The Save Money for Disney Thread (Tips Included)

[RichieTruxillo]

I thought it'd be a good idea to keep myself and others motivated to save for Disney. Let's brainstorm some ways to save money (and or generate money) to goto Disney again. Post your current vacation savings in your signature or somewhere on this thread. No referral links as they ban you around these parts for them.

Here is an ongoing list of ways of saving money or generating money for your Disney Trip. This is all from the perspective of someone with 300k in student loans to pay off on a residency salary (around minimum wage for hours worked). Pretty much I have a savings account used for trips the past 4 years. I do little things that add up and set deposits to go into that account. My goal is to go on a 7 day Disney Vacation with my wife, with park hopper/water park/Universal passes for 7 days. We would like to stay at the Polynesian or the Grand Floridian if possible. The cat is out of the bag though, so now she knows. She reads everything I post hahaha


Richie's Master List of Ways to Save Money for your Next Disney Trip - Version 2.2 - updated 2/5/2011 -

#1: Spare Change. Yes, everytime you go out to eat and end up with change, put it in a bottle for safe keeping. Every 3 months, go deposit it into the savings account you setup. Last time I checked, I had a whopping 44 bucks in change laying around. (Credit: RichieTruxillo)

#2: Ebay: I sell all of my games and books I don't use on ebay. It too, ads up. I got 150 bucks for an old Super Nintendo game that was lying around recently (which had to go for closing costs on our new home) (Credit: RichieTruxillo)

#3: Tax Return: Enough said. Being a homeowner this year is going to help with the interest deductions. (Credit: RichieTruxillo)

#4: Blogging for dollars. I make money on the side by monetizing my website blogs with google Adsense ads. The best part is that you can get a free blog and webhosting for free at Blogger.com now. The downside to this is that you have to make $100 bucks to get your first check and it starts out slow. It builds up over time though, takes about 3 months to get decent money rolling in. (Credit: RichieTruxillo)

#5: Getting Paid to Surf the internet with Yahoo: Can get paid 3-5 cents a search with Yahoo search engine using a service located in the United Kingdom. Have been paid out three times now to my Paypal account.

#6: Chase Disney Rewards Credit Card - 1% on all purchases towards a disney vacation. You need to be very wise in how you charge. Pay off the entire balance every month to avoid finance charges. (Credit to: Anne's Family)

#7: Can Recycling: 5 cents to 10 cents a can in your state depending on your Recycling program and your weekly soda/beer consumption. (Credit to: stahshee)

#8: Rounding off your bank transactions:

From Grumpy'sWife4Ever: my brilliant DH came across an easy way to save that is almost painless and best of all it WORKS -
Instead of keeping a check register, we now keep one of those accountant-type books with the double columns (cheap in any stationary store) In one column he keeps track of our spending, but he rounds every transaction up by one dollar. That money just kind of "disappears" into our checking, it is kind of like it is no longer there. In the other column, he keeps track of our expenses in real dollars. When the columns get to be a few hundred dollars different, he transfers the "extra" over to savings and we start all over.
Genius, eh? You would be surprised how many transactions a family makes in a single month - the $1 here and there adds up fast!

#9: Sunshine Rewards: A website that pays you for completing offers online with select merchants. Free to join. Has an option to payout with Disney Gift Cards. Note that you will be required to accept offers and try services for at least 3 days to receive proper credit for doing so. (Credit to: Redwitch and tcmata)

#10: PayPerPost - A website that allows you to make money blogging for companies. Payouts from 3-20 dollars a post. You must be able to comply with the bidder's conditions and it is advantageous to have your own .com, .net or .org website for your blog to maximize payouts. (Credit: bellebuzzandpooh )

#11: Free AntiVirus Software: Stop paying 50 dollars a year for inferior products, get AVG free edition by clicking here. (Credit: RichieTruxillo) You can also get AVAST Antivirus free edition for...free at AVAST Antivirus free edition

#12: Kidzeyes: A company that pays your kids, ages 6-12, money for filling out product surveys. According to the FAQ, they can never release and personally identifiable information on your children, and they will try to sell them something. It is strictly for market research. 1 point equals 1 cent and minimum balance payout is at $10 (1000 points). Kids can exchange points for money or prizes like a Nintendo DS or a playstation 2. Of course, you want the money for your Disney savings account though. Might be a good way to motivate kids and simultaneously teach them some rudimentary computer and reading skills. (Credit: Terry36)

#13: Opening an Ebay Affiliate Store: By request of members. Did you know you can get paid by Ebay without ever having to move any inventory? It's called the Ebay Partner Network, an affiliate program setup by Ebay. The easiest way I've found to do this is to use a software package that builds a niche store for you with minimal fuss. Every time, someone clicks on a link in your store and wins an auction in the next 7 days, you receive 50% of Ebay's revenue on that transaction. The short version is this: $109 total startup cost for one website. Each additional website costs $7.95 for the .com registration if you use the coupon codes located in my blog post. Ebay Partner Network pays out every 30 days regardless of account balance via direct deposit. Note that this is really for those of you who have time to invest in a project and want to learn about the intricacies of the internet. As you can see, nothing special, but the software automagically sets up the necessary databases for me so all I had to do was find categories and search queries for the menu bar. Once setup, the site automatically streams new auctions to your menus, providing you with fresh, auto-updated auction content. I suggest you narrow your product niche when you get started. It is hard to get a website indexed in a competitive niche like "Wedding." (Credit: RichieTruxillo) UPDATE: Making 250-300 bucks a month with 8 sites now for the past 22 months, havent touched most of them in months too. Ideally takes about 10 hours a week or so to make work, might take longer for those who know zero about web programming but still doable if you read the manual. Hard for me to do working 80 hours a week currently but doable if you stay at home. Unfortunately, most of the money made going toward bills like gas and study materials for residency.

#14: Rebate Money: There are so many items that you can get for free or very little after rebate. Even if it's an item that you cannot use yourself, you can sell it at a yard sale for a few dollars and actually make a little money on it. If it's something that you can use, then getting that money back is a bonus. Some things that really work well for rebating are the monthly deals at Walgreen's and Rite Aid. If it's free after rebate and you've got a coupon, you can actually make a few bucks on it. And both programs allow you to enter your receipts online. No more saving receipts and mailing them at the end of the month. It's not a lot of money but over time, it adds up. (Credit: aka-madforthemouse )

UPDATE: Gotten back about 75 bucks in rebates, just have to really be vigilant about it.

#15:

30 bucks here and there ads up, trust me. Life is short, save up and go on trips! So if you have any more tips to add or just want to start holding yourself accountable for feeding the vacation piggybank, then please post them here. Let's get back to Disney World! If you enjoyed this thread, please 5 star it.

-Richie

P.S. I just got back from Disney in May. Love my Pirate Hat. Got it embroidered! Makes me want to go back even more

UPDATED: Booked a 7-day Disney Vacation for the wife and myself at the Polynesian finally! Two years in the making but we got there! Save up my friends Save up!

 

[RichieTruxillo]

<<<Reserved space for future Tips for easy browsing>>>

And to make this particular post not useless for the time being, I'll include a pic here Here's my wife and I on the It's a Small World Ride a couple weeks ago!

 

[Gisele]

CONGRATULATIONS for graduating medical school, I can only imagine, what that is like, (for I am pretty dumb with math ) and also for your recent home purchase! you are doing very well, and in due time, I am sure that you and your wife, which by the way you two make for a very nice looking couple to say the least, will be doing just great! maybe DVC in the future? never know! and don't worry about your college debt, for at least that is very good bad debt, all that I have is just the bad ol' kind! (sigh)
Keep up the great work! and before you know it, you and the Mrs. will be back at The Magic Kingdom!
Thank you for the Google advice, I use that site, quite often, and just think of the money I would have earned by now from them! had I only known before, but the good news is, now I do!
Now for the bad news, I just checked the FAQ's and I cannot upgrade to I.E. 7.0, for I have an older platform, that will not support it! (damn!) oh well.
I definitely do the spare change form of savings, it really can add up! and there is one rewards site, that I spend time on, as well.




$185.00

 

[RichieTruxillo]

Hi Gisele,

First of all, thanks for the kudos! Been a long road! We looked at DVC, but I'm a resident for the next 3 years working at minimum wage and with 300k in student loan debt Then I'm doing a 1 year fellowship in medical informatics so...maybe sometime down the road we can afford DVC hehe! I did stop by the booth a month ago at Downtown Disney.

As for your Internet Explorer dilemma, I use Mozilla Firefox and it keeps me safe from all the keyloggers, trojan horses and other nasty things out on the internet. Works on all the older machines too Free to download at: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

For free Antivirus, you should download AVG free Edition:

http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe

 

[spalady]

Love the hat!!! My DD said she wants to get a pirate hat but we never saw that one before. How much was it?

 

[mom2my3kids]

I am game, I need to start saving and working a bit more

 

[RichieTruxillo]

Update for today, $181 bucks in the vacation fund now 8) Dog chewed a hole in one of our couch cushions overnight but I used my elite surgical skills to sew it closed Thank Lord the wifey is out of town hehe

Ok time for breakfast!

 

[stahshee]

How about saveing your cans.. In N.Y we get 5 cents per can. . I have saved a lot with in just a year

 

[Anne's Family]

I'm pretty sold on the Disney Visa Rewards program. I use my Disney Visa for absolutely anything and everything that accepts Visa... groceries, online purchases, fast food, kids' martial arts classes... everything. We pay it in full every month. If we didn't, that 1% would be totally lost in finance charges. If you are disciplined enough not to overspend and to pay it in full, it really helps. I've got $300 in there so far for our August trip.

They also have bonus programs every so often where you can earn more than the 1% on certain categories. I've heard lots of complaints about this particular aspect though. The categories and rewards amounts vary throughout the country and sometimes the minimums are high before they kick in. I just depend on my 1%, anything over that is just gravy.

 

[Redwitch]

I do a reward program (Sunshine Rewards) that offers Disney Gift Cards as payment.
Also, I do any online shopping through a rebate site (Sunshine Rewards and E-bates.) These pay in gift cards and cash.
I also do on-line surveys that offer payment. I was lucky enough to get in on Pinecone when it was paying $5.00/survey. I do a couple others, but the payments aren't that great.
I use both Discover and Disney Visa for the rewards. And, YES, I pay them off every month so, NO Interest.
As noted, save the change. Mine goes in a La Nouba popcorn bucket to remind me why I'm doing this.
Use coupons!
Search for sales!
Pack your lunch and take an extra drink for break time.
Any refunds, including my tax refund and money from my health care spending account, go in the vacation savings account. I have this at a different bank then my "real" accounts, so it is not convenient to use it for other things.

 

[Grumpy'sWife4Ever]

We also cash in cans, at 5 cents a pop (pun intended )
AND - my brilliant DH came across an easy way to save that is almost painless and best of all it WORKS -
Instead of keeping a check register, we now keep one of those accountant-type books with the double columns (cheap in any stationary store) In one column he keeps track of our spending, but he rounds every transaction up by one dollar. That money just kind of "disappears" into our checking, it is kind of like it is no longer there. In the other column, he keeps track of our expenses in real dollars. When the columns get to be a few hundred dollars different, he transfers the "extra" over to savings and we start all over.
Genius, eh? You would be surprised how many transactions a family makes in a single month - the $1 here and there adds up fast!

 

[tcmata]

Definitely try out a rewards program- Sunshine Rewards is my alltime Favorite. You can check out the Rewards Board to find out more about the programs. The money there really adds up for me- on our last trip, I had over $500 that was earned through Sunshine Rewards (mostly surveys and on line shopping).

We pay for just about everything with credit for the % back (and pay off during month), therefore rarely have change to put in a jar- so that one won't work for us. But, I'm interested to see other suggestions!

 

[RichieTruxillo]

I'll start adding more in the first post once I get some boxes done. Wife is coming home soon and I need to make sure I've done my due diligence to packing rather than surfing the net mahahahahaha

 

[Michelle67]

Saving your spare change is a good one. It really adds up! I generally spend my change as I go along, but we put a big glass jar on the counter for a trip cross-country several years ago, and we were surprised how much we ended up saving that way. The other nice part about it is that people asked what it was for all the time, and occasionally contributed a buck or two.

My husband is a mechanic, and he started bringing home the aluminum components of replaced parts that were otherwise headed for the dumpster at work. We now have a gardening shed full of aluminum engine parts...and my husband is in Iraq. But as soon as I figure out which sucker, I mean friend, I'm going to get to help me, I'll haul the stuff to salvage and that will make a nice little contribution to the fund.

I don't have a separate account for Disney savings, it will just be coming out of our regular savings account. The idea is to save enough that when the trip comes out we still have some money left in the savings account. Current balance is about $1100...probably won't cover the airlines tickets so far.

 

[RichieTruxillo]

Ok updated, now I don't feel so lazy. Keep em coming

 

[Gisele]

Good job! now get back to packing, and try to keep your dog from chewing the other sofa cushion I wonder if he was bored? for sometimes a dog will do that sort of thing, if no one is home, and he becomes lonely and bored, I know I had a little dog, when I was a kid, that would do that sort of thing.


$190.00

 

[Teresa Pitman]

We are going back to WDW in six months. We're staying at a FW cabin, and the cabin and park tickets are paid for. I still need to save for meals (we're not on the dining plan, as we plan to cook quite a few meals in the cabin, but we do have some nice meals planned - and I made the ADRs on Friday!), gas, food and hotel costs for the drive from Canada, and any extras (because you know there are always extras!)

So here's my plan:

No buying magazines (I LOVE magazines, but I can borrow them from the library)

No buying books (same deal, get them at the library!)

No meals out

Try to limit driving the car to one "outing" a week, other than for work, and combine all errands on that one trip (groceries, any other shopping, taking things to the courier, etc.)

I've got six months, so I'm hoping this will pay off.

Teresa

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

I have a ton of ideas...many are poseted throughout this board. Here is my latest (I am sure I will be posting more). I have an ING account. I have set up daily deductions of 2.00 per day. To the tune of 60.00-62.00 per month. Now why not just make 1 deposit of 60.00? or even a weekly deduction of 14.00? Because 2.00 a week is painless. I do not even realize it is gone. Now, I started this in April 2008, my next trip is in Dec 2009 and final payment will need to be made in Oct 2009. 18 months x's 60.00 per month will be $1,080 that was totally painless to save. Now that does not include interest. Even if you are going to WDW sooner than I am even 6 months would give you $360 painless dollars. And come on we are all posting on a boards where every penny counts.

 

[erin1715]

Not to get this post off-topic...but do you have to live in the UK to sign up for the Google/Yahoo homepage searching? I signed up but my account details are still in pounds instead of US dollars, is there a way to change that? I have chosen to get paid via paypal. Any info you can give me would be greatly appreciated-gotta save up for Disney!

 

[RichieTruxillo]

You don't have to live in the UK, I should probably put that in the thread. You cannot change the currency type but when they pay you thru paypal, they auto-convert things for you.
Sorry for the late response, been packing And off I go, keep those tips coming gang!

Here's stats from april

ok back to packing

I'll have to write up the ebay thing more but I'm under the gun for time hehe