Tips for saving $$, for your Walt Disney VaCa!!

[livvylivvie]

We are planning a Trip to WDW for September!

And Now the Saving Begins!!

If I can't get enough $$ saved by august, we will have to cancel our trip. or maybe just cut back on it abit...
Right now we are at CBR. booked with free dinning. I am sooo looking forward to this VaCa!

Here are some things I am doing to help save money for our vacation.

~I am making my own bread. - (its a savings for us, cause my kids love bread.) and a loaf here is about 3$.
~I make my own Laundry soap. yup thats right! and it works great!!
~I hang my laundry to dry on the clothes line.
~I acctually make all snacks for our family. raisin bread, any cookies, things like that. no store bought.
~We are planting a garden! So That will help on our grocery bill.
~I cut coupons (just starting this, and hoping it helps)
~making lunches at home,
~bring my own coffee if i am out running errands... (which is hard in canada, cause there is a Tim Hortons on every corner. lol )
~No eating out at restaurants. ( we have people in, instead)
~ I cut my own grass.
~ I cut my sons hair. lol
~I also plann of having a garage sale!

We are on a VERY Strict budget. We have already went through all our bills and cut costs where we could... Now it is down to cutting family expenses.

I am contemplateing getting rid of cable for the summer.... and maybe our home phone line. (dh and I have our own cells... and most people who call me are on my fav 5)
We will keep the internet, cause lets face it, I am addicted to the DIS.
Anyone try cutting cable for the summer?

What are YOUR Money saving tips so you can go on VaCa?? I am interested to know.

 

[starann]

google the website "Couponing to Disney" it is a GREAT site with lots of tips and suggestions as well as deals going on!

 

[eyor44]

I use coupons, do surveys, recycle alum and tin cans, take my lunch to work, cut down on eating out, have a yearly yard sale, and use MyPoints and Coke Rewards web sites.

 

[Marionnette]

I admit it. I did a couple of credit card offers.

We already had 2 Disney visa cards. I signed up for the Southwest visa card for 2 free flights. <hangs head in shame>.

I also signed up for a Sony rewards visa back in December when they were offering enough points with your first purchase to get a $200 GC. <mea culpa>

And I signed up for an Amazon visa card so that I would get bonus reward points. <mea maxima culpa, two hundred lashes with a wet noodle>

I used the GCs for gifts and put the money I would have spent into my Disney fund. I cashed the Amazon points in for a $100 check.

I'm not worried about the little hit that my credit score may have taken with the inquiries. It doesn't last long and my score is high enough that it really has very little impact.

 

[Leleluvsdis]

I try an buy groceries only if it's on sale or I have a coupon. Then I take the money I saved and put it into a savings jar since I would have spent it any way we never miss it. It adds up really quick. Also if you have a gas station where you save so much for spending so much (kroger gives you 10 cents off a gallon for 100 dollars of groceries) i take that savings and put in there also. It's not alot, but it adds up fast. Last week I had 90 dollars to our jar just from my grocery savings. Also, see if your employer makes you eligible for a savings on your cell phone or if you can bundle your tv phone internet for a savings. DH employer gets us a 20% discount on our cellphone, and because we bundled our cell, house phone, internet, and tv it saved us an additional 25 dollars month.

 

[Taja]

Pack lunches for work/school the night before. No last minute budget hiccups!

Take a small cooler of water/snacks when running errands so I don't have to purchase anything--same idea as you taking your coffee with you. I tend to cram as many errands as possible into one loop, so six hours one day month isn't unusual.

Cable. Hmmmm...Not sure how it works in Canada, but in most of the US you are required to sign a contract. You pay a penalty to break it. Not sure if they would accommodate turning off access for a period of time without charging you some sort of fee. Might be worth looking into it, though. You won't know until you ask!

Get everyone in the family on board about saving money for Disney. Have them think in terms of "Do I really need/want this or do I want to go to WDW?" Make a budget--with input from everyone--and see how you do each month. Deposit the savings in a savings account earmarked for Disney. Create some sort of visual for the savings--a chain, a chart, whatever works for you!

 

[Reddy]

coupons - will you actually use what it is for?? is the house brand just as good (this is something you just have to try & see - some things yes others no)

if you have a coupon for "cheer" but "gain" is still $4 cheaper - I'm buying the "gain"

I haven't had cable in over 10 years - so I vote to kill it & never get it back
I would kill the home phone too but internet is with that.

I would budget a certain amount for groceries/cleaners - then anything that isn't spent gets put to Disney.

clothing is another thing to really think about - how many new clothes do you really need?? & do you a storage spot (that you pay rent on) do you really want anything that is in it (I know aunt Kathy gave you that wonderful chair put it doesn't fit your house - do you really need it??) if storage spot hasn't been touched in 2 years - it all goes to the garage sell - it isn't the house & isn't being used - you dont need it (or really want it since it isn't in the home)

All change goes into a jar - when full take to bank & turn it in for cash/disney money

 

[ImaDVCwannabe]

We are planning a Trip to WDW for September!

And Now the Saving Begins!!

If I can't get enough $$ saved by august, we will have to cancel our trip. or maybe just cut back on it abit...
Right now we are at CBR. booked with free dinning. I am sooo looking forward to this VaCa!

Here are some things I am doing to help save money for our vacation.

~I am making my own bread. - (its a savings for us, cause my kids love bread.) and a loaf here is about 3$.
~I make my own Laundry soap. yup thats right! and it works great!!
~I hang my laundry to dry on the clothes line.
~I acctually make all snacks for our family. raisin bread, any cookies, things like that. no store bought.
~We are planting a garden! So That will help on our grocery bill.
~I cut coupons (just starting this, and hoping it helps)
~making lunches at home,
~bring my own coffee if i am out running errands... (which is hard in canada, cause there is a Tim Hortons on every corner. lol )
~No eating out at restaurants. ( we have people in, instead)
~ I cut my own grass.
~ I cut my sons hair. lol
~I also plann of having a garage sale!

We are on a VERY Strict budget. We have already went through all our bills and cut costs where we could... Now it is down to cutting family expenses.

I am contemplateing getting rid of cable for the summer.... and maybe our home phone line. (dh and I have our own cells... and most people who call me are on my fav 5)
We will keep the internet, cause lets face it, I am addicted to the DIS.
Anyone try cutting cable for the summer?

What are YOUR Money saving tips so you can go on VaCa?? I am interested to know.

If you don't mind me asking how do you make your own laundry soap? We are soon to be a family of five and my kids have tons of clothes so I do at least two or more loads of laundry a day, so this would save me lots of money

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I signed up for the Southwest visa card for 2 free flights.

I'm curious, did you happen to find one with no annual fee? I was looking into this last October before my trip but the fee was $69 a year. I would definitely get this card if there wasn't an annual fee!!

 

[marie1203]

We are also trying to save extra money this year. we just came back from 2 week vacation and decided it will be the last one this year. We are trying to save an extra 10000 by the end of the year. Next year we are probably moving. We have cut back on eating out. And taking extra classes helps take time up otherwise we would be spending money doing things.

 

[Marionnette]

I'm curious, did you happen to find one with no annual fee? I was looking into this last October before my trip but the fee was $69 a year. I would definitely get this card if there wasn't an annual fee!!

The annual fee was $59 with this offer. For 2 RT tickets, I considered it to be a decent investment. I can always cancel the card before the year is up if I don't think that I'll get my money's worth after the anniversary date. There was another offer that gave a $500 SWA GC, and one RT ticket and no annual fee for the first year. It has also expired.

The current offers are for a regular card with a $69 annual fee and 20K points in the new Rapid Rewards program. Their premier card has a $99 annual fee and give 30K pts. You also get bonus pts. on your anniversay but I forget how many. The number of points needed to book a flight depends on how much the flight costs and the type of ticket (Wanna Get Away, Anytime or Business class).

 

[Colleen27]

I'm working on the same challenge myself; we decided we want to try to get back to Disney this year, but our regular travel budget is already accounted for on other trips that we don't want to cancel. So we're working on saving, finding, or making enough for a "bonus" trip!

It is a little tougher for me to find corners to cut because we already do a lot of the obvious things, like growing a garden, cooking from scratch, hanging the laundry weather permitting, and not eating out.

Some of the things we're trying:
* I'm trying out some survey/rewards sites to make a few bucks here and there.
* I'm getting back in touch with some of the businesses I was freelancing for before my youngest was born.
* I sew, and have contacts that should help me build a small side income off of making a very niche item.
* We're going to have a garage sale.
* I'm doing the unthinkable and dropping my Warcraft account for the summer, since I seldom have time to play during baseball/gardening/football seasons anyway.
* Any "found" money goes directly to the trip.
* Anything leftover from our normal budget for groceries, toiletries, etc. goes directly to the trip.

We really just started thinking about this in the last two weeks, since my girls and I got back from Disney and the guys (DH & DS) who didn't want to go back so soon changed their tune, so we're still in the brainstorming phase and working on coming up with ideas. I love reading the things others do because it gets me thinking in different directions about how we can squeeze a few more dimes out of the budget and into the vacation account!

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

LOVE this question,.. and love the answers even more! We also need to squeeze more $$$ out of the budget for this years wdw trip. I work for our school system,..and I do not get paid during the summer,..so we live on DH income in the summer months, so any ideas are MUCH appreciated. THese ideas are super,..keep'em coming!

 

[pigletto]

Notice you are in Canada.. do you mind sharing who your internet provider is and what you are paying? You may be able to save there. There are some good deals with higher caps with smaller providers. The bigger places like Cogeco and Rogers are robbery
Once you have a higher downloading limit you can easily cut the cable. You can use Netflix. Is it as good as cable here? No. But it's something.. and cutting it for the summer is totally doable.

Would also love to hear what you are paying for cell service and who your provider is. We too are thinking of dropping the home phone as our cell covers everything. (I'm thinking with "my five" you are with Rogers maybe?).

Anyway.. those are my intital ideas. Maybe we can do this together.. I constantly think about ditching the cable and the phone and changing internet so I have done my research. It's just making the leap that's hard.

 

[dawnbu40]

I get Disney gc at the grocery store using all the money I save by couponing. Whatever is left from the grocery budget goes right onto a Disney gc immediately after my grocery purchase. Since the $ was already budgeted I don't even miss it and it goes right towards our trip

 

[Leleluvsdis]

I forgot to add DH and I try to use cash as much as possible and we never spend coins. It all goes straight in a jar. DH also had someone tell him something we are going to start doing is don't spend ones. He did it as a truck driver, any ones he got back as change he put in a toiletries bag on the dash so he would always have toll money. So I think this is going to be a new challenge DH and I are going to start doing, expect putting it into a jar instead of a toiletries bag on the dash lol

 

[weezyree]

I too make and use my own laundry detergent and buy the supplies for it with coupons.

Go to www.becentsable.net to learn more and check out the Be Centsable book from the library. It teaches you how to coupon stack.

If there is a way for you to cut back on gas, find it. We purchased a 150cc scooter for $1000 for me to use to get to work which will cost $15 per month in gas vs. $150 to $200 for me to drive the Suburban.

I also make all my own home made house cleaning products and that has helped save money. I buy bleach and windex. Nothing else. I can send you recipes is you PM me.

If you go without cable for the summer you can hit the library to borrow DVDs for entertainment.

Buy from the thrift stores for clothes for summer for the kids and yourself. I'm now addicted.

Sell stuff you no longer need on craigslist, Ebay or the yard sale or on consignment if you can.

The only paper products we use in the house is TP. We use cloth napkins and old washcloths for cleaning rags. I also have a stack of old dishcloths I use for paper towels. I never mix the two--cleaning rag and paper towels for cross-contamination reasons.

We also cut out eating out. We pack lunches, eat at home and have two meatless dinners a week. I make a list for the store and stick to it.

Also, you can see if your bank offers points towards a gift card to restaurant for your purchases as a treat.

Good luck!!

 

[cam&phoebsmom]

I have been couponing a lot and trying to stack coupons for things that are on sale as well. I just checked our freezer and I think I might be able to skip going to the grocery storefor about 2 weeks based on what I have

I have also been getting the Disney giftcards at the grocery stre. One hint-when I buy them I tape the activation code to the card that I get at the grocery store and the receipt in case I have any problems with it working. (Last year at Christmas I had 2 gift carfsd I bought that ended up not working so now I always save and attach all the codes/receipts together). Sometimes my store has a promotion where you get extra $$$ of your next purchase when you get a guft card so it helps!

I signed up with a site where I earn points and can trade them in for various things like amazon gift cards. So far I have earned $150 since Jan and will be able to cash in for another $25 on April 1st. It was free to sign up and most of the points I earn I just get from doing dearches like I would on google anyway .

We have been collecting change in a big container and will cash it in for spending before we go.

My DH and I have given each other an "allowance" for eating out for the week and little incidentals. Getting cash out instead of using our debit cards makes us think more about what we really are spending our money on.

 

[gillenkl]

I read mypoints emails - to earn gift cards

I put everything on my disney visa and pay off the balance each month.

 

[tinkermom23]

We tried to cut cable for the summer.... we live in a small community and while we do not have a contract, they would charge us $69 to "reconnect" after the summer...I tried convincing DH to cancel it altogether but that was a definite no-go.

Another thing I did was talk to one of our elderly neighbors and offer to clean house and run errands for her. I told her she could pay me whatever she felt it was worth. I've been doing that for about 10 months and she pays me $15/hr. which goes almost entirely into our Disney fund.