Unexpected Speed bump

[Spyells]

Hello everyone,

My family is planning our first Walt Disney World trip for December. Our package is paid but we've hit a snag financially. We just need an extra $5,000. What would you guys suggest is the best option to getting this money quickly? We've never been on a real vacation before and have been planning and thinking about it for awhile. We just hit an unexpected speed bump and we're really hoping this won't stop us from going.

 

[Dentam]

5K is quite a bit to get "quickly". But, off the top of my head, maybe a garage sale or selling stuff on craigslist if you have some nicer things you could part with. Part time/second job would be another option. There are also threads on here detailing ways that people save for WDW trips that could give you some good ideas. Good luck!

 

[ronandannette]

In my circumstances, our family wouldn't have a shot a accumulating that much money in 4 months out of our regular budget. We'd have to take it out of long-term savings or put it on a credit card. We don't have much of anything of value we don't need that we could sell and even if DH and I both found part-time work it's very unlikely we could put together enough hours (on top of our regular jobs) to earn that much.

 

[Narnia_girl]

Hello everyone,

My family is planning our first Walt Disney World trip for December. Our package is paid but we've hit a snag financially. We just need an extra $5,000. What would you guys suggest is the best option to getting this money quickly? We've never been on a real vacation before and have been planning and thinking about it for awhile. We just hit an unexpected speed bump and we're really hoping this won't stop us from going.

The way you wrote that makes me think it's not a big amount to you? I agree with the others above, for most people $5000 is a lot to accumulate in such a short time. But if it's not that big of a deal for you, a combination of cutting spending and adding some income might work.
Go through your expenses and get rid of some of the extras (cable, memberships, etc...)
Vow to stop shopping unless absolutely necessary (go on a clothes diet etc...)
Cut back on the extras (eating out, movies, concerts)
Bump up your income by selling stuff or getting another job.

Good luck, I hope you can achieve your goal and keep your vacation.

 

[LJSquishy]

$5,000 is a lot of money to need to gather...Any suggestions people give you aren't going to be enough to add up to $5,000 in a few months even if you do all of the suggested ideas unless you have a large hidden stash of valuables.

Is there a way you can downgrade your trip a bit, for instance, if you're currently booked at a Deluxe resort can you downgrade to a Moderate or Value resort? Perhaps shorten your trip? Stay offsite? If you paid for the dining plan, you'd probably be able to save money by paying out of pocket for each meal. Maybe between doing some of the suggested things in other posts along with downgrading your trip, you'll be able to make up the $5,000 and still go on a trip.

 

[tvguy]

Okay, I'll ask but you don't have to answer, if the package is paid for, what on earth do you need $5,000 more for for the trip?

 

[marinejjh]

Don't use a credit card, pay cash.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Okay, I'll ask but you don't have to answer, if the package is paid for, what on earth do you need $5,000 more for for the trip?

It sounds like maybe they need to have the $5000 for something else and are trying not to cancel their trip to use the trip money for the sudden expense. They want to come up with it some other way.

OP, I'd look at expenses and drop all I could...eating out, entertainment, etc. Also, clean out the closets and sell on local buy/sell/trade FB pages. People will buy most anything these days.

 

[ceecee]

Can you cut your package fee down any? Less expensive hotel or less days?

 

[Spyells]

Tvguy, we still need to buy plane tickets (pricey since we're flying from the west coast and they're stIll high even with airfare hunting ). We also have to pay for luggage fees. We're a family of five so things add up fast for even the little things. We also need money for unexpected expenses. $5,000 was just a rough estimate because plane tickets can cost about $3,000. We did budget for all of this. We had some other financial issues pop up at the beginning half of this year which is what created the set back.

Thanks for the responses guys.

 

[nat8199]

Can you open up a credit card with an offer of bonus miles or statement credit and use it for spending you have the cash to pay off? DH and I are doing some credit card churning to get an adults only trip in this spring, but we will never carry a balance on any of the cards.

We are high earners, but there is no real way we could come up with 5k in a short amount of time. I suggest delaying the trip until you can save up the $$.

 

[Marionnette]

$5,000 is a lot of money to need to gather...Any suggestions people give you aren't going to be enough to add up to $5,000 in a few months even if you do all of the suggested ideas unless you have a large hidden stash of valuables.

Is there a way you can downgrade your trip a bit, for instance, if you're currently booked at a Deluxe resort can you downgrade to a Moderate or Value resort? Perhaps shorten your trip? Stay offsite? If you paid for the dining plan, you'd probably be able to save money by paying out of pocket for each meal. Maybe between doing some of the suggested things in other posts along with downgrading your trip, you'll be able to make up the $5,000 and still go on a trip.

I'm in agreement that it's a lot of money to try to save in a short period of time. $5K in 4 months is $1250/month. Do you make the kind of money where you can liberate that kind of cash from your budget every month, OP? If not, then the only answer is to find an additional source of income AND pare back your vacation plans in order to provide you with airfare and spending money. I don't think that it's realistic for most people to get that kind of money together in such a short time. Those who have the wherewithal to do it, would not need any suggestions on how to do it.

 

[kj2mom]

Tvguy, we still need to buy plane tickets (pricey since we're flying from the west coast and they're stIll high even with airfare hunting ). We also have to pay for luggage fees. We're a family of five so things add up fast for even the little things. We also need money for unexpected expenses. $5,000 was just a rough estimate because plane tickets can cost about $3,000. We did budget for all of this. We had some other financial issues pop up at the beginning half of this year which is what created the set back.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I ran into some unexpected expenses (the people we were staying with decided to stay on site so I had to send their money back for our time share). I was nervous about overextending so I bought our airline tickets with a no interest for 6 months card and then divided the total by 6 to make sure I pay no fees. Being able to space that out has been a huge help

 

[crisi]

Do you have stock you can sell? Non emergency savings you can tap? Other sellable assets (I know someone who got the last $5000 for her adoption selling her husbands motorcycle )

Really, a lot of it depends on what your resources are.

 

[Madteaparty001]

The only suggestion I have is if your credit is good, and you can pay off your balance every month, get a credit card with airfare rewards. A southwest card, Barclay, chase ink, or whatever carrier is local to your area.

 

[3Gsandme]

If this is for airfare, it's not an unexpected cost. You live too far to drive so you always knew you were going to have to spend it.

You really only have two choices because I don't really know people who have 5k in extra high end merchandise sitting around to sell. You will either need to put this on credit or you and/or your husband will need to take on extra work. My husband is in IT and it's easier for him to make money than me. His skills pay more. We could probably make 5k extra by December, but frankly, you need the money ASAP for airfare. It's not as simple as 1250/month.

There's not really a way for you to Swagbucks your way through 5k. You say you live on the West Coast, would a trip to Disneyland cost less?

 

[Marionnette]

If this is for airfare, it's not an unexpected cost. You live too far to drive so you always knew you were going to have to spend it.

You really only have two choices because I don't really know people who have 5k in extra high end merchandise sitting around to sell. You will either need to put this on credit or you and/or your husband will need to take on extra work. My husband is in IT and it's easier for him to make money than me. His skills pay more. We could probably make 5k extra by December, but frankly, you need the money ASAP for airfare. It's not as simple as 1250/month.

There's not really a way for you to Swagbucks your way through 5k. You say you live on the West Coast, would a trip to Disneyland cost less?

Well, the OP stated that they HAD budgeted for the airfare but an unexpected expense (which was unrelated to their travel plans) came up and part of the trip money was spent on that. Now she (he?) is trying to salvage the trip.

I agree that it would be difficult to meet her costs through rewards programs and garage sales alone. However, it does not need to be an all-or-nothing approach. I'm sure that it's possible to strike a balance between paring back their accommodations, finding additional income, doing a couple of rewards programs, credit card churning and selling some high-value items. None of those approaches has to be done to the exclusion of the others.

 

[wide awake]

Hi,
I would think of this as the money needed to pay the interest on the credit card... yes, you'll pay more than you would have originally, but it doesn't sound like $5000...it sounds like the interest on not paying for the plane tickets before interest kicks in?

 

[DisneynBison]

Don't be afraid to drive to a different departure city or fly a cheaper no frills airline or both, it can suck a little but a little inconvenience for a thousand dollars or more can make the trip happen. It can easily be $200 for each person difference between departure cities and airlines.

 

[mondragon]

Don't you have savings or a 401k? You can borrow money from your retirement and pay at back.