The Save Money for Disney Thread (Tips Included)

[RichieTruxillo]

I think I could do a scaled back version of this and save all $1 bills! The more I think about it, the more I think I will start doing it!!

That's totally me! I have pocket change

On a good note, I'm working at the local Veterans Hospital now in Salem. They give me 2 free meals a day which saves 75 bucks a week! yay!

 

[AnninIowa]

That's totally me! I have pocket change

On a good note, I'm working at the local Veterans Hospital now in Salem. They give me 2 free meals a day which saves 75 bucks a week! yay!

I'm happy to report that I have been saving dollar bills this week - it's easy and painless, and with those and coins I have put about $10 in to the vacation jar so far this week! I'll take it in in a week or two and move it to my ING vacation fund.

 

[RichieTruxillo]

I'm happy to report that I have been saving dollar bills this week - it's easy and painless, and with those and coins I have put about $10 in to the vacation jar so far this week! I'll take it in in a week or two and move it to my ING vacation fund.

That's awesome! I had some more free lunch today. Though I caved in last night and bought pizza.

Found out some neat savings statistics last night for some of you. I'll post on the front post when I get the numbers worked out! They make me feel warm and fuzzy and should the rest of ya too.

 

[RichieTruxillo]

One of my ebay script sites brought in 25 bucks on autopilot today

had the day off. Teaching my wife the ropes. She knows about the savings now

-Richie

 

[winniethepoohsmom]

I've been busy lately and hav'nt checked this thread but I'm glad I did, I will have to check out some of the new ways to save. I have envelopes filled with $5 to tip mousekeeping on our upcoming trip and I'm working on envelopes for tips for our sit down meals I'm planning on going over the menus for the restaurants we are eating at to figure out what our meals would cost and adding extra in the envelope to not be short. We have free dining so thats covered. I put all the payments towards our package on my Continental credit card and then paid the bill online so we are earning miles towards a future trip. I opened up a checking acct at Chase this week and by adding on our paychecks as direct deposit we will get $125 from chase and I signed up for the rewards on the check card. When they deposit the $125 I will transfer it to my Ing acct. I also put some money aside that both ds's received for their b-days to give to them when we get to disney. I received by disney rewards card this week I hav'nt used it much lately so I only have $29 on it, but that's better than nothing. I've also been saving change for a while and I was told I can take it to Commerce bank and use their machine for nothing and using that for spending money at disney. I also do surveys on e-rewards and I will be putting my credits towards Continental one pass miles. I also do my food shopping at the ShopRite and when I use my club card money goes into my One pass acct. at Continental. I will be dropping off some clothes this week at a consignment shop and will put that towards a future trip. It's exciting to see the money to slowly build!Linda

 

[DisneyYahoo]

I put everything on my Alaska Airlines Visa - groceries, gas, house supplies, restaurant, business supplies, etc (pay it off monthly) so that I can collect those air miles to get my family to WDW. Flying in from the state of WA costs alot so I plan vacations based on miles. Also, since I plan ahead, I book ahead which means less miles to get there. The mileage count always goes up as you get closer to the date (super saver miles vs. peak miles.)

Kiersten

 

[DisneyBugs]

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

My DD4 wanted to do Bibbity Bobbidy Boutique. We decided to get her a princess costume and go for the cheaper "Coach" package (I'm sure she'd be too shy for a photo shoot anyways...). I told her she had to save half the money (total pkg is about $50, so she needed $25). She decided to save cans. We cashed in 8 bags last weekend. She took home just shy of $25 and then treated herself to a piece of rock candy for all her hard work.

My kids also each have a square 5-gallon water jug that is decorated w/ disney stickers. Last Sat night, they dumped them out (maybe an inch and a half full) and had counted $110 in change.

They're doing better than me... I only have $50 in Chase Disney Rewards saved so far! and we leave in 45 days!!!

 

[RichieTruxillo]

Wow, that's alot of dough for can collecting I'll have to add that in there. Excellent!

The local kroger just opened a new gas station. Get 10 cents a gallon off with my Kroger Plus Card

 

[BusyMom2Three]

I sell on Craigslist & eBay.

I get coupons on eBay (10 or 20 packs depending on how often I use an item) and use them at Kroger which doubles coupons up to $1 (I often get items for close to free doing this. I may spend $1 or so on 10 $1 off coupons which equals $20 off at Kroger).

I print coupons for free from couponmom.com.

I shop for toys & clothes for my kids when they all go 75% off at Target, Old Navy, & sometimes GAP. I also have a birthday present stash for my kids' friends that I stock when toys at Target go 75% off 2x/year.

We always put our change in a jar.

I take surveys and read emails at InboxDollars because The Today Show said they were legit but the money is sparse ($.50 a survey; however this is $30 extra a month to put toward Disney just for taking about 2 surveys a day, or $60 if you do 4, etc).

I sell my kids old clothes and toys at mom-to-mom sales, our subdivision sale, and childrens' resale shops nearby.

It adds up quite a lot!

 

[BusyMom2Three]

Yes, I forgot about gold scrapping until I went back and started trying to read all of the pages of replies. A friend of mine took some random gold jewelry that I considered 10-20 year old junk to a gold scrapper she knows. He only took a couple items and gave me $40 cash! I then listed some jewelry I don't use on craigslist, and a jeweler who buys gold gave me $70 for one 10K gold ring, 1 10K gold studs, 1 14K gold studs, & 1 silver pendant that I really thought were worthless! That's $110 from what I considered junk!

 

[RichieTruxillo]

Hope you guys keep this thread going. I think I am close to being banned for mentioning #5 in the list since it violates TOS rules and I just got another infraction when I checked my Disboards.com account last night while on call, so I am going to take a brief hiatus (won't be gone forever).

Hope you all keep saving cash. Some great ideas here!

Farewell for now. You can PM me with questions but prefer to be contacted via email or my website below (check it more often)

-Richie

 

[bettyann29]

Richie.. so sorry to hear that.. Please dont be gone too long.. I rather like this thread and hope that we keep it bumped up so it doesnt get lost in the shuffle..

Just wanted to add that I am doing a garage sale this Saturday and then next weekend will take a break and then do a second garage sale the Saturday after.. The weekend after that we will be in WDW .. I need to make a little extra cash if possible as DD was in the hospital last week and all the over time I had been planning for last week went down the drain.. so I am looking for other ways so that we will have plenty of $$.. Im hoping to have both decent days as far as profit.. but we'll see.. DSD has some items she's bringing over to add to what I have and anything I make we are taking to WDW since me and DH paid for the entire trip.. I'll update once I have the sale and let you guys know how it goes..

Also I had some clothes Ive been needing to take back to JcPenney.. although it went back onto my Penneys card, that will be that much less I owe in the long run.. almost $50!

I had some items left over from DGD birthday party that were unopened and we ended up not needing for the party.. Took that back to Party City today and got $16 and change back.. went straight into my Disney envelopes

Counted another $10 in my change bank also...

Every little bit helps..

 

[abish19]

Sorry to hear you'll be gone! But I know you're busy anyway and could probably use that extra time wisely!

It's great to hear some of the "small things that add up to big things" that we're all doing to get to WDW. I've incorporated a lot of those ideas already.

I just wanted to jump in with something that I'd thought of, but never acted on until recently. We went to renew our AAA membership recently and received a letter "inviting" us to compare our home and car insurance rates with the company we had to AAA. After a phone call and some number crunching, we discovered that we could save $400 a year and end up with BETTER home insurance coverage (almost $100,000 more on the house in case of fire). We've since switched our insurance company, needless to say.

Now we could take that $400 and put it away for WDW. We've decided that instead of purchasing Disney gift cards, or paying off our vacation early, that we'd put the money in our ING account (where we'll get a better interest rate) and pay Disney only when the money is required. We'd rather earn that interest than have Disney earn it, much as we love them!

Lesson learned is don't ignore the yearly bills that have to be paid, but could be less - insurance, gym memberships, cable bills (do you have to have deluxe or could you get by with basic?), etc. There are definitely ways to save, even if it takes a little time initially.

Thanks for the ideas on this thread! Let's keep it going...

 

[RichieTruxillo]

Upon email request I am back. Just finished medicine wards at the VAMC and I am tired. 30 hour call every 4th night tires ya out.

AAA is a great deal and gets you some discounts when you are on the road. Perfect for the Disney Traveler who goes by car. Ok gotta jet just wanted to post I was back. Time for sleep

 

[TNKBELL]

Aldi and Hostess
Most of our grocery shopping is done at Aldi, the products are fresher and much more affordable than Dillons, Walmart and Target stores, about half as much! We purchase our bread at Hostess outlet store down the street, we buy 100% whole wheat bread Wonder brand, 2 loaves for $2.50. This is less than half the price! Also they sell 12 packs of wheat hamburger buns 2 for $2.70.
Transfer Those Prescriptions!
Also look for coupons to get a free gift card when transferring prescriptions. I have a generic scrip that I have transferred 2 times and can transfer 1 more time with a total of $55 in gift cards and the scrips cost $30 total to have 3 refills. Target, Walgreens, Dillons and Kmart stores often run these promos.
EXPOTV
Also I didn't see anyone mention expotv, I made so much last year that I had to claim it on my taxes! It's very easy and fast.

Reuse store bags to line trash cans.

 

[RichieTruxillo]

ExpoTV! What an awesome idea!! SWEET!! Totally going to use this now and upload my own product reviews. Fantastic idea indeed. Will add it for sure.

 

[Mrs.Reese]

We've been collecting aluminum cans. Filled the trunk with the things and get 65 cents a pound. At first I felt weird about it but hey that's money just sitting around.

 

[justcantwait]

Just wanted to add where I "found" some money for my next trip (whenever that may be ). I have insurance that covers me in case, God forbid, I get cancer. It has a wellness benefit, meaning whenever I go do the tests that I normally would do anyway (mammogram, pap, colonoscopy, or for men a prostate exam), I send them a form and they send me a check for $75 each year . Got $150 so far, and won't be going until at least next year (so $75 more!). So, the moral of the story is, get those tests done no matter what, but better to get paid for them!

Kathy

 

[abish19]

Such good suggestions!

I say yes to aluminum cans - here in MI we get 10 cents per can, which adds up fast. Unbelievably, people STILL throw them away or out the car window.

Also, I second the prescription advice. We started getting ours via mail. We get three months' worth for one co-pay, which saves us $20 every three months.

One more idea: if you get reimbursements from work, church (I work with the youth group and have to spend $$ for different activities), etc., put those reimbursements into savings instead of back into your checking account.

Lastly, if you play the piano, consider taking students (an intermediate-level pianist should be able to handle beginning students) or playing for nursing homes. Most nursing homes have an activity budget and can pay you anywhere from $25-$75 for playing for the residents. This would work for other instruments as well (acoustic guitar, etc.). My sister suggested this as she's a nursing home activity director.

 

[buffalogirl]

Aldi and Hostess
Most of our grocery shopping is done at Aldi, the products are fresher and much more affordable than Dillons, Walmart and Target stores, about half as much! We purchase our bread at Hostess outlet store down the street, we buy 100% whole wheat bread Wonder brand, 2 loaves for $2.50. This is less than half the price! Also they sell 12 packs of wheat hamburger buns 2 for $2.70.
Transfer Those Prescriptions!
Also look for coupons to get a free gift card when transferring prescriptions. I have a generic scrip that I have transferred 2 times and can transfer 1 more time with a total of $55 in gift cards and the scrips cost $30 total to have 3 refills. Target, Walgreens, Dillons and Kmart stores often run these promos.
EXPOTV
Also I didn't see anyone mention expotv, I made so much last year that I had to claim it on my taxes! It's very easy and fast.

Reuse store bags to line trash cans.

EXPOTV?? Please tell me how it works.

BTW I'm also a huge Aldi fan.