Saving for vacations??

[dntd]

I am planning 2 major vacations in two years, one a family trip to universal studios and one a disney vacation with my DD. I have been really bad at saving lately, it seems that there is more days in a month them money lol! I really need a good stratagy to get us to start saving. One thing I was thinking about doing was depositing a set amount each grocery trip/spending spree, say $20 or so in a unused account. I am gardening this year and raising our own chickens for eggs, I should really start to cook from scratch again. Any hint on saving money would be nice as I figure I will need atleast 5-6 grand for the two vacations.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I am planning 2 major vacations in two years, one a family trip to universal studios and one a disney vacation with my DD. I have been really bad at saving lately, it seems that there is more days in a month them money lol! I really need a good stratagy to get us to start saving. One thing I was thinking about doing was depositing a set amount each grocery trip/spending spree, say $20 or so in a unused account. I am gardening this year and raising our own chickens for eggs, I should really start to cook from scratch again. Any hint on saving money would be nice as I figure I will need atleast 5-6 grand for the two vacations.

My husband and I LOVE to vacation, but we hate paying for it. Maybe what we do will help you.

We set it up such that for each paycheck, $XX goes straight into a vacation fund. This has checking and savings. The money goes straight into savings. As soon as we need to pay off the cruise, we transfer money from savings to checking and then just use that card (it is a visa ATM) to pay for it.

For our flights, I am too paranoid, so I use my platinum Visa to pay for flights and then right away pay it off using the vacation fund. (I like the travel coverage of my platinum card.)

Any way, we have great vacations and it feels like they are free because we never see the money.

 

[TifffanyD]

We do it just like Handbag Lady! We each have 10% of our paychecks direct deposited into our vacation savings account. We also have agreed to put half of any tax refunds and profit sharing into this account as well. It helps me to feel less guilty about spending the money on vacations!

 

[Chelley00]

We're another family who has money taken out automatically each week. Half of it goes into our regular savings account, half into an internet savings account for vacations. It's not much because we are on a pretty strict budget, but it adds up.

We also have a decorated vacation box that we put change in. Once in awhile, someone will dump a dollar, or five, in it.

 

[mommy2_3]

i am another one that is so bad at saving! we had saved about $150 and just put it in a shoebox. bad idea. we needed a few extra dollars for this and that and before we knew it, it was gone. all we have left is change. we keep adding change into it. last time i counted it we had about $15 in the box. so what i did was on DH's last check i called up disney resv. and put down one night on a room. that was $158. next check im going to add another $25. and keep adding $25-$50 till next yrs prices come out. then im going to add on our park tickets and DxDDP. by then i will have over the $200 deposit that i am supposed to have for it! then just keep adding about $100 a month to our package and pay it off in Feb. when we get our taxes. this seems the easiest rout for us!

 

[weluvdizne]

Check the reward board. There are several internet sites you can earn a few extra bucks on. I just got enough points on one of the tonight to get a prepaid $25 visa card. It's not much, but it does all add up in the end. I'm aiming for a trip in fall 2011, so I've got some time.

 

[santadog]

We have one of those giant plastic "Mr Potato Heads" (the one you can fill up at the park with pieces for $50).
Our method requires self control, but it works pretty well for us.
We don't spend any change, or any singles: they go directly in the "Tater".
It's not only a great way to save (we've socked away almost $300 since April) - it's a great way to cut down on frivolous spending. You think twice about grabbing a bottle of pop, or a bag of chips if it's pretty much gonna cost you $5.

 

[lisaross]

I would immediately open a separate savings account for each vacation. I have mine on ING. Anyway, i would automatically deposit a certain amount monthly to each account. On top of that an extra $ u get should go into those accounts, yard sale - over time etc. Also start putting all loose change at the end of each day into a money jar - you'll be surprised how much u will have after 2 years!

I am planning 2 major vacations in two years, one a family trip to universal studios and one a disney vacation with my DD. I have been really bad at saving lately, it seems that there is more days in a month them money lol! I really need a good stratagy to get us to start saving. One thing I was thinking about doing was depositing a set amount each grocery trip/spending spree, say $20 or so in a unused account. I am gardening this year and raising our own chickens for eggs, I should really start to cook from scratch again. Any hint on saving money would be nice as I figure I will need atleast 5-6 grand for the two vacations.

 

[cglaura]

Open a savings account in a totally separate bank than you everyday stuff with no atm card. Make it so you have to physically go to the bank to deposit and withdraw.

OP: For regular savings....see what you can cut back on (perhaps the spending sprees? I'm not sure what that is...but it sounds splurg-y ). Maybe you will see after some time with only buying what you really need, you have alot left over at the end of the month. And shop with a grocery list, always!

 

[scrapbookmommy]

i am another one that is so bad at saving! we had saved about $150 and just put it in a shoebox. bad idea. we needed a few extra dollars for this and that and before we knew it, it was gone. all we have left is change. we keep adding change into it. last time i counted it we had about $15 in the box. so what i did was on DH's last check i called up disney resv. and put down one night on a room. that was $158. next check im going to add another $25. and keep adding $25-$50 till next yrs prices come out. then im going to add on our park tickets and DxDDP. by then i will have over the $200 deposit that i am supposed to have for it! then just keep adding about $100 a month to our package and pay it off in Feb. when we get our taxes. this seems the easiest rout for us!

This is my same plan for paying for our next trip. We save all of our change but I"m like you if I just put money back then we get in it for a little bit here and a little bit there and then it will be gone. DH is much worse about this then me. In the next couple weeks I plan to call and book our room and pay the first night then keep paying a little each week and then add our room and dining plan. We have almost a year to go so this will be an easier way for us to pay a little at a time that we won't really notice. I'm hoping maybe a deal will come out when it gets closer to time and then it will just be that much extra I have put away.

 

[scard192]

Like other PP's I opened a separate savings account and $20/paycheck (every other week) is direct deposited into that account. I don't miss $10/week and by the time I go to Disney again I should have than enough saved to pay for it.

 

[QVCshopper]

We don't really save just for a trip. We just save and save and use our "stockpile" of money to pay for a trip. Or a new AC, or new tires, or whatever else comes up. Our monthly income is above our monthly spending. Everything leftover goes into a money market account at Vanguard. When that builds up, we move money into our IRAs and ESAs to fully fund them for the year. We also put some money every month into our kids 529s. This way, we're not really saving for one goal, but many all at once. Really, the key for us is limiting our expenses and -- most importantly -- our wants.

 

[Justsyd2]

We actually have three savings accounts. We put money into each one each week. One is for long-term savings, one is for "oh no, that broke!" savings, and the other account is for vacations. When the vacation account has enough in it to pay for the trip...we pay for it in full, and off we go!

We have two trips planned right now, and I'm saving $300 a month for them. The trips are paid, and I'm saving the fun money now.

 

[Sagginit]

i agree with the money direct into savings. its the concept of paying yourself first, or its like paying a vacation bill everytime you get paid. i booked about 5 months ago and then started putting money into savings for it. since it feels like a bill i am more motivated to put the money away and save it quicker. i have a friend who does the change thing but she is a bartender/waitress as is her boyfriend so they collect a lot of change on a regular basis so it works well for them.

 

[Mom2apirate&princess]

For us vacations are another bill and it gets paid every payday. I have two vacation savings account at my bank because we always have a trip on the horizon. We also save change. I read about someone on this thread saving dollars, I think we are going to do that as well.

 

[leebee]

I use my Disney VISA for as much as humanly possible. Groceries, gas, clothing, online purchases, bill paying, etc., all go on the VISA and get paid off at the end of each billing cycle. I know, there are folks who go hog-wild with a credit card, but DH and I know that we have to pay it off. Our credit card is how we live, not for frivolity and big gifts. I manage to rack up about $1000 in Disney Rewards money every two years, and this goes a LONG way to reducing the vacation budget. DD and I will go to POP with upgraded free dining this summer for 10 nights... it's costing me about $500 oop (plus airfare) for our vacation! This is like free money, as I would be paying for these things anyhow, not saving the cash in an account. I know, it's only 1% and some cards pay more, but there's no annual fee and the money is clearly earmarked for Disney (so thankfully DH can't use it for airfare to Iowa to visit my FIL ).

If you can control your spending and pay off the credit card balance every month (and I do mean EVERY MONTH), it's well worth it IMO!

 

[JoShan1719]

We actually have three savings accounts. We put money into each one each week. One is for long-term savings, one is for "oh no, that broke!" savings, and the other account is for vacations. When the vacation account has enough in it to pay for the trip...we pay for it in full, and off we go!

That's basically what we have going on. We have our checking, a savings that gets money deposited from our checking everytime we use our card (a set up our bank has) which is our emergency account, a savings just for our car payments, and a Disney account. I have money drawn weekly from the checking into the Disney fund. And none of the savings accounts are attached to our cards except for the emergency account.

 

[tammymacb]

We do a vacation spending account also. Each paycheck we move money from checking to a designated "vacation spending account" that money is ONLY used for vacations. Also, when I have any little "windfalls" or extra money for some reason, I put that money in there, too. This year, I'm selling an expensive dive camera, the proceeds will all go right back into the account.

In the past year we've done-

Disney Wonder 3 nights.
Disney Hilton Head island- summer - 4 nights
Scuba Club Cozumel dive trip 10 days ( Aug 09 )
Boardwalk for Food and Wine with my girlfriends 3 nights.
Carnival Dream 7 nights in January with my family
Spring Break at Hilton Head Island
Summer trip to HHI ( I leave Monday )
and in July...9 days in Sandals St Lucia.


Every penny of these trips was paid before I left and I don't owe anything.

I've also already planned a few Disney Trips for next year, plus the Allure of the Seas in January and we're deciding between the Med next summer or returning to West Bay, Grand Cayman for a dive trip.

 

[MrsPete]

We set it up such that for each paycheck, $XX goes straight into a vacation fund. This has checking and savings. The money goes straight into savings. As soon as we need to pay off the cruise, we transfer money from savings to checking and then just use that card (it is a visa ATM) to pay for it.

We do the same thing. A portion of my paycheck is automatically deposited into a bank different from the one where we keep our checking. This bank is slightly inconvenient for us, and we have no ATM card for that account; thus, we have to make an effort to make a withdrawal from that account.

One difference: We don't consider ours JUST vacation money. We consider ours "short term savings". When our TV was struck by lightening and when we bought a new car, we took money from that account. We consider that account money that has to be planned for -- we'd never pull money out of it for groceries or clothing -- but we have it available for big things that we want, vacations being the most common item.

I use my Disney VISA for as much as humanly possible. Groceries, gas, clothing, online purchases, bill paying, etc., all go on the VISA and get paid off at the end of each billing cycle. I know, there are folks who go hog-wild with a credit card, but DH and I know that we have to pay it off. Our credit card is how we live, not for frivolity and big gifts.

We don't have a Disney VISA, but we do the same thing with other cards. I try to make every dollar I spend get me SOMETHING other than just the product I'm buying. We're going on a cruise in a few weeks -- wow! We're down to only weeks! -- and I've already cashed in my Discover card points for restaurant cards (for the drive) and a gift VISA (for gas), and my Royal Caribbean VISA card points for Onboard Credit, and my MyCokeRewards for more 20-oz soda coupons than the six of us could possibly drink.

It is important to emphasize -- like you did -- that it's foolish to consider credit cards rewards as "rewards" IF you're paying interest. Ditto to buying things just so you can earn points towards the rewards. But if you have the self-discipline to use the credit card as a tool (rather than letting it use you), it can be a great bonus at vacation time.

Also, don't forget that a person who travels for business can rack up airline points and hotel points.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Great tips!

I've set up an automatic transfer into a separate checking account with debit card, each week. For me, I'm using it to pay extra to my student loans -- it's much easier in small increments than a big one.

One tip I've heard that I've started trying is to never spend a $5 bill. Put the $5 in savings, etc. whenever you get it for change, etc.