Sealed the first envelope! (Anyone left credit cards at home on purpose?)

[JLa01844]

I would also suggest getting a prepaid visa rather than holding a wad of cash! Or buy Disney Giftcards with money as you save it for the Disney portion of your trip.

Way to go sealing your first envelope!!!!

 

[tosha27]

We are slowly getting there. Actually, we have come a long way since I sealed that gas envelope. lol
Unfortunately we had to cancel all of our character dining because of some other unexpected expenses, but we will still have a great time.
I have been buying disney gift cards, and I almost have enough cash/gift cards to cover the projected food expense. I got each kid a $25 gift card for spending money. Our arcade envelope is currently empty and will probably not be making the trip with us, but oh well. Our kids are huge arcade geeks, so they can use their gift cards for that if they wish.
I had planned on buying the refillable mugs, but since we have less money than I thought we would and are driving, I can actually purchase drinks for the entire week for all of us for around the cost of one of the mugs. So we are bringing a case of water and juice since they have installed beverage coolers in POP. Yay.

 

[ElonGirl]

Everyone needs to use the method that works best for them but I prefer to get the cc rewards when I know i'll be spending a good amount of money. I still budget and set aside the cash I want to spend. I set my limits and don't go over by checking my online activity on my phone. This way I still stay within my constraints but I get the Amex cash back.

 

[kathie859]

Some very interesting budgeting techniques! Personally, I'm a carry a little cash, use a debit card and have a credit card for emergency backup traveler. The debit card I carry is tied to a specific checking account with my budgeted cash in it only. Oh and I use the "credit " option on all debit transactions and never use my PIN.

Please rethink using travelers checks as they are increasingly hard to cash due to fraud issues.

 

[Disneyislove86]

DH and I only bring cash too. I hate carrying anything once I head to the park (okay I'll admit it...I just like being able to stroll through the "no bags" line ) so I ususally leave everything at the resort (except my camera which fits in my pocket, and room key) so DH carries SOME of the money with us for where ever we are.

One year we only took a little cash and swiped everything else (never again).

 

[disfan4life1]

Every vacation we take I budget using the "envelope" system..I have a different envelope for everything--gas, food each day, each person a designated amount of spending money for the entire trip, attraction money(if not doing disney), hotel(if not at disney), etc.. So as each day passes and we do not use up all the money I reseal the envelope and put it to the back of the stack..It's amazing how much money is left at the end of each trip..Which then I deposit back into a special account at the bank that is used just for vacation saving..
My husband used to laugh at my stack of envelopes that I would spend time making then filling with cash and then putting a big rubber band on and off we go..Until we came home from vacation last year with money...
Plus with each person having their own envelope of "spending money" they control how often they decide to spend extra money for snacks, souviners, etc...they usually are very good at asking how much money do I have left when asking for something...of course, I always have to buy them something myself that I want them to have...
We also bring along the Debit Card which is for the account in which vacation savings are in..not that there is much left in it, but if it gets hacked or lost it is not tied into the other bank that my "real money" is in...and only use it in emergencies..

 

[Bearybear]

I have to recommend against using your debit card on vacation. If your account is hacked, you probably won't find out right away, giving thieves a chance to empty your checking account. We use a combination of gift cards, cash and our credit card.

We had our credit card hacked, and we weren't responsible for anything in the end, but it took 3 months to straighten out. If it had been our checking account, we'd have been in really bad shape, since we have almost all our bills on auto pay.

 

[pg0314]

I'm all for using cash only if it'll keep you on a budget. But there's no way I'd travel without a credit card for emergencies.

 

[dontthrowsand]

My plan is to bringr cash for food and any extras will go on my credit card. I hate using my credit card except for food so this will keep me from buying anything too big because my credit card has a low daily limit on it when I travel for fraud reasons.