Saving for a trip in 2019

[gbrown]

Hello,

As the title of this thread is called I am saving for a trip in 2019. I am currently enrolled with a Disney Savings Account. I have just over $1,XXX saved at the moment. I am trying to save at least 6k by the end of Jan 2019. I have even set my self a stretch goal of 7.3k. I have created a crazy long excel spreadsheet that is helping me see my progress towards my goal. I am not currently doing the bi-weekly auto deposit and instead am taking that same deposit amount and saving up to buy gift cards at Sam's for $142.98 and getting a total of $150 in gift cards in return, so a free $7.02. So if I hit the 7.3k mark and do it with gift cards that is a free $330+.

Any other tips anyone could give me to help hit my goal would be awesome.

Thanks

-Q

 

[scrhsa]

Every once in a while I give myself a "no buy " month. If I see something that I want or that's an extra in the budget, I will put that amount in savings/piggy bank etc. Ex: if I want a soda I'll pass and put the dollar away. Same goes if I see pair of shoes, lunch, whatever. I usually just tally it up and then make the deposit at the end of the month. If I'm not feeling the Month, I'll do it weekly. I also do swagbuck/mypoints etc.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

I highly suggest reading the Disney Gift Card Deal thread. It's got a lot of information about saving. It might take you a few weeks to take it all in but it's very informative.

 

[Marionnette]

Hello,

As the title of this thread is called I am saving for a trip in 2019. I am currently enrolled with a Disney Savings Account. I have just over $1,XXX saved at the moment. I am trying to save at least 6k by the end of Jan 2019. I have even set my self a stretch goal of 7.3k. I have created a crazy long excel spreadsheet that is helping me see my progress towards my goal. I am not currently doing the bi-weekly auto deposit and instead am taking that same deposit amount and saving up to buy gift cards at Sam's for $142.98 and getting a total of $150 in gift cards in return, so a free $7.02. So if I hit the 7.3k mark and do it with gift cards that is a free $330+.

Any other tips anyone could give me to help hit my goal would be awesome.

Thanks

-Q

Oh the possibilities!

Credit card churning for travel. Read blogs like MillionMileSecrets and ThePointsGuy. Lots of travel hacks to be learned there!

The Disney Gift Card thread for getting Disney GCs for less than face value.

The Swagbucks and Perk threads for earning GCs that can be used for your trip. They won't be Disney GCs but you can buy a Disney GC with a Target GC. MyPoints (as mentioned by a PP) is also a good rewards program for earning.

Join the Landry's Select Club for a one-time $25 fee (which you get back as a credit) and another $25 birthday credit every year (credit expires shortly after your birthday month ends, doesn't carry over) . Rainforest, Yak & Yeti and T-Rex are all owned by Landry's.

Probably a lot more that I'm forgetting but that's a start.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I'm with you! Hoping for a 2018 trip! Definitely check out the Disney Gift Card thread. I don't keep up with it as much now just because it's too much for me to do the whole Ebay churning type deal, but it definitely has the ideas to get you started. Through a combination of swagbucks, mPoints, and Shopkicks, I was able to churn enough target gift cards into Disney gift cards that I accumulated $600 in Disney gift cards in 6 months! Paid for our trip to Disneyland in January!

 

[Nebraska_Disney]

With the way Disney is going now, I'd add a large "cushion" onto what you are expecting to pay, as the prices are jumping up by leaps and bounds. Who knows what the next 2.5 years will bring.

I have set up a monthly amount in my budget that goes directly to vacation, sounds like you are doing that too. This amount could change over the course of your savings period, so see how far you can push it and not upset other portions of your budget.

Garage/yard sales? If you have kiddos, you will go through a lot of stuff in the next few years. See if you can make some $$$ off it.

If you are good about paying off your credit cards in full, take advantage of rewards cards. My last trip, I had close to $1000 returned to me by my CC that had accumulated over the last 20 months. Only good if you charge everything and pay it off in full each month.

If you are coming up short, use craigslist or ebay to get rid of extra stuff you don't need anymore.

Ask grandparents/family to contribute gift cards to your kiddos (assuming you have kids) for the trip. Makes buying stuff there easier.

 

[Narnia_girl]

All of the above suggestions!
I'm also saving for a 2019 Disney cruise, but I have to pay for a 2016 trip before then.
I generally buy my Disney gift cards at Sam's Club for the savings you describe, but I try to start with WalMart gift cards I've earned on Swagbucks, mPlus Places, Shopkick, My Coke Rewards, Ibotta, etc...
Even if you did the minimum Swagbucks TV and other video watching apps you should have enough to get one of those gift card three-packs for free each year.

Good luck!

 

[gbrown]

Thanks for the replys everyone! Today I bought another pack of gift cards. I am now at:

73% to my 1st year savings goal!

I am 51% to my 1st year stretch goal.

For my overall goal I am 21% to that goal.

For my overall stretch goal I am 18% to that goal.

Just incase anyone is wondering what a all these different goals are they go like this:

For easy math lets pretend that my overall goal is $1000. And then my overall stretch goal is $1400.

I have 4 years to save so the breakdown would be:

Year 1: $250 Year 1 Stretch: $350
Year 2: $250 Year 2 Stretch: $350
Year 3: $250 Year 3 Stretch: $350
Year 4: $250 Year 4 Stretch: $350

The way I look at stretch goals is hooray if I hit that goal, however if I miss that goal thats no big. Also this allows for some cushioning if I come up short in any of the future years due to unforeseen circumstances.

 

[dalayney]

A huge thing that helped us, is we started asking for Disney gift cards for birthdays, holidays, mother's day etc. If a family member asked us what we wanted? Disney gift card! We started this last year, and have over $ 800 so far and we're not going till after thanksgiving!

 

[unrequited23]

It is controversial, but I bought our tickets in December 2014 through an authorized resale site for our planned trip in 2017. I took pictures of the back of the tickets with my phone and they are with our important papers. We have a healthy emergency fund and savings account, so I viewed the purchase as saving the 5% price increase each year.

 

[gbrown]

Today I hit a first milestone. I am now successfully saved 100% of my goal for the first year! Almost 6 months ahead of schedule!

For my stretch goal for the first year I am 79% to that goal!

For my overall goal I am 28% to that goal.

For my overall stretch goal I am 24% to that goal.

 

[MagicPlanning]

Keep it up! It may seem like forever away. We stopped eating out two years ago in order to save for a 2017 trip. We're soooo close to being able to say "next year". It'll be here before you know it! And you'll probably get to experience new Star Wars & Toy Story lands to boot! I think Avatar will be completed before we go!

 

[lisaross]

Hello,

As the title of this thread is called I am saving for a trip in 2019. I am currently enrolled with a Disney Savings Account. I have just over $1,XXX saved at the moment. I am trying to save at least 6k by the end of Jan 2019. I have even set my self a stretch goal of 7.3k. I have created a crazy long excel spreadsheet that is helping me see my progress towards my goal. I am not currently doing the bi-weekly auto deposit and instead am taking that same deposit amount and saving up to buy gift cards at Sam's for $142.98 and getting a total of $150 in gift cards in return, so a free $7.02. So if I hit the 7.3k mark and do it with gift cards that is a free $330+.

Any other tips anyone could give me to help hit my goal would be awesome.

Thanks

-Q

A jar to throw in loose change - it adds up

 

[Greenfamily08096]

Hello, we are doing the same thing except we buy the disney cards at Target. We are planning our next Disney trip for early 2019. We go often but our next will be our grand daughters first