Saving for WDW

[novajeanjellybean]

I know this has already been posted before, but I was wondering how everyone goes about saving for their trips to WDW. Thanks.

 

[melagan]

i know that i may be in the minority but we don't. We book like 8 months in advance and pay so much every month until its payed off. Then we do start to save for spending money. The kids do save the allowence though.

 

[Missy1961]

Check out the Budget Board for lots of great ideas!

 

[WAHMto5]

If you have a disney Visa, you can be sure to use it for just about everything to save up some points. I also like to pick up some disney bucks here and there when we go to the mall to save up for the kids. We use our income tax every other year for our trip, so we mostly just save for spending, gas, ect..

 

[JRawkSteady]

My DGf opened up a separate savings account in a bank she doesn't use for checking - she puts 50 - 150 dollars in from every paycheck (depending on how much she has to give to loans and such) to here WDW account - By the time we go in March or May she'll have a lot more than I do!!! But she likes to shop....

 

[boomhauer]

i know that i may be in the minority but we don't. We book like 8 months in advance and pay so much every month until its payed off. Then we do start to save for spending money. The kids do save the allowence though.

That's pretty much what I do as well.

 

[tinkpinkbrandy]

i know that i may be in the minority but we don't. We book like 8 months in advance and pay so much every month until its payed off. Then we do start to save for spending money. The kids do save the allowence though.

That is what I am doing for our trip in May. When I'm finished paying off the package I will start saving for spending money.

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

We also save change in one of those plastic water bottles from the office. We saved $900 in a year and a half!! I am in the process of saving againg for our WDW trip this May...Hope to cover the hotel with that money.

I also joined the Vacation club at the credit Union at work...$50 a month and so that is also an extra $600.

Book in advance! We booked our Disney cruise in March of 2004 and now we leave in 3 days!! OMG!! I can 't stand it!!

Happy saving!

 

[firemanx]

call me crazy, but because i cant wait to go back and want to go ASAP i picked up a 2nd job so now i work 2 jobs 5 days a week and go to school also. Call me crazy, but i love the world

 

[wilsonjen]

We have a split system for saving.
High Tech (HE!)
DH handles all the budget/bills, so he uses Quicken to "pay ourselves" at the first of each month (we do the same thing for other savings). That way, the money is earmarked for Disney and doesn't show up in our account, so we can't spend it!

Low Tech (ME!)
I don't carry cash for anything. So, whenever I get cash for a gift, a refund, an expense reimbursement for work, etc., I put it into two envelopes in our home safe. One envelope holds bigger bills and the other one holds $1s for tipping.

Seems silly, I know, but it really adds up! I've saved over $200 over the past 3 months with my system and DH has saved for our entire trip with his system, so my money is truly Disney Dollars for shopping at the World!

 

[bigmerle1966]

I have lots of ways that I save money for vacations, Disney and others.

I have $20 per pay check direct deposited into a savings account at a Federal Credit Union that my company participates in. I also get two extra pays per year so I put a good amount away from that and part of my taxes are put aside in the savings account as well. And when I have a few extra dollars I purchase Disney dollars. I also have the Disney Visa and charge deposits, airfare and other stuff that I can pay back quickly.

 

[kellyanne731]

I'm saving for a house and a 10 day trip to Disney next year .

Needless to say I'll probably be broke for quite some time. I'm actually asking my boss for a raise next week, so wish me luck

 

[PaulDavid's mom]

I opened a 12 month add on CD with $100 so that my $$ earns interest. I put in some money from my paycheck, put in my work expense checks, and any money I get as gifts. I also save change in a bucket and once a month put it in the CD. The best part is I can't take it out for 1 year or I'll get a penalty (who wants that!) and I can add as much as I want throughout the year!! I also started selling Tupperware on the side to throw into that good 'ol CD!!!

 

[BankBunny]

1. I opened an ING savings account online and have $25.00 put into it each time I get paid (bi-weekly)

2. I save all of my change + I buy a $10.00 roll of quarters ever week and put it into the bowl (from May-Oct I saved $497.95 in change) When the bowl gets full I cash it in and put it into my ING savings for Disney.

3. I put EVERYTHING(groceries, gas, ect.) on my Disney VISA instead of using my debit card and pay it off weekly. I have 361 Disney Dollars so far.

4. Since I get paid bi-weekly 2 months out of the years I get a third paycheck. Those months I still pay all our bills out of the first four weeks of the month so I can put most of that "extra" paycheck into the ING savings.

5. I also try to put most of my bonus and tax refund in the ING savings also.

 

[novajeanjellybean]

Thanks for all your help. I like the one about paying yourself and the change jar. Thanks again for all the ideas.

 

[dznyacct]

I have a vacation savings account that $$ is deposited to each payday.

I have a flex spending account at work.

I too have 2 months where I receive 3 paychecks. Half of the third check goes to .

I save all my change which adds up to ~ $500/year.

I have participated in studies at our local university. They usually don't require much time and I get paid pretty well. The last one I did took ~ 20 minutes and I got a $15 check. Our local newspaper just had an ad to participate in a focus group. $45 for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. I'm doing that in a few weeks.

ALL found $$ goes in the fund!! Things like rebates, birthday $$, anything unexpected/unplanned. I paid for my son's best friend to go on the 7 night DCL western last summer with my "found" money!!

I have never been more motivated to save for anything like I am for our WDW trips. I feel like it's a challenge. I always end up bringing $$/unused allocations home from each trip, so it becomes "seed money" for the next trip (and there will ALWAYS be a next trip )

 

[daisyduck123]

Last spring, my mom (she takes me, DD11, & DS7 to DW each year) & I had a garage sale one week before our trip. We made over $800.00. This was extra spending money for our trip.

For our trip next May, the kids & I have been looking around the house for stuff we don't need/use anymore. Anything we're finished with that is worth any value..we advertise for sale in the local Pennysaver. All money earned is being saved for our next trip.

 

[Nancyg56]

We have a split system for saving.
High Tech (HE!)
DH handles all the budget/bills, so he uses Quicken to "pay ourselves" at the first of each month (we do the same thing for other savings). That way, the money is earmarked for Disney and doesn't show up in our account, so we can't spend it!

Low Tech (ME!)
I don't carry cash for anything. So, whenever I get cash for a gift, a refund, an expense reimbursement for work, etc., I put it into two envelopes in our home safe. One envelope holds bigger bills and the other one holds $1s for tipping.

Seems silly, I know, but it really adds up! I've saved over $200 over the past 3 months with my system and DH has saved for our entire trip with his system, so my money is truly Disney Dollars for shopping at the World!

We did the same thing. My DH is a budgets better than I do, although he is NOT hi tech at all. He simply will not deposit a pay check (I told you not even a little hi tech ) until the one we use to pay bills is gone. He then saves each uncashed check for whatever we are saving for at the time. I hate the mathod, but it works.

I just put extra money away, and save change. Works for me, as I don't tend to carry much cash so if it's not there I will not spend it.

This time it our trip, but last year we were able to expand our home, renovate the entire living area and kitchen along, new roof and siding with heating and cooling added. My system would have never worked, and his allowed us to finance very little. My system would have gotten us a toaster oven.