Put it all on a CC?

[mikehn]

Based on your original post, you seem to be a responsible user of credit. So I dont see any issues.

 

[yoopermom]

As a mom who just survived a senior summer, I would highly suggest going summer of 2014. The summer between senior yr and college starting will be jam packed and expensive! We just dropped DS off at college this past Saturday and I don't know where the time from graduation in June until now went. All he could think about was college, and I don't think he would have appreciated a family vacation as much as he would have the summer before. My credit card is still sizzing from those "one last time" trips to Walmart and orders from Amazon....

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Terri

 

[Surfinpiratee]

My parents always put our trips on ccs. I know its not what you're suppose to do. You might as well just do it! If its worth it to you, do it. There's a thing called 52 week money challenge. Look it up. You basically save 1000+ at the end of your year!

 

[smitch425]

Based on your original post, you seem to be a responsible user of credit. So I dont see any issues.

Having 3 credit cards with existing balances and wanting to put a vacation on a fourth card does not sound responsible to me. Not meaning that as an to insult the OP at all, just that it seems odd to say she is a responsible user of credit. My definition just must be different.

 

[ldo]

I would tentatively plan a trip for 2014 that was totally cancellable at 60 days out and commit to save a certain amount (50%+) and be OK to put a certain amount on CC and explain to the kids (trip costs $1500--we need to save at least $750 by May 1 to go next summer). If you do not save that much--postpone until 2015. That is a great lesson to teach a young adult.
for some cost-savings ideas--most of which we do every trip that we are not going into the WDw parks:
if you can cut out WDW parks, you can save a lot. Each day is almost $100PP for the first 2-3 days, then the $ drops a lot. Skipping WDW for 2 days for 3 persons would save you $600. I would get longer passes to Univ and stay offsite vs. the expensive univ hotels. I would get a deal on a hotel with at least a micro/fridge (even bettter stovetop--like Residence Inn)or rent a condo (there are tons of deals at 1-2 months out for condos, timeshares, etc. on redweek.com, vrbo, etc.). I would plan to eat in for breakfast and most dinners.
The multi-day passes to Univ are not that much more than a 2 day pass. Even if you don't have the quick access (FOTL) passes to skip the lines, we haven't had it (even at Christmas and Easter) and we find it OK if we go early each AM, and beat the lines, and then leave in the afternoon, and then go back in the evening, when crowds lessen.
For your WDW fix, go over to Downtown Disney, make a Mickey ear at Goofy's Candy, ride a DTD boat to a resort and eat at their counter service restuarant, do a monorail tour of the resorts, get ice cream at a resort, play putt-putt at WDW ($14 PP), but a fun WDw fix. Best wishes. Elaine

 

[momof1princess]

OP, based upon your post, it seems as if you are very careful with your credit, and I commend you for that. I'm going to go with the others who say plan to use the credit card, BUT, save as much as you can in the meantime, pinching every penny you can and using every available resource to make extra money, so that you end up charging as little as possible.

 

[Minnie_me]

Since your daughter will be graduating in 2015, I assume she is at least 16. Does she have a part-time job? Can she contribute anything to the trip, or do you want this to be a total surprise for her? Would she be willing to contribute? At that age she must be aware of how tight the budget is.

I remember when my parents took me on a big trip, I contribute as much as I could since I had a part-time job.

She does have a job, but is saving her money for college expenses. She has about $1200 in the bank already!! I will not ask for her money for this trip.

 

[Marionnette]

Having 3 credit cards with existing balances and wanting to put a vacation on a fourth card does not sound responsible to me. Not meaning that as an to insult the OP at all, just that it seems odd to say she is a responsible user of credit. My definition just must be different.

Carrying a balance on CCs is not something that I would do because I hate to pay even one cent in interest for anything. I don't consider carrying a balance to be irresponsible use of credit unless the person is over their head with payments and is constantly borrowing on one card in order to be able to pay the other.

However, I understand your point, smitch425. I also took notice of the statement "I have no other credit card debt (except for a few department store cards, all with balances less than $500, and most are at zero)." You either have CC debt or you don't. To disregard the existing debts because each of them is "small" (under $500), is something people do in order to rationalize their spending. If I have 5 charge cards with balances of $300 each, I still owe $1500. It just sounds better to say that I owe under $500 on a few cards.

 

[disneychrista]

If she really wants to go then she needs to be willing to pay for some of it herself. Christmas & Birthday get her Disney gift cards that she can use toward the trip (food money). Any money she gets from relatives goes into the Disney fund. And most of all she needs to get a part time / weekend job the money she earns goes into the Disney fund.

I would NOT put it on a credit card that you can't pay off when the bill comes due. I am a firm believer that if you can't pay cash you can't afford it (mortgage excluded).

 

[Colleen27]

I know you will you get answers all over the place and many that disagree with me, but I say take your daughters on the trip and it is not the curse of death to have it on the CC. That said, I would go above and beyond to save save save..pinch pennies, yard sale, ebay, odd jobs, tutor, etc, to have a healthy amount toward it. It's an important time and I think you should do the graduation trip and have a blast.

This. It isn't a popular position here, but I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with debt as long as your overall financial position is secure.

Make a plan and stick to it. Enlist your daughter's help and make it a family effort. Hold a yard sale, sell on Facebook/Craigslist, do surveys through sites like Sunshine Rewards or Swagbucks, look into other options for making a few extra dollars online. Your DD could babysit, mow lawns, shovel snow, or get a job and contribute out of her own earnings as well. Sit down with the girls and consider places you might trim your everyday budget to help afford the trip - maybe they could start making lunches if they buy, or come up with some inexpensive recipes to try, or agree to go out to eat less, or cut back on your cable package, or find some other little bits of non-essential spending that could be cut to put the savings towards your trip.

 

[smitch425]

Carrying a balance on CCs is not something that I would do because I hate to pay even one cent in interest for anything. I don't consider carrying a balance to be irresponsible use of credit unless the person is over their head with payments and is constantly borrowing on one card in order to be able to pay the other.

However, I understand your point, smitch425. I also took notice of the statement "I have no other credit card debt (except for a few department store cards, all with balances less than $500, and most are at zero)." You either have CC debt or you don't. To disregard the existing debts because each of them is "small" (under $500), is something people do in order to rationalize their spending. If I have 5 charge cards with balances of $300 each, I still owe $1500. It just sounds better to say that I owe under $500 on a few cards.

Yes, it was OP's sentence you quoted that prompted my thoughts. I would pay those smaller debts off before I even considered taking a vacation. Thanks for understanding my point. We do not do credit card debt. We pay it off in full each month or the card gets cut up. We only have one credit card, so it keeps things simple.

 

[dismom22]

Not that I am a financial advisor at all or very good with money in general, but my hair stylist made the comment to me about my upcoming trip...she said, "I think it's awesome that you will have it all paid for and you don't have to worry about the bill later."

It has been VERY stressful saving and pinching, cutting and changing but in a matter of 4 months we have "saved" for our trip in two weeks (our fault, should have been saving since we booked in March!) We've definitely had to sacrifice and my anxiety has been thru the roof. That being said, I'm so thankful that once we get back it will hopefully only be a little bit of catch up.

We booked through Disney, online and just made the payments as we could...without interest. I don't know what common opinion is here but this worked for us because we DON'T have cc's and DH and I only make about $55-60k a year.

Our credit is terrible but once our "bad stuff" falls off from college mistakes and it improves, I would consider getting a Disney Visa...because the only thing I would like to earn rewards for is Disney. It seems like it would help pay for itself but maybe I'm wrong there. I look forward to going to Disney every few years and it's something I know we must save for all the time, not just cram before our trip.

 

[dhardawa]

No, I would not charge the vacation and I'd pay off all the cards you currently have before saving for a vacation. I know if it was me and in the back of my mind I knew I could just put it on a credit card and deal with it later, I wouldn't make as big of an attempt to really save for the vacation. If I knew I could go when I had the money to actually do it in hand, I'd be doing everything in my power including a part time job, Craigslist, etc. to find money to put away.

 

[mikehn]

Having 3 credit cards with existing balances and wanting to put a vacation on a fourth card does not sound responsible to me. Not meaning that as an to insult the OP at all, just that it seems odd to say she is a responsible user of credit. My definition just must be different.

three credit cards with $500 balances sound responsible to me.

 

[smitch425]

three credit cards with $500 balances sound responsible to me.

Yes, I understand that it is for some people, but for me personally, using a credit card responsibly means that you use cards for necessities and you pay them off before charging a non-necessity. A vacation, to me, is not a need. It is a want. What people do with their money is really no one's business, but since OP asked for advice, she will get all kinds of opinions. None right or wrong, just differing.

 

[sksjasams]

As a mom who just survived a senior summer, I would highly suggest going summer of 2014. The summer between senior yr and college starting will be jam packed and expensive! We just dropped DS off at college this past Saturday and I don't know where the time from graduation in June until now went. All he could think about was college, and I don't think he would have appreciated a family vacation as much as he would have the summer before. My credit card is still sizzing from those "one last time" trips to Walmart and orders from Amazon....

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Terri

I think this is a tough decision, and Terri brings up a good point about summer 2015 expenses.

Another thing to consider is the Harry Potter World expansion of Diagon Alley. It is scheduled to open sometime in 2014. Possibly June 2014, but that date is not set in stone. Maybe your DD would want to try to see it right when it opens (if its 2014), or maybe she would rather wait until 2015 to be sure she will get to see it and perhaps the crowds would have subsided a bit.

Good luck with your decision...and feel blessed this is the toughest one you have to make right now

 

[superdisneydork]

I would NOT put it on a credit card that you can't pay off when the bill comes due. I am a firm believer that if you can't pay cash you can't afford it (mortgage excluded).

I would agree with this, I have two credit cards that at any given moment will have healthy, as I run anything real (i.e. not a morning coffee at Dunkin' Donuts) through the cards to leave a paper trail and have the credit card protection, but on the 1st of every month I completely pay off the previous months charges, I've never paid a cent of interest. Right now the only debt I have is student and car loans. I would never put a Disney (or any other) vacation on a credit card unless I can put it on my debit card at that very instant. In that case I'd use the CC for the rewards and the AMEX protection. I don't think it's a great idea, even with a solid payment plan, it leaves you vulnerable if something comes up before you can pay it off. It's not as if US/IOA and WDW are going anywhere (pending sinkholes), so I'd vote no. In fact, as a (somewhat) recent college graduate, I can tell you there are going to be a lot of expenses you're not going to be ready for during the college years, would your DD want a Disney trip that bites her later if she has an emergency?

Sorry to rain on the parade, but in short, I don't think you'd be asking if you didn't know deep down it's a bad idea,
Matt

 

[ICF]

If you don't have the money now -- or at least when the bill comes due, I wouldn't put it on a CC. You already have 3 CC's with balances on them....why add another?

You don't have money for the trip, so you want to make it more expensive by paying interest on it? What sense does that make?

I would tell you to save up the money or delay the when you go on the trip.

 

[mrsabbott]

Does it HAVE to be a summer trip? Can it be the following spring during school break? That would give you a few more months to save up and perhaps you will find some good deals! Plus, the HP expansions should be completed by then!

I understand the temptation to put it on a CC because memories are priceless! I also know how much a pain it is to have CC debt when you are already on a tight budget!

I would scrimp and save and pinch pennies! Maybe for Christmas you could give your DD the tickets instead of other gifts! Start a vacation fund and make an agreement with your DD.. any gifts or extra money will go in here for a vacation! When you decide to eat at home instead of out.. put some money in! Instead of birthday gifts.. put the money in! Skip starbucks or save a lot in sales and coupons.. put the money in! Pay in cash for as much as you can and if you must put some on a CC.. then so be it! But if you can avoid putting ALL of it on a CC, that would be the best way to go!

 

[ceecee]

I missed the 3 cc balances when I read the post. First I would focus on paying those off and save a lot of interest, especially with store cc the interest can be high.
Make saving a game...involve everyone and see how much you can save just by cutting corners. When DH and I decided to adopt, we knew we'd need about $20-30,000 so I did everything to save and it actually worked quite well. We would go out for McD's .49 cones and to $1 movies (back in the day) that's it! Cut cable, electric bills, etc. Have a garage sale! We made close to $2000 selling junk we didn't want or need. Senior year is expensive! Be prepared for that as well.