Saving for DVC

[tinkabella627]

Ok... on our honeymoon, my husband and I took the tour and I tell ya if we didn't have student loans, I would be paying a hefty payment to the mouse every month for the next ten years...

Good thing we have those loans because I DO NOT want to finance a DVC. Now I want sooo bad to be in it but I refuse to pay almost twice what I would pay if I just paid downright. So what I need to know is what can I do (or what have other people done) to save money to get into DVC? I would like more than 160 points, but I am sure that is where we will have to start. If it weren't for student loans we would have around $700 a month to save (sick that the amount is almost another mortgage payment for us!)...

So without giving too much of our personal info away..here is what we spend money on each month
House
2 cars
car insurance
cell phone
utilities
student loans
groceries
credit card bills (i know, stop using them...and I have... we are just paying them down now- luckily they are interest free for a while)

and occasionally we go out for dinner or a movie but not often.

So what are some creative ways to save money because you all obviously know how much of a love for disney we have since you all already have DVC!

TIA

 

[Pirate Jack]

Buy a small resale contract of about 25-50 points. Then as time goes on, add as much as you can afford through Disney in small increments![/B]

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

http://www.mousesavers.com/dvc.html

Please read this over and over again.
It has very good info about the cost of buying into and owning DVC, and what to consider. I sure wish I would have found it BEFORE I bought DVC.

 

[Dean]

Ok... on our honeymoon, my husband and I took the tour and I tell ya if we didn't have student loans, I would be paying a hefty payment to the mouse every month for the next ten years...

Good thing we have those loans because I DO NOT want to finance a DVC. Now I want sooo bad to be in it but I refuse to pay almost twice what I would pay if I just paid downright. So what I need to know is what can I do (or what have other people done) to save money to get into DVC? I would like more than 160 points, but I am sure that is where we will have to start. If it weren't for student loans we would have around $700 a month to save (sick that the amount is almost another mortgage payment for us!)...

So without giving too much of our personal info away..here is what we spend money on each month
House
2 cars
car insurance
cell phone
utilities
student loans
groceries
credit card bills (i know, stop using them...and I have... we are just paying them down now- luckily they are interest free for a while)

and occasionally we go out for dinner or a movie but not often.

So what are some creative ways to save money because you all obviously know how much of a love for disney we have since you all already have DVC!

TIA

I would take the Dave Ramsey approach personally which would be to pay off all debt except for possibly the house then save up for DVC. Of course the decision is yours, good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Louiepipbgeeco]

I agree with you about buying into DVC with cash if possible. We waited (it was hard) and just bought a week ago. We started with a 100pt contract (we want and need more, but figured we could get by until we save again for the next installment) Some ideas to help save some money-
* cut the coffee runs before work and take your own if you are a coffee drinker
* take lunches to work instead of eating out (this adds up)
* sell some things on Kijii or ebay(we didn't do this, but have heard many who have)
*yard sale
* cut back on gifts--My husband and decided to set limits for each other on Birthday and Christmas
* cash in reward pts when using hotels, air miles etc whenever possible to save $
* save some $ from income tax returns and put it into a money market bank acct. which earns a bit more interest than a reg. bank acct.
* we are NOT smokers, but if you are QUIT it would save a ton
Good luck. I hope you are able to achieve your dream soon. As the previous post said, you could buy a VERY small 25-30 pt acct first and bank and borrow until you can add more. That would be resale only though. (fyi-Disney direct does sell 100 pts now to new members. For sure to AKV . That is what we did. Direct was soooo easy) Here is some pixie dust for you

 

[rentayenta]

http://www.mousesavers.com/dvc.html

Please read this over and over again.
It has very good info about the cost of buying into and owning DVC, and what to consider. I sure wish I would have found it BEFORE I bought DVC.

Great link.

 

[tinkabella627]

http://www.mousesavers.com/dvc.html

Please read this over and over again.
It has very good info about the cost of buying into and owning DVC, and what to consider. I sure wish I would have found it BEFORE I bought DVC.

I am going to go look at that right now... are you saying you wish you hadn't bought into DVC because of this site? I guess maybe it will make more sense when I go to the site.

I would take the Dave Ramsey approach personally which would be to pay off all debt except for possibly the house then save up for DVC. Of course the decision is yours, good luck with whatever you decide.

Is this Dave Ramsey the guy with the envelopes or something?? Teachers at my school talk about some financial guy with envelopes set aside for each bill or whatever. Do you think we should wait until our student loans are paid off too?

I agree with you about buying into DVC with cash if possible. We waited (it was hard) and just bought a week ago. We started with a 100pt contract (we want and need more, but figured we could get by until we save again for the next installment) Some ideas to help save some money-
* cut the coffee runs before work and take your own if you are a coffee drinker
* take lunches to work instead of eating out (this adds up)
* sell some things on Kijii or ebay(we didn't do this, but have heard many who have)
*yard sale
* cut back on gifts--My husband and decided to set limits for each other on Birthday and Christmas
* cash in reward pts when using hotels, air miles etc whenever possible to save $
* save some $ from income tax returns and put it into a money market bank acct. which earns a bit more interest than a reg. bank acct.
* we are NOT smokers, but if you are QUIT it would save a ton
Good luck. I hope you are able to achieve your dream soon. As the previous post said, you could buy a VERY small 25-30 pt acct first and bank and borrow until you can add more. That would be resale only though. (fyi-Disney direct does sell 100 pts now to new members. For sure to AKV . That is what we did. Direct was soooo easy) Here is some pixie dust for you

I don't drink coffee so theres no money saving there
I started this year bringing lunches to work. It is helping.
I haven't sold anything on ebay but I keep saying we should get all our stuff and just make a big sale of it all.
We are definitely cutting back on gifts starting this year. Christmas cost us too much last year... and not just what we spend on each other.. what we spent on everyone else too.
The only reward points I have are disney rewards...which I do cash in when we go. And then another chase program but no hotels or airfare...random things.
IDK what a market bank acct is?
We don't smoke either. It's good we don't have any bad habits to kick, but doesn't help in the all of a sudden having money concept
25-30 points will do me no justice... I went for a total of 3 weeks between the dates of May 31 and July 13 (one week with my friend and then 2 weeks for our honeymoon).. and I already want to go back. I definitely would need 2 trips a year for it to be worth it.

Thanks for all the input!!!

 

[Dean]

Is this Dave Ramsey the guy with the envelopes or something?? Teachers at my school talk about some financial guy with envelopes set aside for each bill or whatever. Do you think we should wait until our student loans are paid off too?

It is. You asked my opinion. My opinion is that it would be inappropriate to buy a luxury like DVC having car loans, student loans and CC debt or even any one of the 3. I also would not finance such a purchase. Dave Ramsey would also say you should not go on vacation with such debts. YMMV.

 

[backyardponder]

As you are making your decision, remember, DVC has a lot of other costs other than the initial buying of the points. There's annual dues (approximately $5 per point, depending on where you buy), Disney tickets, food while at WDW, transportation to get there, etc. etc. etc.

My advise to you is to hold off for now.

Good Luck!

 

[Lynne M]

Now I want sooo bad to be in it

I think the most important question to ask is.....WHY do you want join DVC so badly? What do you expect to get out of it, that you can't get without being a DVC member?

DVC is just a different way to pay for your trips. It's a way to pre-pay for your lodging in villa-style accommodations. That's all it is. There's nothing that I get as a DVC member that you can't have as a non-member, except for silly little things like free internet and free valet parking. You can have great vacations at WDW without being a member, and you can stay at DVC resorts without being a member.

It's very easy to get caught up in the marketing, and all the shiny pictures of happy family vacations. But you don't need to have DVC to have any of that.

The Mousesavers analysis is excellent, and I'd highly recommend that you study it carefully. It'll show you the situations in which DVC is a good deal, and the situations where it's not such a good deal. For a lot of us, DVC works out well financially. But personally, I'd never put it ahead of paying off major debt. There's just no need to. It's not like you can't go to WDW without being a DVC member.

 

[crisi]

Another thing to keep in mind.....and I'll tell my life story to get there.

I went to Disney on my honeymoon the year OKW opened. Stopped by the booth even. We LOVED Disney. We wanted to make Disney a part of our lives. But it wasn't in the cards. You know what else wasn't in the cards - my husband making me part of his life. We got divorced less than two years later.

The next few years were a huge financial struggle for me to live off one income (I had a house and a mortgage). I would have sold DVC....at a loss. Eventually I got married and the financial struggle became more of the normal drudge....there was enough money now - not to blow, but I wasn't eating rice and beans....

We went to Disney on our honeymoon. It was great. My husband's first trip. But although money was not as tight, there was still a house payment, and a car payment, and our careers were getting started. We'll put DVC off for a little while.

We tried to concieve. Three years later we'd dropped $50k into infertility and adoption. Had we owned DVC this would have been the point of huge regret. To have put that much money into something so frivolous when what we needed money for was children! We'd have sold at a loss.

And my house, the one I struggled to keep. It really wasn't a good spot for kids. Somewhere in our infertility journey, there were raises, job changes, promotions - and money was - well, we were paying for infertility treatments - but we could afford a bigger house. So we built one - a fairly modest house, but one in the burbs with a yard and bedrooms for kids.

The kids arrived - we had huge daycare payments. No room in the budget for vacations. Not even the "hey, the room is paid for" vacations. There just wasn't.

Then, something happened. The balance changed in our favor. The student loans were paid off. The car was paid off. There was no credit card debt. Our careers become much more lucrative. We weren't struggling.

You probably have time. People starting out - getting out of school with loans, getting married - you need to take time to build a life. Luxuries are best reserved for when you have reserves. There will be times yet where life throws you a financial curveball - make sure you've set yourself up to be able to hit it. And that means getting out of debt before 'investing' in luxuries.

 

[Crystal_27]

I would say that if you're wondering whether DVC is in the budget right now, that probably means it isn't. That said, look at resale, look at smaller contracts. If you are traveling to the World at least twice a year, take what you're spending on one of those trips and put that toward a small resale purchase. Then, for next year's travels, use your points for the one trip and add on using what you would have spent for the second trip. I bet if you do that for a couple of years, you'll have as many points as you want, and you're really only sacrificing one trip per year. If owning DVC *right now* is really that important to you, you'll have to find a way to make some sacrifices. Either way, good luck!

 

[Coach81]

Whenever we want to "cut back" we just try to limit our dining. Go back and add up your "eating out" bills and you'll see some easy ways to save right there.

Good luck!

 

[Coach81]

Another thing to keep in mind.....and I'll tell my life story to get there.

I went to Disney on my honeymoon the year OKW opened. Stopped by the booth even. We LOVED Disney. We wanted to make Disney a part of our lives. But it wasn't in the cards. You know what else wasn't in the cards - my husband making me part of his life. We got divorced less than two years later.

The next few years were a huge financial struggle for me to live off one income (I had a house and a mortgage). I would have sold DVC....at a loss. Eventually I got married and the financial struggle became more of the normal drudge....there was enough money now - not to blow, but I wasn't eating rice and beans....

We went to Disney on our honeymoon. It was great. My husband's first trip. But although money was not as tight, there was still a house payment, and a car payment, and our careers were getting started. We'll put DVC off for a little while.

We tried to concieve. Three years later we'd dropped $50k into infertility and adoption. Had we owned DVC this would have been the point of huge regret. To have put that much money into something so frivolous when what we needed money for was children! We'd have sold at a loss.

And my house, the one I struggled to keep. It really wasn't a good spot for kids. Somewhere in our infertility journey, there were raises, job changes, promotions - and money was - well, we were paying for infertility treatments - but we could afford a bigger house. So we built one - a fairly modest house, but one in the burbs with a yard and bedrooms for kids.

The kids arrived - we had huge daycare payments. No room in the budget for vacations. Not even the "hey, the room is paid for" vacations. There just wasn't.

Then, something happened. The balance changed in our favor. The student loans were paid off. The car was paid off. There was no credit card debt. Our careers become much more lucrative. We weren't struggling.

You probably have time. People starting out - getting out of school with loans, getting married - you need to take time to build a life. Luxuries are best reserved for when you have reserves. There will be times yet where life throws you a financial curveball - make sure you've set yourself up to be able to hit it. And that means getting out of debt before 'investing' in luxuries.

Thanks for the story

Well said.. very true. Don't be in such a hurry.. DVC is a luxury.. it will come in time if it is meant to be..

 

[toniosmom]

You probably have time. People starting out - getting out of school with loans, getting married - you need to take time to build a life. Luxuries are best reserved for when you have reserves. There will be times yet where life throws you a financial curveball - make sure you've set yourself up to be able to hit it. And that means getting out of debt before 'investing' in luxuries.

Well said!

 

[Quiksilvr]

A lot of good advice here.

We bought DVC... essentially on impulse during our honeymoon. We financed the purchase. I love WDW (more than my wife does) and knew we'd be back on a regular basis. A couple of years down the road, I wish I'd known a little more about how it works; we likely would have bought resale at a different resort. We purchased AKV..I think we would have preferred BWV.

I don't regret the financing aspect. We paid the loan off after carrying it for about 14 months. I knew we'd pay it off quickly, which is why I didn't mind financing it.

We bought DVC early to get a lower buy-in to a place we knew we'd want to take our kids when we have them. It's also been good as a way of forcing me to take vacations when I otherwise wouldn't (I work a lot). Financially it worked out because, even though we also have a mortgage and student loans, we don't have credit card debt, we don't have a car payment, and we are blessed to have good jobs.

I echo the advice of the other posters though; it sounds like in your situation you should wait to purchase until you've gotten rid of some of your other debts. As far as "money-saving" tips go... really the only thing you can do that makes a significant difference is cutting out "wants" and paying off high-interest debt quickly.

 

[bumbershoot]

I am of several minds on the issue, all at once. I don't advocate *anything* about all of this, I'll just state our experiences.


We do have a car loan and we had some past stuff. And yet we were NOT limiting vacations. All but one vacation was paid in cash (the other was budgeted in cash, but I took a "vacation" from being in charge of $$ and husband managed to spend what was budgeted and the same amount on the CC UGH, b/c I was looking the other way when he was buying stuff), but we certainly could have/should have been using that saved up money to pay stuff. For us, travel is in our blood, we get VERY miserable if we don't go anywhere. It's one of the things that bonded us from our first meeting, that we are wanderers. It's important to us.

So anyway, we were taking the trips anyway. We took 2 years between taking the tour to buy in. We financed, yes we did. I see nothing in our calculations that we'll be spending twice as much b/c of the interest, but then, we have a plan now.

How do we have a plan? Because just after the cancelation period on the loan...hubby was informed of a layoff, it took the whole two months before the department closed to find a job, he got a job but it wasn't what it was cracked up to be, then he got another job (they called him)...we got SCARED, then we got two lump sums, and we *changed*.

Now there's no past debt, the CC got paid off in July (part of which was the stupid December trip ugh), other stuff got paid, thousands went to the car's principal, and just last night I worked it all out on a website called powerpay (not sure if it's .com or .org) to pay things off (car and DVC) in a VERY short amount of time.


For us, this all works. Because we were taking vacations anyway, with no plans, no urges, to stop. That money was going out anyway. We figured...might as well put that money towards DVC instead of towards hotel rooms.

If you are NOT taking those vacations, our experience and thoughts don't count for you. If you're being smarter than we were, if you don't have the same "gotta travel" thing that we both do, it doesn't apply to you at all.



All that said! We did the down payment and financed the rest, it was BLT in March, I cannot remember the points cost. Our monthly payment is 226.92. Right now it's early days so it's a lot of interest *right now*. If you do not want to go all Ramsey on your debt (yes he's the guy with the envelopes, but it's more than just that...get Total Money Makeover from the library, visit livinglikenooneelse dot com, find the forums on his website that's just hisname dot com) and want to pay what you're paying AND save, that's a good ballpark monthly figure for now, and it would be pure savings, it's not like you'd be *paying* interest on it while saving it.

But the Ramsey system has you create a small emergency fund, create a budget (where you purposely get it to zero every month, telling your money exactly where to go), put everything you can towards your smallest debt, pay that smallest one off, then put what you were sending to that one to the next smallest, etc etc, until it's all DONE, and that's just the start. For us we were "lucky" (in a have our cake and eat it too sense) in that we found Ramsey AFTER buying in, so it's just another debt to pay off.

In your case...you probably just want to save for now. Of course, if you ARE taking the luxury vacations (our vacations to Disneyland are generally on the lower cost, budgety side) anyway...it's something to think about. I'm not advocating that, this is all just our experiences in our own lives (lest anyone think I'm sending you down the path to Hades...it's just what we've done and experienced).


Good luck!

 

[dizney4us]

We had looked at DVC for quite a while, but decided against it as we could not take on a payment.
We finally bought both our contracts cash for DH's 40th birthday in 2007, and decided that it would be "our toy"...we would never buy a pool, or a boat, or snowmobiles etc...this would be our recreation/hobby. We had already paid off our credit cards, and I think our cars were already paid off too. Like Crisi, if we had bought earlier, I bet we would have sold for a loss due to the ups and downs life brings. We did go to WDW almost yearly before buying DVC, but pretty cheaply usually staying at value resorts or wherever they had specials (using tax return $). We had children very young and we could not wait till we could afford DVC to take vacations with them, but the trips were certainly done on a tight budget, not that they ever knew that. Now we have 1 in college and 1 in her senior year of HS, and we have taken numerous luxury vacations thanks to DVC and have brought many family members who would have otherwise not gone on such great trips. Things worked out great for us, we have no regrets about it, and look forward to many decades of happy family vacations!
Thats just our situation, good luck to you in whatever you decide!

 

[tinkabella627]

I think a lot of you misunderstood my point. I am NOT financing it and obviously then am NOT doing it now. I will NOT buy into DVC with credit card bills looming over my head, and most likely not until student loans are gone.

Someone asked why I wanted so bad to be in DVC... because I want to be able to go to disney yearly. I want to be able to bring my children and then their children there. Now yes, it is a HUGE cost and nothing is saying I can't go yearly. But if you are going with a family of 4 for one week a year (at the times I would go) at a moderate resort, without tickets, is already $1600. I am not sure if we will ever get into DVC... as much as I would love to... I know that it may not be in the cards ever... BUT being able to save money without realizing it, then that money wouldn't be coming out of our necessary money.

 

[crisi]

You might want to visit the budget board. They are pretty good with general financial advice.

I'm not a Dave Ramsey fan....but I'm a fan of the results Dave Ramsey's fans get. His books are available through the library (more savings).

Ask yourself with every purchase - do I need this? Do I need this now? Can I get it cheaper?

Pay down your bills as quickly as you can, that will change your cash flow - and allow you to pay down your other bills faster, which will further change your cash flow - until you have EXTRA money coming in. If you keep up your frugal ways as you pay down the bills, you'll be in a positive (and nicely positive) net worth situation surprisingly fast (however, unless you inherit money, surprisingly fast might be 10 or 15 years). That means giving up yearly Disney vacations - or any vacations that don't involve staying with friends or relatives for gas money - until those student loans are paid off and you are out of debt.

Look for other opportunities to make money. While you are free of children, consider moving if you can make more - or make the same with a smaller cost of living. Take some risks with your career before kids arrive. Use all the time the childfree have to increase your assets now - a part time job.