Share tips for saving for vacations!!

[Barbmouse63]

We are in the planning stages for our first cruise ever next summer. We are leaning toward 7 day RCCL Marinier of the SEas. We have friends who have done this with dks and love it! I would love to do Disney but we need to go in the summer and DC prices are too much for us. We can do 7 on RC for a little extra $ than a 4 day Disney. So any way I know there are pros and cons to both. The biggest pros as I see it are 7 days vs 4 and St Thomas and St Martin. The cons are not having the Disney experience, shows or Castaway Cay. All opinions on the two cruises are appreciated. BTW we have been to Disney for the last 3 summers including this past June and will go again in 2007! We do love Disney!!

Now for the reason for my post! How do you guys save for "big" vacations! My plan is to set aside 'extra" money that we get throughout the year to go towards paying for our cruise such as bonus, tax refund, etc. We also always have a change jar going. We really focus on it about 2 months out. This year for our Disney trip we had over $100. So we plan to start now and really try to saveour pennies all year. Would love to hear other creative savings tips!

 

[wintergreen]

I work for the government, so I have $ taken out of every paycheck to purchase U.S. savings bonds. It adds up after awhile.

Another idea, any time that you would be tempted to go out for dinner and a movie, rent a movie, and cook a nice meal together. Immediately put the $ you save by staying in and cooking into your penny jar.

 

[Clancycat]

I save all change. If I buy something for $1.03, I pay with $2 then save the .97c. Later if I buy something else, even though I have a pocket full of change, I don't spend it-- I pay w/ dollars and save that change too. You'll be surprised at how much you can save when you don't spend any of your change!

If you use coupons for groceries, set aside the amount that you saved on your bill.

Skip one cup of coffee (or magazine, can of coke, candy bar, etc-- whatever you buy regularly) a week (or day) put that money aside.

The little things can really add up to big savings, especially over a significant period of time!

Have fun on your trip!

 

[LisaGoeke]

We are sailing on the Mariner this October and I'm really looking forward to it. Our last two cruises were on the Magic and the Wonder but I LOVE RCCL and feel like there's so much more to do onboard their ships. And to get our Disney fix we're driving down early and will be spending 3 1/2 days at the parks before our cruise!

We took DH's bonus $$ to use as payment. We also save change, cut coupons, and whenever possible I buy things on sale, mostly clearance. I also re-sell all my children's clothing and toys through our local twins club, I take all that $$ and put it into our vacation club. Another thing I do is rebates -- all the rebate $$ I get goes into the fund too.

 

[Colinsmom]

We sold a TON of stuff on eBay. Not things that we bought to resell, just things that we had laying around here. We had way too much disposable income pre-baby!!

Anyways, that money pretty much funded our 1 week trip to WDW, staying at the BC.

 

[DsnyDrmr]

Any $ from rebates. Also, currently we return our recyclable bottles/cans and save that for our 'movie money', however, if planning a Disney trip, it could go toward that as well. It all adds up.