Tell me how you save for your trip

[disneychick05]

I'd like to hear some ways that everyone saves up for their WDW trip. I'd like to start saving way more than I have been. The one way I save is when I go to the mall I always get some disney $$$ at the DS. Then I put them away for the trip. Any other ideas?

 

[westjones]

We set up a vacation club account at our credit union and put money into that at each pay period (just like paying a bill). We seem to do better saving a little at time rather than coming up with it all at once.

DJ

 

[Tigge50447]

Well I still have a long way to go in the savings dept. but this is the way I started.

I have an account open for my son College/Disney trip money. All the $ he got for birthdays etc. went into that account. I also put any rebate checks I get into that account. Its better then putting into my account because I will most likely spend it. I think twice about taking "his" money and if I need to I always replace it.

last year I started selling on ebay. you will be suprised at what people are willing to buy and suprised by the amount of money they are willing to spend. I recently sold 6 barney videos shipped for $27 dollars. My son didn't watch them anymore so I kept like 3 (ya know just in case someday I have another one). I found kids stuff really sells well, outgrown clothes like jeans!

I also take whatever money I have left in my bank account the right before I get my next paycheck and buy disney cash. I also roll all of our change and buy disney cash with that as well.

I also rounded up my student loan payment about 5 dollars and the month before our trip I won't have to pay my student loan because I will have enough to cover it. I'm also going to do that with my phone bill that way I'll have that money for extra spending money.


Hope this helps, I have to run

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by westjones
We set up a vacation club account at our credit union and put money into that at each pay period (just like paying a bill). We seem to do better saving a little at time rather than coming up with it all at once.

DJ

Interest wise you are better off opening an account that compounds daily and posts monthly. Most Vac and Christmas clubs only add the interest at the end of the term.
I have a separate account that I stash 500.00 per month in for vacations.

 

[Pink Flamingo]

I confess, I'm a budget person . Just about every penny we earn is put into one budget catagory or another. We have $200 a month budgeted for Disney Savings. That goes into our money market account. When the savings gets up high enough I put the money in a CD & earn a little better interest rate (rates aren't great right now, but they are better than the interest rate my credit union is paying).

Like Tigge50447, I also sell things on E-bay to earn a little extra $$. I've also had good luck selling books on Half.com & Amazon.com Marketplace. We've also made a surprising amount on yard sales in the past.

We also don't eat out much & don't have cable TV .

Tax refunds have also gone towards our trips in the past.

Oops! I almost forgot - we have the Disney Visa. We charge most everything & pay the bill off in full each month. In less than a year I have earned over $100 in Disney money.

I also do a few rewards programs. If you haven't already, go check out the DIS Rewards Programs board. The DISers over there are who got me started on reward programs. I've earned well over $100 in gift cards through one or two reward programs.

Happy saving!

 

[Lstew]

I pre paid my property taxes for the year,, So when I get my tax returns,, We are headed to Disney... Thank you Uncle Sam!

 

[mad4themouse]

Like others, I have a change jar. I also save my $1 bills.

I have a savings account from one of those online banks. I have money deducted from my checking account and transferred to the online bank every other week. It's automatic and I can't spend the money that easily since it takes a couple of days to transfer funds back to my checking account.

I use rewards credit cards for almost every purchase that I can. DH is self-employed and he uses business rewards cards to pay for all overhead. The perks add up. We never pay for all 4 of us to fly and we can get all kinds of hotel, restaurant and retail gift certificates, too.

If there's a rebate involved with a purchase, I make sure that I send it in. Even if it's just a couple of bucks, it all adds up. All rebate money goes into the Disney fund.

I sell on Half.com and eBay. Not a lot but I have been able to make a few bucks and I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff I no longer need or want.

Like Pink Flamingo, I do rewards programs. If you make a lot of online purchases, they can really pay off. In the course of a year, I have gotten several hundred dollars in cash back, Disney Dollars and GCs.

If I see a good deal on tickets or restaurant GCs, I jump on it. Sometimes this means delving into my Disney Fund to pay for it but that's what it's there for.

• I purchased DQ tickets for $21 (gate price is $32.86) when there was a Ticketmania special for Mousesavers readers.
• I just got two $25 GC for the Hard Rock Café at Universal's CityWalk for $28+.
• I've been holding on to 5-day PHPs (with 4 pluses) for over a year because they were a good price.
• I have AP vouchers for Universal that I purchased last year when they offered "buy 1 get 1 half off". I'll be using one this summer for myself while DH and the kids use 5-day passes that I got for $89 each (plus they were buy 4 get one free with MasterCard).
• I'm considering buying some Quick & Casual Vouchers once they come out with new expiration dates. They may be good for a few meals but we won't rely on them for all of them.

The key is to make sure that none of your "bargains" will expire before you take your trip.

I've started saving the Kellogg Kash certificates from cereal boxes. 100 of these will get you a free night at a Value Resort. You can get up to 2 free nights per household. The offer is good thru next summer. The participating varieties were on sale this week at many local stores ($2 per box before coupons). I've also enlisted the help of my parents and in-laws to help me save. Hey, free is free. And free at Disney is fabulous!

I'm also collecting the Kellogg's American Airline miles. I don't actually fly American but I can convert 3743 miles (the equivalent of 38 boxes of cereal) to a $25 GC from Giftcertificates.com at Points.com. Then I can get a Rainforest Café GC or any number of other restaurant or hotel GCs.

I buy Disney Dollars when I go to the mall (which isn't all that often). I don't buy a lot, just $10 - $20 at a time. It helps to pay for little extras like Mickey Bars and Dole Whips. Maybe dinner one or two days.

Whew! Until I started listing everything, I didn't realize how much of my time and efforts go into saving some bucks for WDW! I need to get a real life.

 

[westjones]

Wow! I'm impressed!

DJ

 

[disneychick05]

Thank for all of the great tips! I'll have to get started. The Kellogs cash sounds great...I am definitely trying that.

 

[soccerchick]

We do...

Change jar
clothing consignment sales
yard sales
e-bay

but the most important thing we do is set aside money each paycheck for our vacation fund. Time together and memories made are too important to NOT do this. Money is taken out of DH's check before he gets it so it is automatic and painless.

 

[Princess'Mom2]

I get paid for unused sick time at the end of each year. If I don't use ANY of my sick time, I get paid 1.5x the rate -- so I drag myself to work year-round. This year I can pay for our 8 nights at WDW with this sick pay (AKL and YC).

We've taught our DD to save her allowance throughout the year and then when we go on vacation, she has spending money -- you would be surprised how at 8 and 9 years old she thoughtfully made purchases and stretched her money throughout the trip. It also sure beats hearing her ask us for everything under the sun.

This year we are converting her allowance to Disney Dollars.

 

[djm99]

I have to admit that it’s hard for me to save money, so I leave that to Disney husband, and a whole life account with savings option. I try to prepay as much as possible. But for Disney this is what I do...


1. Every payday I visit AAA and buy $50 worth of fee free Travelers Cheques. No shipping cost either. I get my income taxes tomorrow and I'll buy $400 worth.

2. Buy prepaid meal vouchers from HWSC

3. For groceries (we usually stay in a home away from home or off site) I buy prepaid Walmart gift cards for groceries and other nick knacks.

4. I also buy hoppers regardless if I stay on or off site. I've felt paying for the UPH in the room rate for use was a waste of money. Especially the 1st day, the last day, and 1 or 2 days in between that I usually visit Universal, Sea World, or some other non-Disney park.

5. A lot of restaurants in Orlando have certificates that can be redeem worldwide. Like Chili's, a MUST FOR MY FAMILY, I'll buy $50 - $100 worth of certificates. We found another great Mexican place, but I can't remember the name - its on I-Drive next to one of the Visiting Centers. If you know the name please let me know. Hard Rock and Planet Hollywood have them too.

6. I buy at least $10 in Disney dollars every time I visit the mall. This helps in the buying of "junk" in the parks. I try to have at least $150 worth. I read somewhere that Universal has bucks too, I wish I knew where to buy them.

7. A few weeks ago I opened a *** Direct account (thanks to so many great reviews) to help save too. I set it up to take out $40 every 2 weeks. You can put as much or as little as you want in your account and you can take it out simply by transferring your monies. Easy as 1,2,3.

8. I also, like so many, have a change container that I will empty this summer.


Hope this helps

 

[crisi]

My employer offers an employee stock purchase plan. Pull a percentage of you paycheck out, and at the end of the purchase period, buy stock in the company at a discount (and sell it). My husband's does as well. Just the discount on these two ESPPs is worth $4500 a year to our family - and if the stock does well during the period - its worth a lot more.

 

[Blondiex46]

income tax return, that is how I do it all the time

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I get almost $100/week in child support from my ex-husband. I buy necessities for my dd3 (like clothes) and anything extra goes into a savings account. I get quarterly bonuses at work and that all goes into my savings account. Of course my tax return check helps a lot.

 

[floridagirrl2]

Cash in a jar! Not just change and one dollar bills, either.

I also have a separate bank account that all my Amazon and Ebay sales money goes into (I have a small, home-based business selling out-of-print books on the internet), which we use for vacations as well.

 

[Castillo Mom]

This is our first trip and I'm basically prepaying everything. I booked the resort 12/02 for our 8/04 trip and paid for 3 of the 8 nights we're staying at the BC. Since December I've had $320 transferred to a holiday account so that by the time we go we'll have a healthy amount of spending money. The theme park tickets and the balance of the resort will be paid with our tax refund. We're staying 3 nights at Universal and 1 night is already paid for. Got discount tickets for Universal 3 months ago which are already paid for. I have a bonus coming which is going towards vacation. I'm also cashing out some of my vacation hours since I have a ton of time on the books. Airfare was purchased last October. There were 3 pay periods for me in October and most of one of my paychecks went towards our plane tickets.

 

[marcyinPA]

Well, for us, we stash money away from time to time in a "forgotten" account so it's basically 'found' money.

Also, since Jan of this year, I've been selling on EBAY ... my kids old clothes, toys, old clothes of mine, dh's electronics stuff, etc. Basically have cleaned out the basement! It's amazing what people will buy and how much they will spend on MY junk! We've made almost $800 since the first week in Jan! That's all for our trip in May.

I also have the Disney Visa which I use for my gas, and since DH commutes 180 miles a day to work, we are always at the pump! I pay it off at the end of the month, but we've accumulated alot of Disney points that way.

In April, right before our trip, I'll have a yard sale to get rid of the stuff that's not Ebay-able (big stuff).

We don't do alot throughout the year, so we save there too!

Good luck saving for your trip!

 

[mtblujeans]

Originally posted by mad4themouse
Like others, I have a change jar.....

I have a savings account....

I use rewards credit cards....

Whew! Until I started listing everything, I didn't realize how much of my time and efforts go into saving some bucks for WDW! I need to get a real life.

I'm impressed, too! WOW!! I didn't know about Points.com. I knew about MyPoints.com....hmmm.

What an impressive person you are!!!

 

[maximom]

Originally posted by DisneyAddict_M
I get almost $100/week in child support from my ex-husband. I buy necessities for my dd3 (like clothes) and anything extra goes into a savings account.

I'm so glad someone else mentioned this because I was afraid I would get flamed for saying so! Here's the sitch though... oldest ds is 17, due to his bio dad's unstable life and moving around a lot he is only required to pay $100 a MONTH child support. I learned a long time ago that it's something we've never been able to count on or even enough to cover much so I make sure DS has everything he needs and most everything he wants and put money in college fund out of my own paycheck so the check when it comes is extra money. I've been putting it in our Disney fund which if he pays all he owes this year should cover oldest ds expenses at WDW! Maybe, I'll tell him its a graduation gift from Dear Old Dad!! LOL!!!

Other ways I save include the change jar, I just opened that account everyone's raving about but prior to that I just transferred about $100 each payday into my savings. We hardly ever eat out and of course Mary at Mousesavers has supplied excellent ideas via her website and newsletter as well as the ideas here and I'm thinking about delving into the world of ebay!



OMG!! I just realized it's less than 120 days til we leave!!!!