Saving Ideas/Tips??

[granismith]

I just plugged in a few numbers on mapquest & gas looks to be around $400 roundtrip for us.

Thank you!

 

[Mindy71]

Of course it depends on your vehicle. We could even go cheaper if we all took turns driving (me, dh, ds1 & ds2) & not make any hotel stops. I don't know if I'm willing to go that far though.

 

[tholczer]

Am I reading that right? Did you say you are there for the entire month of October?

Not sure if you can do this with an AP, but the Disney Visa lets you book your Disney trip and pay it off interest free. With the Hojo being a good neighbor hotel, this might work. Then you have a year to pay it off instead of the eight months.

Tracy

 

[ironpig70]

I see you are from Oregon and I know from looking Aligent flies from either Eugene or medford to LAX and it is pretty cheap from $49-79 each way per person. Also Southwest goes out of Portland for cheap.


I know this is your vacation and you do not wanna worry about anything but you may wanna scale back some. I know its not ideal but I would rather take a scaled back trip rather than no trip.

 

[TheColtonsMom]

I am really interested in if that 4000 is for just her or her and her mom. We went for 4 days at christmas stayed in a nice suite at the annabella hotel. flew in from Montana attended 4 character breakfasts and ate at Blue Bayou and for the three of us it was considerably less than 4000.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

OP - Would you please be more specific so we can understand how you came up with $4,100? How many nights are you planning to stay at the HOJO? Are you paying for yourself only, or covering your mom, too?

Budgeting just you, I did a quick calculation on a 8 day/7 night trip:

$500 - HOJO Entertainment Rate for 7 Nights with 17% tax included
$350 - Airfare (which is inflated since you can plan ahead for a better rate - I'm seeing them much lower right now.)
$0 - Annual Pass (unless you plan to renew at this time)
$60 - 1 MHP ticket
$45 - SuperShuttle for 2 (in case your cousin can't help)
____
$955

Take that from $4100 and you're left with $3,145: $393 per day!

If you're paying for your mom, too, then I figured you'd share a room and pick up her MHP ticket and a premium park pass. That would still leave you with $142 per person/per day in food and merchandise expenses. That is still a lot and you can easily spend half that per day on food and extras without tough budgeting.

Can your mom help with trip expenses?

 

[iKristin]

Okay, the $4100 is all the totals rounded up to the nearest hundred lol. I like being safe with cost. The hotel was somewhere around $550 so I just say $600. The flight round trip for two is only $350 (so $400) I add in $100 for transportation which is just a safety thing for the hour drive to the airport (you never know!! flat tire?) or if I need a taxi for any reason during the trip and then the rest ($3000) is for anything else, including merchandise AND food. This is all for two people, not just one. The $3000 also would be things like trips outside the park area. So it's just a buffer amount for anything else I want to do or buy. It's the same amount I do every year. My mom doesn't make any money except SSI and Disability so I take her because she likes Disneyland as much as me and we have a good time together, so I don't mind paying.

 

[dptabrown]

OP, I can totally understand wanting to go on vacation and not have to "worry" about money. I guess you just have to decide if it's worth it to you to 1. go on vacation with a planned out main budget and an "allowance" for souvenirs, etc. OR 2. not go on vaca this year. I am a "planner" so it actually helps me to budget by planning where I want to eat, where we're gonna go each day, instead of just having a "blanket amount" of $3k for food & merch, ya know?

I just plugged in a few numbers on mapquest & gas looks to be around $400 roundtrip for us.

Wow, I'm from the puget sound area and I just paid $450 for THREE tickets roundtrip from seattle to santa ana! I guess depends on how many people you have to buy air tickets for, but even as a family of four if you plan on staying one night on the way down and back it would be cheaper to fly! It's helpful to hear what the gas cost might be. thx!

 

[Bungle]

Wow, I'm from the puget sound area and I just paid $450 for THREE tickets roundtrip from seattle to santa ana! I guess depends on how many people you have to buy air tickets for, but even as a family of four if you plan on staying one night on the way down and back it would be cheaper to fly! It's helpful to hear what the gas cost might be. thx!

Do you mind sharing what airline this is with? I searched and couldn't find a deal like that. Cheapest was 196 per person.

 

[chrissiecutie]

Do you mind sharing what airline this is with? I searched and couldn't find a deal like that. Cheapest was 196 per person.

A few weeks ago I paid a little over $500 for 3 round trip tix from Seattle to SNA with Alaska Airlines.

To the other poster asking about driving costs...we have a Toyota 4Runner and it cost us roughly $300-350 to drive round trip about a year ago. When we drive we always drive straight through and I pack all our food. So usually it's just the cost of gas we have to worry about. We only drive when it's a much cheaper option and I always add in the additional time off work that it takes when driving vs. flying. Since I don't have vacation/holiday pay...my time off is always at my own expense and if I have to take an extra 2 days to drive vs. fly- then I try and add this amount into the totals when comparing the 2 prices. Make sense??

This time around flights were SO cheap, that the prices ended up being roughly the same amount (gas plus time off work) so we are flying this year!

To the OP...what a wonderful daughter you are to take your mom to Disneyland!

I would NOT worry at all about your budget with 2 people. If I can take 3 people for 1 week to 10 days on less then you can do it, no problem!

Here's how we save money:

Compare flying vs. driving

Stay offsite- typically at Hojo's with ET rate at $59/night

Bake muffins for breakfasts- we NEVER eat breakfast out

Split 2 plates between the 3 of us when we do eat out

Bring in treats/snacks for son instead of buying junk in the park

DH and I almost never buy souviners but DS brings his Christmas/Birthday money and buys himself one or 2 special souvenirs. Last year it was a Pluto hat and a tshirt. So our souvenir cost is nothing.

Stop at the grocery store for sodas/water and other food items. We always pack in our own drinks.

My budget is always $2000 for 3 people for roughly 7-10 days.

We don't buy alot of souvenirs, we eat full meals and don't snack throughout the day (that snacking adds up!) and we always allow for 1 yummy treat per person per day. It's is vacation after all!

 

[Funball]

i save money by trying to eat one meal at lunch that is large enough that by dinner i am not even hungry...

I also try and get just regular water(not bottled), i also ask myself everytime i am in a gift shop "do i really need this"..the answer is no so i don't buy things that i don't need.

 

[villain luvr]

We spend a lot as well on our trips. I just try to save as much as I can through the time period. I usually recycle everything we can. Go through my closet and get rid of things I no longer wear. I also put money on a gift card every other week. Once it is on that gift card I can no longer spend it. I also have $30 a week transfered from my checking to savings account. I can not touch the account unless I go into the bank. I hate going to the bank so the money stays safe until it is time to leave.

 

[Mindy71]

Wow, I'm from the puget sound area and I just paid $450 for THREE tickets roundtrip from seattle to santa ana! I guess depends on how many people you have to buy air tickets for, but even as a family of four if you plan on staying one night on the way down and back it would be cheaper to fly! It's helpful to hear what the gas cost might be. thx!



There are 5 of us so when you add up airline tickets for 5(all adult), parking all week at the Portland airport, & transportation to & from whichever airport we fly in to it costs less to just drive.

 

[Bungle]

nm

 

[clairabell29]

You would be amazed at what a little grociery coupon clipping can do for your budget. I use coupon mom and the sunday paper. Sometimes I even look up certain items via google. yes it takes some time, but I have cut my monthly food budget by a little over 1/2 by doing this-sometimes I even get food for free!

You could take what you save doing that and put it towards your trip, just a thought.

 

[chrissiecutie]

OP...I forgot to mention how I save BEFORE I go! Ha! Guess I was just so excited to talk about what I do to save once I'm there.

I agree with another poster, coupon clipping and watching those sales can save you a ton! Although since we switched to organic and natural foods, there aren't quite as many coupons and good deals.

About a year ago DH was out of work and his industry (construction) has been one of the hardest hit. We lived for well over a year on meager unemployment, had NO savings and we managed to NOT incur any debt during that time frame. Oh yeah, we also went to Disneyland...here's how we did it!

Cut all non-essential items. We only needed one car (and we still only use one car now that DH and I are both working) so we sold his and kept mine. We also paired down our cable options and our cell phone. We don't have a home phone...no need with cell phones.

I started babysitting and DH started offering his construction/handyman services to help make extra cash. I'm sure there are LOTS of things you are good at or services you could offer to help bring in extra money.

We sold everything we could! I love ebay and use it to sell all DS's old clothes and then just buy the new ones. So my clothing costs for DS are nothing!! We also put alot of specific items that were too big to ship, on craigslist. All the money from this went into our emergency fund. We slowly built this up and did NOT use any of this money for our Disney trip.

We called our utility companies and insurance company to see if we could qualify for a low income discount.

I got 3 part time jobs since DH was unable to get a full time job. DH was able to finally get a part time job. A crappy one...but work is work, right! My jobs all allowed me to bring DS with me (a requirement on my part) so that we didn't have to worry about childcare.

I clipped coupons and made everything from scratch. We only ate out if we had a coupon for it or a gift card.

I stayed away from my "trigger" places. So no more trips to Target for one thing and then coming back $150 later. I also stopped shopping online. I don't usually do alot of online shopping, but I do like those sales...however, I just didn't even look or go there. Much easier to resist temptation when you just take it away! In this mindset...I also started sewing and repairing our shoes and clothing so it would last longer and we wouldn't need to buy new to replace the old. Fix and repair were 2 BIG words in my house last year.

Re-evaluate your bills and expenses. When paying the bills, I no longer paid extra towards our credit debt. We didn't have alot of credit debt but the goal was no longer paying it off. The goal became NOT incurring any more debt and I'm happy to say, we didn't.

Take advantage of FREE things. That's right, some things in life really ARE free! For example, on the 3rd Thursday of every month (or another day) many museums in my area offer free admission during a certain time frame. DS loves the children's museum near us, so on every "free" night- we went!

Don't forget to ask for a discount or if investigate a cheaper option. I learned that an old theater near me shows movies for $3 per person at any time of the day. Granted, the movies have been out for about a month already but I didn't mind. And for the 3 of us, $9 vs. $36 is a BIG difference.

Both DH and I signed up for a local company that pays you to complete surveys/studies. There's several online but the one we did had locations near us where you spoke with a group of people and at the end they paid you cash. Anytime we did this, we put half into our emergency fund and the other half into the Disney fund. Typical payout was $100 cash for an hour of your time, not too bad!!


I took $100/month and set it aside for our trip. During this very difficult and stressful time it really helped me to dream about a vacation to my happy place- Disneyland! This truely kept me positive and gave me a goal. I told DH that once he FINALLY got a good, full time job- we were going to Disneyland to celebrate. And we did! And I knew that if I needed that trip money to pay the bills...well, that's just the way life goes!

The lessons I learned while DH was unemployed have really stayed with me. I can now happily say, that it was a great experience for us and a much needed lesson in personal finance. Sure it was stressful, but now I know exactly what I would do in that situation and I'm confident that I can do just about anything!

 

[disneymama83]

OP...I forgot to mention how I save BEFORE I go! Ha! Guess I was just so excited to talk about what I do to save once I'm there.

I agree with another poster, coupon clipping and watching those sales can save you a ton! Although since we switched to organic and natural foods, there aren't quite as many coupons and good deals.

About a year ago DH was out of work and his industry (construction) has been one of the hardest hit. We lived for well over a year on meager unemployment, had NO savings and we managed to NOT incur any debt during that time frame. Oh yeah, we also went to Disneyland...here's how we did it!

Cut all non-essential items. We only needed one car (and we still only use one car now that DH and I are both working) so we sold his and kept mine. We also paired down our cable options and our cell phone. We don't have a home phone...no need with cell phones.

I started babysitting and DH started offering his construction/handyman services to help make extra cash. I'm sure there are LOTS of things you are good at or services you could offer to help bring in extra money.

We sold everything we could! I love ebay and use it to sell all DS's old clothes and then just buy the new ones. So my clothing costs for DS are nothing!! We also put alot of specific items that were too big to ship, on craigslist. All the money from this went into our emergency fund. We slowly built this up and did NOT use any of this money for our Disney trip.

We called our utility companies and insurance company to see if we could qualify for a low income discount.

I got 3 part time jobs since DH was unable to get a full time job. DH was able to finally get a part time job. A crappy one...but work is work, right! My jobs all allowed me to bring DS with me (a requirement on my part) so that we didn't have to worry about childcare.

I clipped coupons and made everything from scratch. We only ate out if we had a coupon for it or a gift card.

I stayed away from my "trigger" places. So no more trips to Target for one thing and then coming back $150 later. I also stopped shopping online. I don't usually do alot of online shopping, but I do like those sales...however, I just didn't even look or go there. Much easier to resist temptation when you just take it away! In this mindset...I also started sewing and repairing our shoes and clothing so it would last longer and we wouldn't need to buy new to replace the old. Fix and repair were 2 BIG words in my house last year.

Re-evaluate your bills and expenses. When paying the bills, I no longer paid extra towards our credit debt. We didn't have alot of credit debt but the goal was no longer paying it off. The goal became NOT incurring any more debt and I'm happy to say, we didn't.

Take advantage of FREE things. That's right, some things in life really ARE free! For example, on the 3rd Thursday of every month (or another day) many museums in my area offer free admission during a certain time frame. DS loves the children's museum near us, so on every "free" night- we went!

Don't forget to ask for a discount or if investigate a cheaper option. I learned that an old theater near me shows movies for $3 per person at any time of the day. Granted, the movies have been out for about a month already but I didn't mind. And for the 3 of us, $9 vs. $36 is a BIG difference.

Both DH and I signed up for a local company that pays you to complete surveys/studies. There's several online but the one we did had locations near us where you spoke with a group of people and at the end they paid you cash. Anytime we did this, we put half into our emergency fund and the other half into the Disney fund. Typical payout was $100 cash for an hour of your time, not too bad!!


I took $100/month and set it aside for our trip. During this very difficult and stressful time it really helped me to dream about a vacation to my happy place- Disneyland! This truely kept me positive and gave me a goal. I told DH that once he FINALLY got a good, full time job- we were going to Disneyland to celebrate. And we did! And I knew that if I needed that trip money to pay the bills...well, that's just the way life goes!

The lessons I learned while DH was unemployed have really stayed with me. I can now happily say, that it was a great experience for us and a much needed lesson in personal finance. Sure it was stressful, but now I know exactly what I would do in that situation and I'm confident that I can do just about anything!

Good for you These are excellent tips!

 

[blackjackdelta]

Sorry to hear about that huge paycut. Hope those were not regular(FT) hours. We set a line item budget, figure what we think we need to do and both of us will pick up another job and put that money directly into our Disney account. We do not use CC's unless I have to fly somewhere. We try to pay for things,cash only, you would be surprized how much spending drops when you use cash. I like to know that I do not have to worry about funding along time before we leave.

Jack

 

[rmom]

Sorry about the paycut.

Have you tried the rewards programs? Go to the Disney Rewards Program Forum (near the bottom of the forum list). There is a lot of information on which pay the quickest/most and information on how to do them. It won't make up the amount you lost but if you do them everyday, you should be able to have a nice amount of extra for your trip.