Trying to squirrel away more $$

[crazyforgoofy]

Working on raising our total of "free" money for the trip with the grands. Thus far we've accumulated:


Disney Visa rewards $87

Rainforest Cafe GC $25

Saving Change $387

Recycling $37

Still have a big garage sale to go and will save more change before late May. Will try to put some things on eBay but thus far its rather intimidating.

How are you saving $$?

 

[pumpkinboy]

Saving BIG money by driving our old cars into the ground! Depreciation in the first year of a new car's life is enough for a luxurious WDW stay, everything included. WIth what we have saved driving older cars (our newest is a '99) we have bought DVC membership covering our WDW lodging for the next 38 yrs for very manageable membership dues (less than $500 a year), and in addition shoveled more money into our pension savings.

IMO better to spend money on vacationing within USA & Canada than shovel $$ abroad buying new cars (cuz even a "domestic" make is made up mainly of imported parts anyway; not that I mind importing anything in particular, just not my big ticket items thx).

 

[CheapMom]

I do that too- people think I am crazy but I drive a minivan with 200K. It is doubly funny because I live in an affluent area and when I drop the kids off at school everybody has beemers, hummers, Mercedes... and I am like Mrs. Hillbilly in my old beater. DH has a nice car- but truly I don't care what my car looks like.
It has been paid for for 4 years. 4 years of car payments is BIG $$$ in my pocket.

 

[dizcrazy]

We also drive our cars as long as we can (no duct tape needed - yet!)

Another trick: maybe give or have your grands ask others for Disney dollars for birthdays and gift-giving holidays. It's easier to ask for Disney dollars rather than cash (at least, i think so. seems less tacky!) and it would give the kids some money for souvenirs.

BTW, it looks like you are saving a lot right now! I am impressed!

 

[crazyforgoofy]

Yep, our Honda Cr-V was paid for last fall, yippee. It has well over 100,000 miles but its our baby and we're not getting a new car for quite a while. We're also budgeting for the necessary repairs and upkeep we know we'll need to do on it but its so much cheaper than car payments. Insurance is less too.

Keep those suggestions for some extra ways to save coming.

 

[HaleyB]

I have posted this before...
I save big money by making a list before I go to the grocery store and sticking to it. I also do some batch cooking.
We eat out every other weekend instead of every Saturday. We go to the dollar theater most of the time. We by books second hand. All lifestyle changes that allow me to squirl money away. I keep my vacation savings at a different bank than my regular savings and checking. This makes it a pain to get to. So far I have only dipped in one time, and that was only $50.
Oh and all the money I find in the laundry goes into Disney Fund, unless the owner is helping me when I find it. (You would be surprised how often my kids fold laundry for me )

I have this month started to try to use less gas. My first goal is to go 10 days instead of only 7 on a full tank. I combine errand trips and don't go window shopping anymore. I carpool whenever I can. So far so good. That will be another $25 a month for Disney.

Do try ebay. It is easy and you can really make money at it. I have more than $600 from ebay just from the fall, I have not listed anything in months now (time to get going again soon). I burn out on it, so I will list for 3-5 weeks and then take 3-5 weeks off. I am too busy in Nov and Dec to list, so I don't. But when I do have about 10 hours a week to do ebay I make good money and get rid of junk at the same time.

 

[momm2four]

I play this "game" with myself. If I buy something and take it back, I just put that credit into our vacation category of our budget. The first month that I did that, I saved over $100 for our vacation.

I put all money from surveys I take into our WDW account. We're also saving change and probably have around $400 right now.

I do MyPoints.com and just from purchases I made over Christmas and clicking on emails, I have earned a $25 WebCert. which I will use to purchase Disney Dollars. Not a lot of effort on my part.

Also, put some things on Amazon to sell and plan to get back to selling on Ebay in a month or so.

Lori P.

 

[yecats]

Wow, you are really going all out for the Disney fund. I am saving the money I would've spent for lunch ($5 per day at least 3 days per week = $15) and all the change I've acured that week. I have done this for one month to date. I also recently got my Disney card and am beginning to charge my groceries to it and of course paying it off monthly. To date I have saved/earned $117. I also run around in an older car. Your doing great and keep on doing what your doing cause your headed in the right direction.

 

[CheapMom]

I can't stress enough how great the INGdirect back acct is. All my paypal earings go in the plus a small amount each week is auto-transfered from my checking. 2% APR for money that I can get out if I need it can't be beat.
Oh by the way if you are interested PM me with you email address and I can send you a referral- if you use the referral link you get $25 for opening account. (After that you get $10 everytime you refer a friend)

 

[dsnycrzy]

cheapmom
In your count down thingy you have that you are going on the cruise and staying at one of the all stars. Did disney finally add the value resorts or did you do it that way yourself. We went in 2000 to the cruise and had to stay at the then dixie landings because the value resorts weren't able to be combined with the cruise. And with the ingdirect- how much do you need to start it off? How fast is the interest rack up (our tip is in august? Thanks

 

[CheapMom]

I booked the cruise and resort separate. My kids love ASMO and I like it too so we saved some $$$ that way. There are no minimums on that account- I will PM you with the details

 

[shelly3girls]

I second the *** idea. Every extra little bit we get from rebates, change, etc. I transfer to *** along with our vacation savings. This was it does not get widdled away.

 

[arminnie]

Originally posted by pumpkinboy
Saving BIG money by driving our old cars into the ground!

That is one of the BEST ways to save money. We have a 96 SUV and a 97 van. The SUV replaced a 20 year old panel van. I kept my previous Accord for 10 years and the car before that for 17 years. I hate car payments. It's hard to avoid one with the price of today's cars, but I want to make sure that I have a lot of years w/o one.

 

[mamo-4-wdw]

I have you all beat. I drive a '90 F-150 truck. It was my dad's and when he passed my Mom let me have it. It has 180,000 miles and due to good maintance runs great!(Thank You Jesus)

We also have family movie night:
rent 2 DVD's from hollywood video (they have a coupon on cereal for rent1 get 1 free),
go to the dollar tree and get our candy, they have the boxes just like at the movies
Then one DS makes home made pizza ( they are getting very good at this and even make my fav. alfredo & spinach)
Large sodas, popcorn and settle in for a great movie night.
savings $52 every week
Our neighbors know we are going to Disney so when they need yard work done or some extra musles they come to get the boys and that money goes into Disney Dollars.

My DS 14 has a jar he saves change in and will "claim" any he finds. he also stuffs dollars in there.He has over $120

I have tuna and mac for lunch twice a week saving $ 14.00 a week. And started drinking Hot tea instead of soda in the afternoon saving$7 a week
Instead of buying books I would read once, I reserve them at the library. Saving $15 a week.
total savings a week $88.50 and it didn't cramp my style very much at all ( I just see me at the castle and know it will be worth it)
.
Good luck to all of you and keep sharing the saving tips!

 

[Eyore4Ever149]

Im about to start Ebay- I need my husband to help walk me through. I got married in Aug and have all sorts of stuff, veil, shoes, little bells for the table, plus I have some evening gowns and other stuff. I have a Disney black top hat and bride's hat to wear at the world...think anyone would buy them? Im unsure on that one.
My husband mentioned not eating out and having his protein shakes instead for lunch.
I have thought about cutting back on my book buying, but I never have time to go to the library and I only read Christian stuff for the most part, so I think they wont have what I want. I do buy from a book club and try to keep myself out of Barnes and Noble- very hard, but Im usually good.
I have been putting pocket change in my Eyore piggy bank. I wont bother to open a separate account, my husband would want me to give the money to him to pay off bills, (we share an acct) he is of the mind set of pay off any bills now, and we will have the money later. He did that with our wedding money and I feel guilty going out and buying something extravagant that was on the registry, it doesn't feel like a gift anymore. So for WDW I will keep my own little secret stash and surprise him when we go.

For those who use Ebay continuously, dont you run out of items to sell in your house??

 

[angel's momma]

Originally posted by Eyore4Ever149

I have thought about cutting back on my book buying, but I never have time to go to the library and I only read Christian stuff for the most part, so I think they wont have what I want.

If you can find time to go to the library, they should have Christian books, and if by some chance they don't, they can order some or borrow from nearby libraries if you request specific titles.

 

[CheapMom]

mamo 4 wdw- your movie night sounds like more fun than the real thing!
We eat out rarely and when we do we use Entertainment book coupons and we drink water. That is no sacrifice for me because I try to drink 8 glasses a day and it's hard to make that quota. I NEVER buy books from nice bookstores. I go to the library almost every week and buy books 2nd hand (good will, half.com)
Watch out, here is where I get REALLY cheap. At the end of Oct. or start of November I join BMG music club (Get 12 cds for the price of 1 with the obligation to buy 3 at regular price in the next 2 years) I order all the cds at once and then cancel membership. I get 16 cds for about $60 including shipping. Now lots of my oChristmas shopping is done.

 

[dpayne1969]

LOL.I too drive an old truck,i have a 94 chevy blazer that has about 170,000 miles on it.My hubby as a 92 chevy which is fixing to get a brand new shiney motor in it in May!We hate car payments too.LOL.This is our first trip to Orlando in Nov. and we are saving change i take 5-10.00 out of hubbys check every week and put it in our vacation account.I also babysit for inlaws and make 50.00 a week.I have recently started sub.teacher for our middle and high school and have been pleasantly surprised with how busy they are keeping me.My 11 year old son mows lawns and will work with his dad this summer as a gopher and make money!Both kids ask for money explaining we are going to Florida in Nov. and dont need any toys!

 

[SuprGro78]

If any of you are stay at home moms, or work from home or just looking to make some money for a day you should try contacting your local election department. They are usually looking for people to work at the polls on election day and it pays. The pay varies from city to city, but it's a day of work.

 

[mjal]

I'm trying to stash all "side" money into our *** savings account, too. Ebay, surveys and mystery shops all go into the account, as well as rebates and return purchases. Through our purchase of MSN Money a couple of months ago, it gave us a $50 bonus for opening an *** account! It's really a mental thing to set the money aside, so it doesn't feel like a big hit when the trip comes.

I have a question about the webcertificates from mypoints, though. Does anyone know if I could use those to purchase our airline tickets through Expedia? Expedia is listed on the webcertificate website, but I wasn't sure exactly how that worked.