Poll: do you stick to a budget?

[mdoc]

The sky is the limit, unfortunately. We never go into debt for it or anything, we don't eat in fancy restaurants and we camp at FW, but DH is not good at saying no to any child's request.

 

[MelanieC]

We go down for two week and we stay at a value resort (usually with a Shades of Green discount), so we save money on the hotel.
We buy Season passes so it's good for 2 years worth of trips-2 weeks each. We also get the Disney Dining Experience card so we save 20% on food.

With the menus at ALL Ears Net I can pretty much figure out to the dollar what our food bill will be.

We buy the kids autograph books and pens, possibly a t-shirt (not always) and one souvenir each. We usually buy a snowglobe or other larger home momento. The kids are responsible for bringing their own spending money as well as my DH and I bring other personal money as well.

We keep an envelope that we put money in year round for extra's like food on the drive down, water & soda in the parks, smoothies in the morning, other snacks and goodies in the park. We also use this money for the the things we buy above.

All our hotel/tickets/food money/gas is charged to CC and when we get home we take the money we have been saving all year out of our savings to pay it.

We really try not to spend much extra, but we will spend what we feel is reasonable above the extra dollars we put aside as long as it's not over the top. We figure we have two weeks worth a groceries we did not have to purchase, eating out at home, normal everyday shopping or spending so we have some extra money we have to play with.

 

[rlovew]

I stay to a strict budget but it is not always cheap, we are staying at a value resort and doing a couple of tours on our next trip. We live in Florida(2 hour drive) so we usually write down what we would like and then if on our next visit it is still a necessity then we buy it, but we are at Disney every month or 2. Like someone said earlier we choose out where we will eat and I budget for where we are going and add in $5.00/person for a snacks. I do bring in my own water (I don't like Disanni and that is the only water sold in the parks and I will bring in some snack but we usually have one from the parks each day too.

 

[Micca]

The sky is the limit...sort of. We eat whatever food we want, and we'll usually buy some clothes, maybe a book or cd, and then something special(maybe something in the $100-$200 range). We enjoy the shopping at WDW about as much as anything else.

 

[eblack0409]

We set a goal of what we want to save, we then pay off our trip and the remaining money we split it between us and when that's gone....we're done spending!!!!!

For our trip in May, we are going to try and save alot of what we have to spend so we have more money to go on our trip in September!

 

[vic32]

I have my budget and my dear hubby has what he thinks I should spend... usually 2 completely different ideas!!haha We try to stay with abudget, sometimes a really special item like a tapestry or watch pops up!

 

[casey49781]

i set a budget and save to pay ,i over save so i have extra for the extra i want there,,,i have nov 18 to 26 for this year, we go every other year,,,this time staying onsite so hotel/tickets/food/snacks paid in one shot,,,i like that,,,driving down takes 2 days as it 24 hours away,,,so will need gas and hotel, food each way i will take bottled water with me,,,i have ordered 2 baskets for kids upon arrival,,,,each will have there own money 200.oo i give them no more they can buy one thing per day per park last day we go to downtown disney to really shop,,,myself i will take 1000.00 cash for whatever i feel the need to buy,,,last trip, charm for my necklace and 2 ornaments for me,,have a great and safe trip all,,,,

 

[princess aurora]

I was very interested to read your answers. We've been before and never really had a "set" budget. Everything goes on our room card/credit card and we've always paid for it once we got home (usually having paid for the trip prior to leaving). We usually include at least one ts meals a day and 1 Dinner show and/or character dining.

This trip is our "budget" trip though. We are staying in a Value resort and I am attempting to figure out a good amount for food for the week (7 nights, 8 days) using mostly counter service and a few table service meals. Our girls (4, 7) do not get everything they ask and having been twice last year we can deny them even more this trip without feeling the least bit guilty.

Most people seem to budget around $100 for food and that's what I'm looking at right now, hoping to do a little less with a family of 4. Any other "budget" suggestions would be helpful for the week we are there.

 

[Ghost]

When I am there (al the way from Belgium) I don't know when I will make it back... so no limits. The only limit is the things I can take back home with me. I would buy more but you can take only so much back in the plane (and when I pack I only pack like 2 or 3 t-shirts for a 15 day trip so I can buy 10 new T-Shirts at the park to wear on my holiday )

 

[eliza61]

I'm sorry, a what?
just kidding....

We try, we try very hard. Often we fail.

Lorelai, You must live in my house We try very hard to save alot during the year so we can really splurge once we get to Disney. We really usually do very well but I can honestly say we've broken out a credit card once or twice on a visit. August of 2004, I was in MGM and saw a fabulous leather mickey motorcycle jacket ( I'm a biker) that I fell in love with but couldn't really swing, this year I'm padding my budget... If I see that jacket, it's mine

 

[Leota]

Depends on the trip....If it's a solo or a Mom & Son trip, I try to make a budget & stick to it (albeit a generous one)
When we do the Family vacation, we spend what we want & don't limit ourselves. We don't buy alot of souvies tho & those that we do buy are more practical. Where we tend to splurge is on dining. The resort, tickets, airfare etc... are all paid off before we go.

 

[eliza61]

Gas


Ok the above are the things I have budgeted for our trip. My question is this...I have a 15 year old daughter and 11 year old son...how much spending money should I give them for souvenirs. (they don't need) I was thinking $100 but thought maybe this was low...what do you think? This is the first time for us going to Disney and probally the last time I will take kids, so I want it to be very memorable without busting my budget too badly. I was hoping grandparents might give the kids some money to spend while they are there too but I can rely on that...so if you have any input??

Just a quick note...my mom and (single older) sister will be there with us for five of the days...so I am sure they will indulge in a few 'gifts' for the kids too...but again...we can't rely on that.

Thanks for you help and input.

I have teenagers too, my sons are 13 and 15. $100 each will be fine. I tried to give them a little guidance on the souvenirs and I tried to get them to wait until we've hit all the parks so they are sure to get that special gift that they won't see any where else. I usually treat every one to 1 Tee-shirt or sweatshirt so the $100 bucks is all theirs.

 

[nluvwithmickey]

Last trip in January, it was just DH and I. We stayed within our budget. We have been to WDW a few times already and we kept pointing out the things we already have at home....So I find the more you get to go to WDW, te less Disney stuff you need to buy. But I do buy a couple of souvenirs each time we go.


The next time we go, we are definitely going to buy the Disney kitchen stuff. We are in the process of remodeling our kitchen so we will be looking around for that. I absolutely have to have at least one x-mas ornament too. Oh, and I love the perfume sold in the Norway Pavillion......

As for the kids, the usually bring 100 each(2 DD's 10, and 13) and we buy them one extra souvenir around 20-25 $. They already have alot of Disney stuff at home so they are having a harder time finding things they want...

 

[milmore104]

I budget and save all the money we need to actually go on vacation plus $1000 for spending. I pay for everything up front ie... Resort, plane tickets, park tickets, and dining plan as well as have $1000 cash saved for spending on souvies. However when we get there even though we say we won't go to over board it always happens. We usually come home w/ enough cash in our pocket to pay for the airport parking, a quick meal @ Mc Donalds, a full tank of gas, and a credit card that we have charged usually around $1200 on. All in all we do restrain ourselves somewhat but our rule is whatever our DD sees and like she gets. I try to keep each trips total down to $6000 for everything. We have been a few "no holds barred" trips!!!!

 

[leighe]

We do a pretty good job but I also create a very generous budget. Otherwise we would totally blow it!