Saving $$ to pay your balance

[dthogue]

Ok - I have the deposit paid, but I am still looking at saving $4500 in the next six months to pay off the balance.

Share with me your money saving tips to help me reach my goal! I am setting aside a specific amount each week, but that won't cover the total balance. I am planning a yard sale next month and my husband is a soccer referee so that extra money will go in our account.

Anyone have any other good suggestions - I'm sure I'm not the only one trying to save

Thanks,

Tammy

 

[confal1]

Don't forget about EBAY. I have sold weight watcher audio cassetes, and videos. If you have old excercise videos, or clothes, costume jewlery. Hey you may as well get your house cleaned out while making money. Always remember your junk is someone elses treasure ( or something like that)

 

[prymsu]

normally what i do is book out a year to a year and a half in advance. Then when i get paid biweekly, i subtract an amount and log it on a recipe card. (this way I can still earn interest). Then i put a share of our tax refund towards our cruise. I also take stuff to a local consignment shop and add that towards my cash for spending. I have flex med and flex dependent care accounts through payroll. When i get reimbursed for this stuff i also use it towards our cruises. By using those flex spending accounts, it is like getting mini savings accounts to save for a lump sum of money. Hope some of these ideas help.

 

[AliPom]

Do you have a holiday club savings plan that you can apply toward your balance? I usually take advantage of clearance sales and have most of my holiday gifts out of the way by October. Then I use my holiday club as my own personal vacation gift to me each year -- yippie!

 

[westjones]

I have used a 'club' account at my bank to put money in for our cruise. I used DU this time and they have an online options to make payments whenever you want. I found that it helped to just pay once a month an amount towards it (I know I didn't get interest on it, but by not having the money I wasn't tempted to spend it). I liked doing it that way.

My next trip will be using points from the DVC. I know many think that using points for a cruise isn't the best way to use them. But we want to cruise, and I plan to pay for my kids' portion. I like the DVC because I won't have to think about saving for vacation/lodging anymore.

DJ

 

[Mjasp]

Don't forget to save your change. Always give dollar bills and receive change at the store. Then throw the change in a jar, thats always good for about $500. Although I don't know how much time you have left to save.

Do you smoke? If so quit. Then put $5 a day away, just like if you were buying cigarettes. I did that and saved $2000.

 

[dgroet]

Personally, I don't buy anything unless I have the money firsthand. But, I set aside money each pay period and throw it into a savings account that I only use for Vacations. Some years we use it, some years we don't. Since we didn't use all of last years, we're using some of it to buy a boat.


33 days till Wonder

 

[Samsma]

You could also use the "love" savings account. I read in Dear Abbey or somewhere about a lady who saved thousands for a second honeymoon in Hawaii, by contributing to a jar by the nightstand. You get the picture I'm sure. LOL!

 

[Valerie3kids]

We also did the change jar routine. Once I break a dollar bill anything left goes into the change jar. The entire family got into it this year as we are cruising next June. When I booked the cruise we counted the jar. Grand total $1378.50. It was a nice deposit and then we started the jar again. That will either be our spending $$ or the next vacation.

Valerie

 

[tiggere]

Don't eat out at restaurants (as much). That's my tip. Works for me. We have periods of going out to eat a LOT and boy does that add up, even with just fast food, pizza and chinese buffets. We vow to not eat out for 6 weeks at a time and save like $500 just on that alone. It's a challenge but watching the checking account balance go up up up is rewarding. If you set a time limit like we do, it's easier to live up to the challenge. Plus, you don't get as much fat and calories! We do the combination diet and savings plan. Buy fruit instead of chips, carrots instead of cookies. You get the picture. All for 6 weeks. We lose weight and save money. Note: This plan is easier without kids!

 

[4nana]

Our balance due is saved weekly in a savings acct.
Ditto on the cookie jar! We booked 2 yrs in advance and in our group each family decorated a Disney fund jar and have had fun seeing how much we can save. All the change we get from dollar bills, coupons, etc. goes in the jar. The grands have gotten a big kick our of this as they sometimes get Disney $'s for BD's, holidays, chores, etc. I have $1,085 thus far for spending change

 

[Olando]

We also used our Flex-Med account and don't turn in for our reimbursments until just before the cruise. Also the change jar is on our kitchen counter. My DD saves her recycling money for spending. Last time we also gave her a set amount of spending money. The only thing that we bought her was a t-shirt and she had to buy the rest out of HER money. She spends her money alot less easily and ended up coming home with money. We also brought our own alcohol on the ship and only bought a drink at dinner. That kept our costs down.

Good luck!!

Laurie

 

[dahess]

I save about $30.00 per week on groceries with coupons. I try and put the amount saved in the savings account for our Spring 2004 cruise

 

[westjones]

I started using coupons recently and that does save. Especially if you can double them. It is hard to 'save' that money away though because you don't really see it.


BTW, I bought coupons on ebay. Isn't that funny! I had a friend tell me about it. That has saved me a lot of money.

We are doing 'carry out' instead of eating out. I guess that is still costly, but I find that by bringing our food home with us and using our own drinks AND splitting portions, we don't spend as much eating out (that eating out really does get to you, but some times you are just too busy and tired to cook).

I have also done the 'write down everything you spend' thing. You might be surprised just how much to end up spending on things that you have nothing to show for it. Just yesterday I spent $6 on 'junk food' while we were out---not lunch, just things like ice cream and frozen cokes. UGH! That could have gone towards my cruise!

Thanks for bringing up this topic. Like 'dieting', I sometimes need inspiration for controlling my spending. I only have 2 more months to save for my cruise. It is time to get serious!

DJ

 

[Padre Disney]

Our family books as far out as possible. About 8 months out our family starts a paper route. My husband and I deliver the paper six days a week and the kids help out on Sunday mornings. We get up around 4:45 a.m. It only takes about 30 minutes to deliver the paper during the week. We make around $500 a month. It is a great way to excersice and you get paid for it. The kids love helping on Sundays. We just all keep thinking about the cruise coming up.