Spending money tip

[mikkiblueeyes]

Our upcoming trip is 8 days so I went to my bank and got 8 bank envelopes and seperated our spending money between the 8 envelopes. I wrote the date of each day we're there on each envelope and how much was in each one. I carry half and hubby carries half in our money belts before we get there.

Each morning I take out a new envelope and that's what we have to spend for that day. We split the money between us. Our last vacation we had extra left over and that stayed in the wallet. I've split our money between Disney Dollars, Traveler's Checks and cash(very little of this).

This money is our food/souviner money as everything else on the trip is paid for beforehand.

Michelle

 

[K & D Mickey]

Since we are a CASH family - that is how I have done it for years.
Day 1 - put money for character meals, souvineers, snacks, light supper, etc.

If more then just my husband and I and toddler .. Like this year our 15 & 17 year old daughters want to come - They two get a envelope for each day - with their own spending money broke down to Big meal, light meal, snack, & souvineers.

Example - 25 for big meal, 20 for light lunch, 20 for snacks/games,
25 for souvineers a day.

It helps so much in keeping in limits of your spending and believe it or not always have come ahead and had cash left to go towards next year trip.

It is easy - It is our way on keeping in budget on vacation and at home!!!

Enjoy!!!

 

[PattiPB]

We LOVE the envelope system, too!!!

At the end of each night, I take whatever is left and put it back in that envelope, so at the end of the trip I can tell what the cheap days were, and why.

We do separate envelopes for each PS, projected tips, food shopping, and souvies. I basically take the entire box of small envelopes!!! LOL!!!!

I know it works---we've never come back empty-enveloped!!!!!

 

[crisi]

When I was newly divorced and broke, I used the same system for my weekly allowance. Divide all my "free" money for the week into envelopes in my purse, and each day, move the leftover money into another envelope that I'd use for "major" expenses (like haircuts - I was pretty broke). It worked very well and got me through a tough time.

 

[CarolA]

I applaud the cash method.

I am horrified by the thought of these little envelopes of cash. One theft and your vacation is OVER. (Disney Dollars count as cash)

Please consider, Travelers Checks or prepaid visa cards.

How would you feel if on day 1 all your little envelopes were stolen?

 

[DiznEeyore]

We've always used the envelope system as well. The majority of our funds are in Travelers' Checks, with some cash and Disney Dollars, too. And we keep all our "little envelopes" in our safe.

 

[GoofyB]

K&D Mickey: How do you manage to spend just $25 for a "big" meal for 5 people -- or was that for 3. Still, most of the WDW restaurants have entrees for $25. Just wondering.

 

[AdventurerKat]

We do this sort of thing too. Keep about $100.00 on hand and then when its gone, its gone. (Oh, alright. I DO keep an emergency $5.00 for water...and a Mickey Bar...but that's an EMERGENCY!) But the case usually is we have some left over and that gets moved to the next day and so on. I like doing it this way because I never blow all my money at the beginning of the trip and at the end, I usually have some left to get something special.

 

[CDoobee]

I do the envelopes, too! I put the date on each one, as well as PS confirmation #s, times, and any other info I might need. Then I put in the appropriate number of vouchers, and Disney Dollars. It beats having to try and think each morning what vouchers to take and how much money, etc!

Debbie

 

[LisaRay]

Oh yes the envelopes! Been doing those since our 2nd trip back in 1994! And believe it or not back then our money for the day for 2 adults and one child was $30-$35!! each year it grew and for several years it was $50.00 a day. with seperate envelopes for walmart trip, gas, etc. but our food and souvies came out of the envelope! Now that we have a 2nd child who is 4 and not free anywhere in disney anymore and out 1st child is 13 we are up to $70.00 a day and that is just food and snack money not souv. money anymore.

We only took enough to get us through 2 days and then we would visit the ATM and get enough for another couple days. I would bring the envelpes already labeled with the day they were for and the amount that needed to go into them so I could quickly take care of that. And of course we kept them in the room safe. Then each day we would take one out and go.

Another thing we do is that the kids have money for souvies from grandparents or earning it at home. But we have an envelope of "extras" money. Usually about $100.00 and that is for emergency's or for incase we go over on our daily budget a bit. but about half way threw the trip if it hasn't been touched or has barely been touched then it becomes me and DH's souv. money . We never buy alot so that is fine. Usually I use my half on those photos they take of the whole family. This way we have a back up in case on of those envelopes isn't enough and anything extra we enjoy spending!
Afterall you should never come home from disney with money!

 

[PattiPB]

Definitely not all CASH!!! As a matter of fact, I don't keep all of the envelopes together anymore, either! I keep the first 5 days (or so) rubberbanded together, and keep the other 5 days (or so) rubberbanded together. Then I keep food shopping and souvie money for everybody rubberbanded together.

The first thing in each envelope is a $5 for Mousekeeping, so every morning when I'm taking the money out, I grab that and drop it on the bed right away.

It's an elaborate system that my non-Disney people think is nuts. Of course I don't have the credit card debt they do, either! LOL!

 

[shatzjsl]

Thanks for the tip!!!

 

[bigbabyblues]

I'm planning to allow a certain amt for each day based on how much we have saved, but use a credit card and charge it to the room, then when we come home, I'll write the check and pay it off. We will take some cash, but not much at all. We'll have to write down each day what we've spent where to make sure we don't go over, but I hope it works. Kinda like the virtual envelopes I guess.

Steph

 

[Mic]

I do the envelope thing, too. I always have. I use bank envelopes(they always give me one with my deposit receipt in it), and write on the blank side each time I take money out of it, then put the receipt for the purchase in there. It sounds a little complicated, but it is a great way to budget for upcoming trips because you can pull out the receipt from last year's trip to see where your money went. I also take any money left from the day's envelope and put it into the next day's envelope. We usually end up having enough left on the day before check-out to splurge on a really good dinner(or more pins!)

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Love cash. No bills to worry about or forget when we get home and the trip is over.

However, I HATE carrying it on my person on vacation. I like to use the Disney room charge instead.

Simple way to do it with the envelopes is to write down the budgeted amount to be spent on the envelope but leave the actual money in the safe. As I make charges to the room, I put the "receipt" in the envelope and deduct that amount from the budget. Trick to not going over the budgeted amount is to have the running total of all the day's charges on the outside of the evelope. A little more work (math) but worth the security.

Btw, I do carry $5 - $20 in cash just in case the room charging is down or for emergencies. But it usually stays unspent.

You can then pay off the amount of the room charges in cash at the hotel front desk every day or every few days. Sure it's more work but it's nice not having to carrying too much cash and having a paper trail documenting every dime I spend in one place.

I use to pay off the bill at the end of trip but now I do it every few days instead. Because one time some of the charges went through to my charge card before the end of the trip and before the spending limit was reached. Disney could have reversed the charges but I just left it and bought the money home and paid off the credit card bill when we got home. That's the only time it happened but now I check the room charges every few days just in case.

I always have cash remaining when we get home.

 

[zippehsmom]

And my DH thought I was crazy

I just started making out our envelopes for our July trip, bought a couple boxes at the dollar store.

We usually have most of it in Travelers checks. The only cash we usually have in envelopes is 1's & 5's for tips and such.

We used the envelope system with our last trip and it worked out great.

WE only carry that days envelope with us and leave the other days in the safe.

The only thing I get paranoid about is going through security. I usually tell my DH to go through first and then I go through and put my purse (my special travel purse that I wear across my body with zippers & buttons) through so that he's already through there and able to grab my purse in case there is a hold up.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who carries envelopes.

zippehsmom