saving on the sly

[bex7583]

please tell me there is others that have to do this

my dh just doesnt get florida and after our last trip he seems to be keeping his wallet rather closed
hes also much more sensible than me and thinks we should get a new kitchen and finish renovating our house.

im now trying to sneakily save at least the disney deposit and enough to book our flights by october time. i am hoping that when he comes out with his "we cant afford it " line dah dah but we can coz i have saved all this

it was going really well until i had my hours cut at work ( council budgets grrrr) but i have made a new speadsheet and i am determined to make this happen , but at the moment it seems like its £1 in and £10 out. i had a full week of overtime booked in next week which has now been cancelled due to gas works making the building unsafe to work in

i know once booked everything usually falls into place but i want it faster !!

we had booked this year with some price glitch flights but they were cancelled then we had a huge leak in the house and had to excavate outside and relay a drain so that put a end to any discussions of going this year.

i just wish real life would stop getting in the way of disney and my dh wasnt so sensible

 

[wilma-bride]

Bex, I understand how you feel - I used to be exactly the same (to a point). My DH has always been sensible, though, and jokes that if it were down to me, I would bankrupt us to get to Disney. We have always had a rule that we don't book any holiday until I can show him that the money will be saved to pay it off BEFORE the holiday. The last couple of times, I have done a bit of 'Disney maths' and managed to scrape it together by the skin of my teeth but last year, due to various circumstances, we ended up having no less than 3 holidays and it took it's toll (I know, I'm so hard done by ). Consequently, we are facing a situation now where, for the first time in 12 years, we might not be going to WDW this year. I am gutted but I am absolutely not going to get into debt over something which is a luxury not a necessity. Two or three times over the last couple of weeks I have been tempted to book flights and just stick them on the credit card (knowing I could probably pay them off in a couple of months), but my sensible gene took over and convinced me that it would be the wrong thing to do. I am struggling a bit to come to terms with it and, I'll be honest, there have been a few tears this last week - I am pretty emotional at the moment anyway but, still, it's JUST a holiday.

And, when all is said and done, that's the bottom line. It is just a holiday, it's not a necessity and I think of it as a bit like pulling a sicky from work when you're not really sick - guaranteed that you are likely to get sick for real and not be able to take time off because you have just been off sick. I know that's probably a weird analogy but if you were to try and pay for a holiday that you can't really afford, guaranteed that soemthing will happen that will need that money.

Having said all of that, if you feel like you can save a bit 'on the sly' then there is no harm in that. Personally, though, I would be tempted not to do it on the sly but just admit that you are putting a bit of extra money away - and, if it's not needed for other stuff, then you can justify using it towards a deposit for the holiday.

Hope that makes sense

 

[scoobydooby]

I am permanently saving for Disney, even when we have no trip planned. But I never book them until I can pay for them in full. I agree. A holiday is a luxury. Not worth any level of debt in my book.

 

[Kath2003]

We work like this...

I make sure we have the money before I book anything. I wouldn't ever book banking on that I will have the money, it has to be sat there, waiting.

I draw up a cost sheet for the trip. Of everything. Flights, hotels, tickets, food, ESTA, even the petrol to drive to the airport! I usually include several options of places to stay or ticket options. I present them to DH for him to peruse.

I'm quite a *ahem* thrifty" person (cheapskate!) which helps my cause (I never ever buy clothes, shoes, toiletries etc. unless they are on a SERIOUS sale!) - DH knows I love a bargain! We make sensible savings wherever we can e.g. we take lunch to work, share car journeys etc.

We discuss the options, and choose one. We save huge, huge volumes of money by flying indirect, staying offsite and riding the buses.

If there are more "important" things, that affect our everyday lives, they trump holidays every time. Cars, DIY, special events - no question, Orlando goes to the back of the queue.

We don't really do gifts for each other - everything is "we will put that money toward the holiday". We have also been fortunate in that some of our family appreciate our fondness of holidays and direct birthday or Xmas gifts toward it in some way (e.g. dollars, coupons, holiday clothes etc.)

At the end of each trip, I record our actual spending to use as a guideline for the next trip. We set budgets for food and drink before we go, with a reasonable buffer that fortunately we have never used. We set budgets for shopping, too.

For me, there's nothing more stressful than worrying about money. I can only enjoy a holiday, and that includes the planning, knowing it's sorted. And, like others, it's a luxury. It's only through compromise on the trips themselves, in terms of cutting costs, that we have been fortunate enough to revisit.

 

[Elise79]

We have a set sum each month that goes straight in to my Orlando savings account. This is then used to fund our trips.

I will book even if I don't have all the money saved if it's a deposit only option like a disney booking but I generally wouldn't stick flights on a CC to pay off - they need to be paid in full when booked from our savings.

I look after all the finances in our house so it's all down to me to make sure everything is paid for not just holidays but boring stuff like mortgages etc.

Holidays are a luxury so I would never finance them - I also wouldn't save behind my DHs back - I would always be up front with him however he likes going as much as I do!

 

[m1ckeymouse]

This thread is really interesting, I love seeing how people pay for trips. Our current rule is that we never put more on a credit card than we have in savings and that includes Disney. So the money is always there before we go and spends come directly from the savings account too. Having said that, the holiday, flights and car hire all go on a credit card, usually one that gives us decent cash back or vouchers, we then transfer the balance to a 0% credit card and set up a monthly direct debit to pay it off before that rate runs out. We are now running out of 0% options as we do this quite often! But that way our money is working for us and if there is a problem we can pay it immediately, if not, the funds are already there for our next Disney trip and our credit rating is great .


Suzanne

 

[Laurafoster]

I am the same. A trip to WDW is always at the front of my mind but I absolutely will not book if I don't know I can comfortably afford to pay it off. I am usually pretty OCD about saving and I am happy sacrifice lots to save my money for WDW instead.

Unfortunately thoug I have gone from being able to go whenever I liked to having to deal with school holiday prices so I am going to have to work even harder to save now.

 

[bex7583]

Bex, I understand how you feel - I used to be exactly the same (to a point). My DH has always been sensible, though, and jokes that if it were down to me, I would bankrupt us to get to Disney. We have always had a rule that we don't book any holiday until I can show him that the money will be saved to pay it off BEFORE the holiday. The last couple of times, I have done a bit of 'Disney maths' and managed to scrape it together by the skin of my teeth but last year, due to various circumstances, we ended up having no less than 3 holidays and it took it's toll (I know, I'm so hard done by ). Consequently, we are facing a situation now where, for the first time in 12 years, we might not be going to WDW this year. I am gutted but I am absolutely not going to get into debt over something which is a luxury not a necessity. Two or three times over the last couple of weeks I have been tempted to book flights and just stick them on the credit card (knowing I could probably pay them off in a couple of months), but my sensible gene took over and convinced me that it would be the wrong thing to do. I am struggling a bit to come to terms with it and, I'll be honest, there have been a few tears this last week - I am pretty emotional at the moment anyway but, still, it's JUST a holiday.

And, when all is said and done, that's the bottom line. It is just a holiday, it's not a necessity and I think of it as a bit like pulling a sicky from work when you're not really sick - guaranteed that you are likely to get sick for real and not be able to take time off because you have just been off sick. I know that's probably a weird analogy but if you were to try and pay for a holiday that you can't really afford, guaranteed that soemthing will happen that will need that money.

Having said all of that, if you feel like you can save a bit 'on the sly' then there is no harm in that. Personally, though, I would be tempted not to do it on the sly but just admit that you are putting a bit of extra money away - and, if it's not needed for other stuff, then you can justify using it towards a deposit for the holiday.

Hope that makes sense

im a spender and hes the saver /sensible one so i suppose its a good job one of us is . I will cut costs when booking wherever possible i am happy to go indirect and have relatively low standards when offsite however my disney bit need to be onsite and i want a long trip min 21 nights so jul/aug our only option

i think i am also feeling the effect of my new job within a school and been tied solely to holidays , for our 2013 trip we overrun in to sept and that saved us a nice sum .
it has to be saved or fully paid by a budgeting plan before i book anything but its just a little bit sad when the reality and the calculator dont match.

i am still crossing my fingers we will go in 2016 so i need to keep dp away from the kitchen show room diy store (luckily the house we bought was bargain as it needed so much doing so low mortgage)

buying things i do not need so i get more quidco is not good saving

 

[Bonesdodisney]

We went in September (2nd time) we didn't get a holiday in 2013 so had spent 2 years saving so with some planning could afford it and had a lovely time. We take it in turns to pick were we go as DH isn't as obsessed with Disney as I am. So this year is his pick so not Disney . I'm keen to go back as soon as possible (once most of the building work has been completed)

We save a little every month so we have some money towards the holiday and then when we book we work out a plan to cover it all. So there is no extra money in the holiday budget for some sneaky saving.

I have been trying to save any extra money I have at the end of the month and have been trying where possible to make other small savings to put some more money aside. I'm lucky that DH let's me sort all the house budgets out so a little easier to save the extras. We aren't going with out in order to get a holiday I just like to make sure we need things before spending the money out and I hate wasting the money.

Hoping that when we are on holiday this year I can sew the seed of suggestion for Disney next year and have the deposit saved so if he agrees I can get it booked asap