One Year to Save 2013-2014 Edition

[Marionnette]

Last year, there was a long-running thread by the title One Year to Save. The idea was to encourage each other and offer ideas of how to meet your goal of paying off your vacation before going on it. It was interesting to see how everyone did and the creative ways that they had for funding their trips. Is anyone game for 2013-2014?

I haven't made my reservations yet, but I plan to get back before the time in Sept. 2014 when my PAP expires.
Plans have changed and now we are going in October instead of Sept.!

Here's the plan so far:

Airfare: 20K+ SWA RR points currently available (approx. $330 in Wanna Get Away fares).

Goal is to have enough points for 2 RT tickets by spring of 2014 when fall fares become available.
Needed: approx. 20K more points. Continue to accrue points using eRewards, e-Miles and SWA CC.
8/13/2013 - Re-booked current flights using LUV vouchers and canceled old reservation. 20K+ RR miles used for the old reservation were refunded to my account immediately. Airfare for 2014 is now covered!
10/24/13 - 1,000 RR added to my SWA account using e-rewards plus 4,000+ RR from purchases made with the SWA Visa last month (also signed up for the 3K bonus WYS $5,000 between Oct-Dec.). It's nice to have a buffer in case airfare skyrockets or to cover an additional trip!
12/20/13 - 3,000 Bonus RR miles were added to my account for spending the $5K in 3 months.
02/18/2014 - 1600 RR added from SWA CC usage in Jan.
03/03/2014 - 4044 RR add for SWA Visa spending and anniversary points.
03/28/2014 - 250 RR added through e-rewards redemption and 1007 added from SWA Visa in March.
04/17/2014 - Statement for SWA Visa has not been generated yet but looks like it will be about 1,000 pts.
03/03/2014 - Redeemed 13,172 for the for one-way tickets to MCO. Still waiting for SWA to open up later dates for the return flight
​

Room: Using DVC points. Dues will be assessed in January.

Approx. $900 will be needed at the time. Payable using Disney GCs. If purchased at Target using Pharmacy Rewards discount + REDCard, total OOP cost will be about $810 give or take a few dollars.
Current amount saved for 2014 DVC dues: $960 ($20/week into my DVC savings account starting each Sept.).
8/25/2013 - Used a Target GC from iphone purchase to pay for a $50 Disney GC on Target.com. OOP cost = $22.50 after using my REDCard!
DUES FOR 2014 HAVE BEEN PAID!!!!!!!
Reservations made by my brother for a Treehouse Villa at SSR in October, using his points. He wants nothing but our company in return for his generosity. Of course, I will at least buy him dinner!​

Tickets: PAPs from current year. Vouchers to be activated during upcoming trip.

Cost = $0 for 2014.​

Food: One lunch at Yak & Yet using Landry's GC from MyPoints, plus groceries for the room and misc. meals using TiW discount.

Estimated OOP cost: $1K.
Currently saved: $0. My biggest line item by far. My plan is to begin putting $20 per week into vacation savings (separate from DVC savings) in order to cover meals, starting after we return from our vacation this year.
01/21/14 - Savings account presently has $140 in it.
10/04/2013 We never used the Landry's GCs during our 2013 trip, so I have $90 to spend at Yak & Yeti in 2014!
10/04/2103 $173.60 in leftover Disney GCs from 2013 trip to be applied to 2014 trip.
10/29/13 - Decided to use the Landry's GCs and leftover Disney GCs for a quick trip with daughter in December. Savings for Fall 2014 are back to $0
01/21/14 - After paying DVC dues with Disney GCs, my current GC balance is $353.20
04/17/2014 - Redeemed MyPoints for a $50 Landry's GC​

Tips: Estimating at least $20 per TS meal with one TS meal per night.

Needed: $150.
Saved: $0. Will pay for tips by saving change for a year.
01/21/14 - Haven't cashed in the change jar yet but there are about $140 in just quarters in the jar!
​

Other Tips: Valet, skycaps and bell services, airport ground transportation to/from home.

Needed: approx. $150.
Will pay for these using money earned from rebates.
10/24/13 - Rebates of $2.99 (Melaluca), $3.99 (Staples) and $10 (P&G)
10/29/13 - $32.38 refund from cable company
11/18/13 - $85.61 from Ebates
01/21/14 - $36 Kohl's small appliance rebate
02/18/14 - $79.99 rebates from Ebates, P&G and Staples
Goal met!!!
03/28/2014 - $145.80 from Ebates, $10 for P&G (in the form of a Visa GC), $39.99 dog food rebate and (2) $3.50 rebates from Staples for a total of$202.79 back this month!
4/17/2014 - Cashed out at Checkout51 for $25.26, SavingStar for $20 and left $11+ in the account as "seed money", received $5.70 EasyRebate check from Staples plus $20 ink recycling reward
​

Souvenirs:

Budgeting about $300.
Current savings: $0. Will be paid using my rewards from the Disney Visa.
10/24/13 - $41 in Disney Rewards Dollars in my Disney Visa accounts
02/18/14 - A whopping 11¢ added in January! Hardly worth even counting!!!
03/28/14 - 39¢ added in February. Obviously, I'm overspending on this card!
04/16/2014 - Disney Visa - 46¢
​

Rental Car: Not a necessity and an item than we will scratch if I cannot get a good rate or fail to meet my savings goal.

Needed: $350
Saved: 81 Ultimate Rewards Points (worth about 81 cents!). Will use points from Chase Sapphire UR to pay for car if there are enough to cover the cost.
10/05/2013 40,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards Points posted to my account today. That's worth $400 in the form of a statement credit or cash. Looks like the rental car is paid for!
10/24/13 - 8,000 Sapphire Rewards added from a furniture purchase. I can rent a really nice car or use the extra points for cash back (8K pts. = $80)
01/21/14 - 5,908 in Ultimate Rewards added since Oct. just from putting my normal purchases on it.
02/18/14 - Just over 1600 Ultimate Rewards added in January. Balance is now over 55K.
03/28/14 - 3,334 Ultimate Rewards points added to the Chase Sapphire account in February.
04/17/2014 - 438 Ultimate Rewards Points for March but next month is going to be a killer! I put the car insurance bill on it and we have 4 vehicles!
​

Other additional earnings:
04/17/2014

• Citibank MasterCard - Got an offer for 5X ThankYou Points on groceries, gas, drugstores and "commuter expenses" through 6/30/2014. Signed up and began using the card again for only those charges. Already have 450 pts. acrued for April statement with more pending for May. Points can be used for statement credits on the same expenses or I can use 2500 pts. to get a $25 GC from a number of merchants.
• Choice Privileges Visa - Signed up for, and was approved for it. Will get 8K pts. with first use, 24K bonus pts. when we use it next month to pay for our hotel room for son's college graduation, 15 pts/$1 spent on that hotel room and 2 pts./$1 for any other charges placed on the card. 16K pts. can be redeemed for a $50 Target GC (which can then be used to buy a Disney GC), or 6K pts. can be redeemed for 1,800 SWA RR pts. Or I can get a free night at one of their hotels before or after my Disney stay for 8K pts. or less.
• American Express - took advantage of the Lowes $10-off $50 deal and purchased 2 $25 Disney GCs. The credit has already appeared on my statement. Also got a deal for $5-off $25 at PetSmart and used it to get dog food, which I would have purchased anyway.

So, is anyone else interested in sharing their savings progress? I would love to see other people's ideas and how they meet their goals. Who's in?

 

[worm761]

Here is my budget for next year's trip. We are aiming for October 2014.

Gas: 200
round trip. Plan to make at least $75 in gift cards from MyPoints.

Tickets: 900-1350
we will either get weekday select passes or FL resident seasonal passes. Depends on the budget at the time.

Resort: 1350
renting a camper and staying at Ft Wilderness. 650 to rent the camper and 700 for the campsite.

Food: 625
We will eat breakfast at the campsite. We will either go back to the camp or take lunch in with us. 150 for groceries and 475 for restaurants (Tusker House, 50's Prime Time, Rain Forest Cafe, and Earl of Sandwich)

F&W Festival: 500
Plan to munch our way around the World Showcase a couple of nights.

Road Food: 150

Hotel the night night before: 100
I always budget a hundred but usually pay less

 

[BCmomma]

Is this just for Disney vacations or anywhere? We are going to Disneyland this year (in 10 days in fact) but August 2014 we are going to Hawaii for our 10th wedding anniversary. I started saving for it this past January.

 

[AnjieNet]

Happy to see this thread. I was on the old thread for my Oct 2012 trip. I'm looking at Nov 2014 but don't have all my details lined out yet. Will be back when I do. Good luck in your saving!

 

[dllocals]

Any one know of ways to collect more airline miles with out spending $$. Trying to earn free flights to WDW for the family someday

 

[worm761]

Any one know of ways to collect more airline miles with out spending $$. Trying to earn free flights to WDW for the family someday

Swagbucks has Southwest gift cards as a redemption option.

 

[Marionnette]

Swagbucks has Southwest gift cards as a redemption option.

But you're limited as to the number of SWA GCs that you can use in a single ticket purchase and you cannot combine them with RR miles.

 

[Marionnette]

Any one know of ways to collect more airline miles with out spending $$. Trying to earn free flights to WDW for the family someday

erewards.com and e-miles are two easy ways to earn a few extra miles each year. You're not going to manage totally free flights this way, but it will help to top off your SWA RR account.

 

[worm761]

But you're limited as to the number of SWA GCs that you can use in a single ticket purchase and you cannot combine them with RR miles.

Guess that won't work then. I don't fly anywhere. We always drive.

 

[stayhomemom77]

Ooooh! I'm in!

We are planning a Mediterranean cruise for July 2014 I am *hoping* to cruise on the DIsney Magic but at present it's nearly $4000 more than one DH found with a longer itinerary (although not BETTER IMO) with Norwegian, I think it was.

Anyway, at present we have $2500 in savings and will need to come up with about $7500 more within the next twelve months (we don't mind charging a wee bit and paying it off during the month of August, so long as it is less than $1000) to pay for DH's preferred cruise.

We are expecting about $4000 as next year's income tax refund, which means we need only find $3500 or so from our regular monthly expenditures to cover him. However, if I want my Disney cruise (unless I find some deep discounts) I'll need quite a bit more.

The plan is to just save as much as we possibly can, and then book a great deal in a few months when we have a better idea where we are.

But, keep your fingers crossed for MY cruise! I want my Disney fix!

Anyway, I'm too lazy to break it all down it terms of flights, cruise, excursions etc... but we need about $10,000 for his and about $14,000 for mine. His would be 12 days and mine 9.

The kicker is that we just relocated back to Ontario from British Columbia for DH's new job. And I have no idea right now how the budget is going to pan out...different pay, different deductions and different cost of living. We were saving about $400 a month...hoping to be able to keep that up in the months to come.

If we do the Disney cruise, I can cash in my quickrewards for Disney gift cards and put those towards onboard expenses. Right now I only have $25 but I'm sure I can increase that by quite a bit in the months to come. I also have another survey website that pays me through my paypal account. I have $25 banked for that one too and plan to grow it in the coming months.

We have 452 air miles...still looking into how many we would need for one ticket. MIght have to keep building and safe these for an Orlando flight in the future!

That's it for now!

 

[pigletto]

Hmmm... I like this idea. We have a trip in December and while I could technically pull from vacation savings and just cover it, what I would like to do is participate and see where I can pinch pennies and cut regular costs so I am not just withdrawing the whole amount and depleting it. Does that even make sense? I would just like to challenge myself to creatively save for spending money and tips and food and see what I can do.
Or if I am able to set aside enough from the regular budget maybe I could add a few things I wasn't planning on!
If that fits the description I am happy to join in.

 

[Movingtothemouse]

I think this is a great idea and I plan to participate in this as well. One thing that I have found works for us is to keep a change jar and before our trip "cash" it in an use that money as extra play money. Over the course of a year we usually have $100-$300.

 

[figment3258]

I'm in! We are planning for September 2014

1200$ for airfare
2000$ for hotel
1600$ for tickets
Hoping for free dining but if not 2000$ for food and spending
350$ for car rental
Total
7050$ if my math is correct asking for disney gift cards for Christmas and waiting for tax return

 

[rnorwo1]

Hmmm... I like this idea. We have a trip in December and while I could technically pull from vacation savings and just cover it, what I would like to do is participate and see where I can pinch pennies and cut regular costs so I am not just withdrawing the whole amount and depleting it. Does that even make sense? I would just like to challenge myself to creatively save for spending money and tips and food and see what I can do.
Or if I am able to set aside enough from the regular budget maybe I could add a few things I wasn't planning on!
If that fits the description I am happy to join in.

This is exactly what I want to do. We are going to Scotland next summer and that will come from vacation savings account, but I'm trying to pull together an inexpensive trip to Disneyland before my children are too old to care about Carsland! We've never been before and don't want to wait another year, so we were going to go during the kids' Mardi Gras break... Problem is flights in and out of New Orleans are outrageous that week! Even using all the RR we have saved, we are still going to be paying quite a bit just for the flights. So if I can find creative ways to fund it I won't feel so irresponsible in going, lol! I'll post the exact budget tomorrow or so.

 

[annaaidan99]

I have a trip booked for May 28-June 6 with hotel, tickets and the QS plan coming in at $3900 for me, my 14 year old son, 6 year old and 3 year old daughters. The QS looks to probably save a few dollars so I went with it. I have paid $1000 towards this and am paying close to $400 a month towards it now. I don't know if any discounts will be available for me as I've booked a Little Mermaid room.

I plan so far on one TS... CRT at roughly $240 if we go for dinner

I am giving kids each $100 for souvenirs ($300) and I've saved $100

Gas will be $200 or so

Hotel there and back ( I'm splitting the trip) will be $250 or so.

Incidental food will be under $100

 

[sissy_ib]

Is this just for Disney vacations or anywhere? We are going to Disneyland this year (in 10 days in fact) but August 2014 we are going to Hawaii for our 10th wedding anniversary. I started saving for it this past January.

I'm heading to Hawaii next August as well. I have enough in savings to cover it now but I know I will not have enough left over to make me feel comfortable. The trip will be to celebrate my graduation and I have been saving for a while for a big trip, but I just decided on Hawaii for sure recently. I am hoping for two weeks, 6 nights on the Big Island and 8 on Oahu at Aulani.

Adding my details now that I have more time.

Flight to Hawaii-I have $200 in credit card rewards I will be using-hoping for $750-850 after that.
Inter-island airfare- American Airline miles.
Hotel on Big Island-5 or 6 nights, hoping to get a condo from VRBO for about $100 a night. I need to do more research.
Aulani-DVC points Plus about $40 in Hawaii taxes
Rental car-I've only looked on Priceline so far but it looks like about $400 for the two weeks. I gotta keep my eye out for deals because that is way too much plus gas.
Activities and food-Still working on this part. I am hoping for the entire come in under $3500 total. Which only leaves a little more than $100 a day for this stuff. I have a few expensive activities I really want to do so I need to prioritize.

 

[BCmomma]

Well I'll post mine too then

We're hoping to go to Hawaii for a week next August for our 10th wedding anniversary (there is a chance it will be Mexico instead but we're really trying for Hawaii!)
We need flights for 4 - 2 adults 2 kids (no one to look after our kids for a week)
Hoping to stay at the Hilton Hawaiian as they have lots for kids to do and hopefully dh and I can get some time to ourselves!
Looking at about $4,000 for the week, hopefully including food in that. We'll see.
Started saving in January of this year, have nearly $600 in my jar (selling kids clothes/toys/no longer need household items). Putting our anniversary gift from my mom towards it ($1,000) plus our tax refund (usually around $1,000-$1200).

 

[Ruthie5671]

I'm going to pipe in also, but I hope it's okay that my plans are for 2015! It will take me that long to save. This is for celebrating my mom's 70th birthday and my 45th birthday. It will be mom and her BFF and my husband and I - hopefully a week long cruise out of Miami. I'm not sure about prices, but this is what we're shooting for:

Driving to Miami from KY (yes we drive)
Since we don't drive straight thru - two motel rooms down and back
An extra night in Miami pre-cruise to see family and enjoy being there
The cruise and all the spending that entails (excusions, tips, shopping, beverages, etc.)
Food and gas for the drive

My guess will be approximately $3000 (with sharing some of the monetary responsibilities with mom and her BFF). Of course, I have nothing saved. My pitiful savings account is delegated for holiday shopping. But I have lots of time and open to all ideas.

 

[worm761]

My guess will be approximately $3000 (with sharing some of the monetary responsibilities with mom and her BFF). Of course, I have nothing saved. My pitiful savings account is delegated for holiday shopping. But I have lots of time and open to all ideas. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

Here is what I do:
I have a Capital One 360 savings account. There is no ATM card or brick and mortar branches so it is harder to get to the money.
I sock every single penny I can into that account. Sometimes that is only a dollar or two. Sometimes it is much more. But, it all adds up. Plus it earns interest which is free money for me!
I watch videos on Swagbucks. I can get hotel, food, and other gift cards. I can also get Paypal payments. I average 600-700 Swagbucks a week just watching TV and the occasional search.
I am also saving up my MyPoints for gas gift cards. I only do the emails and search with MyPoints so it is slow. But if you shop online it would be much quicker.
I also do some surveys and have some apps on my phone that make me money. The apps are Field Agent (iPhone only), Viggle, Swagbucks mobile, and Jingit.

None of this will pay for a trip but every penny will count.

 

[MrsDrewsky]

Oh, I want to join in!

Let's see we are going to WDW January 4th - 11th.
It will be 3 adults and an infant.

Renting DVC points @ OKW through David's:
$1064

Food:
Bringing $1000 in Disney GCs that we're purchasing through target to save 5% so $950.

Flight:
Using SW RR points, so free!

Tickets:
Undercover tourist 7 day MYW $964.

We are transferring $50 a week into our smartypig account.

We also use our Disney rewards card and have $100 in rewards.

Thanks to the budget board I decided to do cloth diapers and so I am putting that savings into our Disney fund. $864 a year! Woo hoo! I just sold his newborn diapers on ebay and made $5 more than I paid for them.

Since we're going in early January the trip is our family Christmas present , and we wont be exchanging gifts this year. I figure while DS is young enough to not know any better I might as well take advantage of it.