Things you do to afford a Disney trip...

[Bree]

It really is about priorities! I'd rather my children have experiences rather than things. We are fortunate that my DH earns what he does and live very comfortably and have a lot of extras, but I'm still a tightwad. I never pay full price for anything. I love Raise and Groupon. I coupon as much as possible. I also Swagbuck, Perk, Vindale, Ebates, etc to fund my Disney addiction. My DH teases me (lovingly) about my cheap *** ways, but I paid for our November Disney cruise and our upcoming club level stay at Beach Club with nothing but gift cards that I have earned and a few things that I've sold on eBay and Craigslist.

 

[IndianaRRT]

We are a very ordinary blue collar family. DH makes good money that pays for our home, cars, utilities, insurance, etc, etc. Almost every cent of my weekly paycheck goes to pay our part of DS's college tuition, so we haven't vacationed in years. DH's job does have a few perks in that we can get seats to a "local" NFL team and MLB team once a year, so we are only out gas and lunch for that. But mostly, we enjoy local outings as we live in a beautiful river town.

To pay for my surprise Disney birthday trip this year, DH took out a very low-interest loan through his employer. The payments are less than $40/month and are directly debited from his check. It was a nice option for a very special occasion. However, DD wants to go to WDW for her high school graduation gift in 2017, so the saving has begun! I'm getting some great ideas from pp's. We aren't willing to eat beans and peanut butter for a week at a time (but we did that in college and boy, does it save money!!), and we do like to go out to eat once a month or so. But here's a few things that we're doing so we can have DD's dream trip paid for by April 2017:

• We opened a Disney Vacation Account and have auto-payments set up for every 2 weeks.
• We have a "change bucket", too! Daily or weekly, we empty our pocket change into the bucket. We tally it up once a month, convert the change to cash at our bank and put it in a "Disney envelope". We are chipping away at our airfare goal with this. (We've never been able to afford to fly to Disney before, so fingers crossed!)
• We do eBates and Swagbucks, and use the cash from eBates and the gift cards from Swagbucks to purchase Disney Gift Cards. We load those into the vacation account as one-time payments.
• My employer offers in-house currency as rewards/incentives for attendance, improvement ideas, etc. That adds up pretty fast, so I use that to buy gift cards that I can then get Disney Gift Cards with. They go in the account.
• DD has a part-time summer job, and she puts a few dollars from each paycheck in the account. She's also asked for Disney gift cards as stocking stuffers, etc.
• We use Wal-Mart Savings Catcher and buy Disney Gift cards with accrued refunds as well.

Good luck to everyone saving and planning for their trip!

 

[milwaukeemommy]

We were lucky the first trip, my in laws paid for everything. They wanted to go with my boys so badly .... they were at the perfect age to go ... so they decided to take us all ... totally on them.

We just decided last week it's time to go again, & the first words out of my mouth were "we will pay our own way this time". We can't really afford it, but I couldn't let them even think about paying again (if she was even going to offer, lol). So ... I'm happy to join this thread! I've worked just under 30 hours a week for the past 5 years .... & since my boys ARE older I asked if I could work more. Our company is always super busy, & always getting busier so of course they said yes. I don't think I'll work 40, but I will work more & put some toward debt & some toward our vacation. We aren't going until July 2016 thankfully, so we have some time to (hopefully) save!

 

[Madteaparty001]

We use an envelope budget to keep impulse buying under control. We share one car, a beater, which is easier for us since I stay at home with the kid. We are on the sprint family plan with my parents so we pay $65 a month for 2 smart phones with unlimited talk and text with 5gb of data per phone. We don't have cable, we use internet, netflix, and free hulu. We cook from scratch 90% of our meals.

The list goes on but with all this it would take years to afford Disney as a budget line item. So I use credit card sign up bonuses, Both my husband and I got a barclay card, that's $920 right there after you spend $3k on each card in 3 months (40k point sign up bonus). Then I signed up for both southwest cards, premier and plus, when the offer was 50k points each. When I reached 110k points I received my companion pass, this paid for plane tickets for my family and my parents with points to spare. I rented DVC points for a hotel room, which I then used the barclay points to pay off, and paid for our tickets with discounted gift cards. The gift cards were bought with an Amex card that gave me $250 back as a sign up bonus when spending $1000 in 3 months, easy to do with Disney tickets. I have good credit which allows me to do this and I don't carry a balance, it took time and patience (about a year) but credit card points will always give you more bang for your buck when used on travel.

I remember as a kid my dad always working in the garage, if he wasn't at work and we weren't on vacation, he was in the garage fixing other peoples cars for money to afford our lifestyle. We were rarely told no and looking back we were quite spoiled. My parents made good money, and we vacationed several times a year, but I wish we had vacationed less and spent more time together as a family on a day to day basis. That is why instead of working extra jobs or extra hours to go on multiple vacations, my husband and I budget and find 'travel hacks' to afford the 1 vacation a year we take. Because on a day to day basis we want to see each other as much as possible. Even if it's spent cleaning

 

[Kshell40]

I work per diem. So I had the opportunity to work more due to someone quitting. Putting that away for our trip. Two years in a row is
Not our norm, we are usually every other
We also use 2% rewards Disney cc and rack up points however we can.
It helps a lot!

 

[Choozee]

We live within our means. We do not buy extravagent things that we can't afford. My car is not paid for however my DHs truck is paid for. Having only one car payment at a time helps.
I now have to wear closed toed shoes to work, so I do not have to get pedicures all the time ( I still get one every couple of months though).
I don't buy things without planning to buy things. In other words, if it's not on my list, I don't buy it. That has saved me a ton of $! I try very hard not to impulse buy. I gotta a "oh that's so cute" problem.
I still have cable TV but I am considering dropping that.
I use my Disney visa for purchases for the points.
And I like planning our vacations early and making monthly payments. I plan at least a year ahead.
It is about priority. And one of my highest priorities is our family vacations.
I quit smoking last year too.
I sell things I am no longer using on eBay.
I mow my own lawn, cook most of my own food and I use Walmart savings catcher. That really adds up!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

^^^^ Good point about WM Savings Catcher. We got a $6 credit last week on less than $50 worth of stuff. So, we scan every receipt, no matter how small.

 

[worm761]

DH makes enough money that we can live comfortably and still vacation and have the extras. But almost all the money I make working at home goes to my vacation fund. I do Swagbucks, MyPoints, Receipt Hog (I need to get better at this one), and Perk for points and gift cards. DH also has a Swagbucks and MyPoints account. I do transcription work through a friend when she has projects running. They are steady but I like the work. When I am not doing work for her I do odd jobs on Mturk for extra cash for vacation.

DH, my dad, adult DS, and I are all on a family cell phone plan. DH pays the bills and budgets the entire bill into our bill money. Dad and DS give me cash for the cell phone bill. That is my "fun" money and I put most if not all towards my vacation fund.
I am a soda drinker so recycle the cans for cash and that goes towards my vacation funds too. Our gazebo broke. A tree limb fell on it and it isn't repairable. So, we will take the steel supports to the recycle plant and that money will go to vacation too.
I find money where I can and stash it away.

 

[5kidsmommy]

We are a largish family living on one income. We really don't have a lot of extravagances but I like to be able to travel with my kids. We don't eat out much at all, we don't have cable, we don't pay anyone else for home repairs, car maintenance or lawn work. Doing almost everything ourselves saves a lot of money. We don't tend to buy a lot of clothing, the kids get new clothes when they are needed but we usually shop thrift stores of clearance racks. I never pay full price. We just live within our means. Oh and the kids pick up jobs here and there to earn spending money, they babysit, dog sit, do lawn work and other other miscellaneous work.

 

[hsmamato2]

why would it be crazy to save on one part of your budget so you can spend it elsewhere? IDK what you do for a living OP, but cleaning my house isn't a budget line option anyway, so IMHO you will enjoy that vacation more than a housekeeper! I know I would choose vacation over paid housecleaning any day of the week...

 

[hsmamato2]

oops sorry! I didn't even answer the OP question!!! Ok, we are a one income family- and do just fine living within our means.... not rich, but very careful. Since we tend to enjoy simpler things anyway,it's not a huge deal. I keep a budget weekly/monthly/yearly, and we stay within that. I set aside some $$ for fun stuff like vacations on a weekly basis,and that is it's own category of savings. (don't panic, we also save for the all the necessary stuff too) I use points and miles wisely,and accumulate savings where I can,and that's my monetary contribution to life around here. This makes it possible to tod many of the things we have wanted to do, that would otherwise be out of our reach financially. We DIY everything unless absolutely necessary,DH is an awesome handyman- I likewsie know how to cook/clean/fix/garden/sew/bargain shop like a fiend. That's how we plan and afford our travel,which is an 'extra' in life, but I love it!

 

[hsmamato2]

oh... here's another.... we don't spend a lot on cellphones,tv or anything. DH has a work provided cell, I have his hand me down cell, on pageplus prepaid service (limited data,just imagine!) for $30 a month, Ds1 has his own cell (Virgin mobile for $30) and DS has his bro's hand me down cell,with free(yes FREE) very limited service on it (200 talk minutes,500 texts,500 mb data monthly) on Freedompop,a great app I just discovered.... by limiting our data usage when not needed it saves abundle,and I don't miss it, it's just another set of buttons to tap when I need it on anyway..... We don't have cable ,we have an antenna in the attic,a Tivo box(no fee) and netflix. None of this makes us feel deprived, so it's easy money in our pockets.

 

[bbarba]

We went through our budget a year or so ago to trim the fat. It took6 months before we were happy with our tech cuts, but what a huge difference.

Our cable/Internet/landline was almost 150. Then we had 75 for non smartphone plans. We cut cable, bought two antennas. We already had one appletv from a Xmas gift and got another this past Xmas. This passed winter we switched our cell service to ting (on the sprint network). We bought used 2 iPhone 5c and added my parents to our plan (they get the kids on the bus for us). Cellphone bill dropped to 57 on average (including taxes). We kept the landline/Internet and that costs 50 a month. We are now down to under $120 for all all combined. That is about 1200 a year in savings.

The best part, I do not. Is cable. I watch tv on my terms.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

In my younger days, I never said "no" to a night out, but there were always ways to do it on the cheap. If dinner & drinks, I'd skip dinner, join up for drinks, and drink ice water all night.

I quit "drinking" for financial reasons so many times I kind of lost interest LOL

Yes!! Exactly what I do and have done.

This Friday I'm going out to do a night out with friends for "Trapped in a Room." I bought the tickets discounted on Goldstar a few weeks ago but they want to go to a bar after. I'll pass. lol Everything in the city costs so much.

I've been invited to something every weekend this month and almost all of next month. I've had to decline a lot of events. It's just too much.

 

[DisMommyTX]

We tend to spend what we bring home, so we let Uncle Sam be our savings account. DH and I both claim 'single no dependents' so we get a max tax refund every year that goes straight into savings for vacations. I understand that we could be earning interest on that money all year instead of the govt, but then we are more likely to spend it throughout the year!

Our employers also offer tax deferred spending accounts for day care and medical expenses. We have those withheld from each paycheck, but then don't claim the money when we pay the expenses. Instead, we wait until it builds up and claim it all at once, usually about the time a big payment is due.

Other than that, we live well, but drive old cars and keep them long after they are paid off. My kids wear designer clothes from Once Upon A Child. DH and I don't buy each other gifts, but designate souvenirs from a recent or future trip as our b'day or mother's day gifts, etc. Vacations are important to us, so we make them a part of every day life.

 

[kathy884]

I haven't sacrificed other vacations or anything else budget wise to go to Orlando/Florida, but I have mastered the budget trip to get my SeaWorld/Disney fix. (1) I get other family members interested and we usually have three families in a condo that sleeps eight at a great timeshare resort. We often bring two blowups too, so actually have about 10 people staying there. We rent these great resorts from owners often for about $900 a week, so it only costs about $300 per family. Usually one family drives down in a mini van and my cousin from Tampa joins us for free at our condo too, but offers to drive us around in his car. (2) car rental cost is zero. (3) We minimize theme park days to keep costs down -- Two days at SeaWorld - second day is just $15, one day at Disney -- ouch $100 or so pp, so not a bargain -- one beach day (free), -- two resort days: tennis, swimming, and movies -- ticket prices per person are under $200 for the stay (4) We eat all breakfasts in, bring sandwiches to the park on our Disney days for lunch, eat at the condo on resort days for lunch, eat two dinners in, order pizza once, and do three counter service dinners at theme parks -- not all that expensive food wise.

Oh and I use Southwest points for our air.

It's easy to put aside a little extra cash for a trip like this without affecting any budgeted items, savings goals etc.

 

[Madame]

why would it be crazy to save on one part of your budget so you can spend it elsewhere? IDK what you do for a living OP, but cleaning my house isn't a budget line option anyway, so IMHO you will enjoy that vacation more than a housekeeper! I know I would choose vacation over paid housecleaning any day of the week...

I'm a teacher, so a lot of my at home time is spent lesson planning & marking. I'd never had a house cleaner before - my DM cleaned for a living & I helped her a lot on jobs, so I'm pretty particular about my house.

We first hired our cleaner 4 years ago. I was back to work after mat leave with my twins & I had 3 kids 3 years and under. One of my boys was born with a cancerous tumour & the endless appointments & stress were literally killing us.

We probably couldn't afford it at the time b/c 3 kids in full-time daycare was running us $2,200 a month. We were overrun though & I was losing my mind!

It was definitely time to re-evaluate though as my kids are getting older & are through the 'maintenance' stage now. I just can't justify it anymore, but at the time it was lifesaver!!

 

[kymom99]

I'm a teacher, so a lot of my at home time is spent lesson planning & marking. I'd never had a house cleaner before - my DM cleaned for a living & I helped her a lot on jobs, so I'm pretty particular about my house.

We first hired our cleaner 4 years ago. I was back to work after mat leave with my twins & I had 3 kids 3 years and under. One of my boys was born with a cancerous tumour & the endless appointments & stress were literally killing us.

We probably couldn't afford it at the time b/c 3 kids in full-time daycare was running us $2,200 a month. We were overrun though & I was losing my mind!

It was definitely time to re-evaluate though as my kids are getting older & are through the 'maintenance' stage now. I just can't justify it anymore, but at the time it was lifesaver!!

Wow! I can certainly see how a housekeeper was a matter of survival for you!

 

[HollyM7813]

We're lucky enough that we are a 2 income family and DH has a pretty good job that offers a decent bonus. His bonus payed for our vacation package. I'm a server and have been saving all of my $1's for Disney spending money, tips, etc. Surprisingly, I budget much better when the cash is on hand than if it was in the bank or on a card. About a week or so before our trip, I plan on taking the cash I've saved to get Disney GCs for the DDs spending money and a Visa GC for most of the rest of the cash I've saved. I plan on continuing to save my ones and when I reach $100 to buy more Disney gift cards to pay for at least part of our next trip (hopefully Oct. 2016!).

I also refuse to pay retail for anything!!! I've taught the DDs well and they know we don't even LOOK at anything unless it's on a clearance rack!! The only thing I will even consider paying anything over a clearance price are for shoes, I have to wear a lift in my shoe for my back and knees and need very supportive shoes, but even those must at least have a sale sticker!

The DH and I also quit smoking back in December. That's a savings of over $300 a month!

 

[Shanan]

Like others that have posted we have a separate vacation account but we have it at a different bank then where our normal checking & savings accounts are. Both DH & I drive vehicles that over 8 years old & paid off. I have planted a small garden this year since I love veggies & I also can jelly for Christmas gifts for co-workers & family. I take my lunch to work majority of time. If I take lunch to work 4 days a week then I put $20 on Saturday in the vacation account. We also have Disney Visa card & DH travels for business. His airline tickets and hotel nights are put on the credit card & he is reimbursed by the company (pay off credit card every month). We don't have kids. We have been blessed rather by rain for the garden or having a job for both of us etc. I do enjoy reading others hints & tricks.