you don't make several trips back and forth to the same place. GAS is a huge part of our budget and little changes can mean big savings

 

[abmitch01]

before vacations we try to live off of our stockpiled groceries and only buy milk and produce. Lots of PB and J and mac and cheese, lol. But it works. I also do things like pay the mortgage and car payment ahead so the month of vacation we have that money free.

 

[cheerforchelsea]

I have been selling used books and old cell phones - got $35 for a cellphone that we hadn't used in 4 years!!!

 

[beansmom]

Plan larger meals for the week that you can use as leftovers. (Soups, stews, chili, lasagna), that way you can cut your grocery budget in half.

I guess I'm slow...explain how cooking more cuts your grocery budget in half. If you cook two meals...whether at one or two times...it's still the same amount of food, isn't it? Still costs the same. I can see where it would save by being able to pull it out of the freezer rather than eating out but not how it would decrease the actual grocery budget.

I'm thick...splain slowly, please.

 

[quagmire0]

I guess I'm slow...explain how cooking more cuts your grocery budget in half. If you cook two meals...whether at one or two times...it's still the same amount of food, isn't it? Still costs the same. I can see where it would save by being able to pull it out of the freezer rather than eating out but not how it would decrease the actual grocery budget.

I'm thick...splain slowly, please.

Sorry Basically what we used to do is plan meals for every day of the week. What we started doing to save money is say, plan 4 out of the 7 days and just make meals that you'll have leftovers of and have leftovers on 3 of the 7 days. In the end you buy less food and waste less by making sure the leftovers and any other unused meat/produce gets used up before you go shopping again.

 

[Virgderon]

My hubby will not go for our December trip to disney if I cannot get it paid off by October 10.

The only thing that bothers me is this statement. Is hubby leaving it up to you to figure out how to pay it off? Is he going to help ? Does he have anything he can sell? Is this somehow his way of saying that he does not want to go?

It just bothers me when a spouse "lays down the law" instead of working with you to come up with a solution.

 

[NCHoo]

We are planning for June 2011 and would love ideas on ways to save so that we can pay for the trip in cash. Can you tell me more about selling old books and cell phones and what online surveys you've done? I'd appreciate your comments!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

When saving for our trip I planned to pay for it without interrupting our income. I sat down and figured out all of the stupid things I was buying weekly (coffee, breakfast/lunch out, etc.) and deducted that from my bi-weekly check. I ate in more, fixed my own coffee, and started saving a lot.

I started the process of donating plasma (can earn up to $200/monthly) but I could not donate due to a personal history of blood clots (one developed after a knee surgery).

I picked up a freelance photography gig for 10 weeks earlier this summer doing photos of youth baseball for the newspaper. It paid $25/game for 2 hours of work.

Could you pick up a tutoring gig? Babysit for a friend?? Carpool???

Good luck!

 

[disneysmyhappyplace]

One of the PP stated selling old gold. I did that to make some extra money and I brought in a little ziploc of old 90's gold ( you know that mirrored gold that crunched up and you could never fix it), and I do mean little that snack bag kind and the bottom of it was covered (so not much in there), and I walk in and walk out with $850.00. WHAT A AWESOME DAY THAT WAS MY HUSBAND COULD NOT BELIEVE WE GOT THAT MUCH FOR SO LITTLE GOLD