stayhomemom77
Dieting my way to Disney!!
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2009
Glad to be of service!Woo hoo!! Like minded followers! I love having those. It sounds like you both have some fun stuff planned.
Hmmmm...tips. You already seem to have a good handle on pretty much all my ways of stockpiling money, so there's not much left I can think of off the top of my head but here goes:
Selling no longer needed items--I do semi annual purges, collect anything of value we are willing to part with and try to get a few bucks for it. Anything we make goes into the vacation fund. In the spring I will be selling DS's old golf set and bike, DH's old golf bag and anything else I can find that will net us a few bucks.
Side hustles...I'm too lazy to do this one but selling stuff on Etsy (if you like to get your craft on) or getting a side job can often bring in a little extra for vacations. A LONG time ago, I used to do seasonal stuff for some extra bucks...I loved that it was only for a certain period of time and then you were off the hook. I haven't done it since becoming a mom though.
Get Santa/the Easter Bunny/other gift givers involved...we have a sinking fund for gift giving that goes all year round. A summer trip means I forego a Mother's Day present and toss the money in the vacation account. Also, the Easter Bunny will give gift cards or US cash as well as other items for the drive we might need. (Santa stuffed the stockings with snacks for the drive this past trip and everyone got a book and other various items that were useful on our trip.) I figure if I'm going to be spending the money anyway...I may as well make it work for us! Because we went away from December 26th to January 7th, we agreed not to do presents for each other this year (DH and I both have December birthdays, so the money REALLY added up!) and just put the cash towards our trip. My in laws gave DH and I each US cash for our birthdays (some of which we used and some of which we saved) and my parents have also been known to give money or gift cards when a trip is in the works as well. If nothing else, Grandma and Grandpa can be counted on to help with spending money.
Trade ins...I do this one A LOT!! Say my mom gives each kid a gift card to the movie theater. We have a line in our budget called family fun money. We will use the gift cards towards our family fun night (at the movies) and then transfer from the family fun money into the vacation account the dollar value of said gift card. I do this when I earn rewards cards more of the time but basically ANY time I get the chance to trade in something for cash from the regular budget, I do it!
Pantry challenges...A few times I year, when the pantry and freezer are really FULL, I do a pantry challenge and spend less on food that month. I love doing this for the savings (which go right to the vacation account) but it also helps me avoid food waste by staying on top of what we have in the house and using them up before they need to be tossed. I usually do one the month we will be travelling, since there's at least a week we're going to be out of the house anyway. I find the restocking happens quite naturally (and quite quickly) over the next three or four months, so I'm contemplating doing one in August (as usual) and one in April. I did one in December and things were decently low when we got back but even after a month it's looking pretty good already.
Another thing we do is have a No Spend month the month we are travelling. We cut spending in certain areas of the budget to $0 and put the money towards vacation. Categories like MISC, Family Fun, Date nights, clothing and spending money are either zeroed out or drastically reduced and the money piles up quick when we do this one!
That's all I've got...hope they help!
