What do you do to raise extra funds for vacations?

[Spirit Feather]

I was wondering what some other folks do to raise funds for their vacations.

I am having a yard sale next weekend and am hoping to get enough to cover the cost of our room.

We have been selling videos and books on half.com and putting that money aside.

We have some curriculum items that we no longer need and I plan on selling those off soon.

I applied for a Holiday job at the Disney Store yesterday. That would bring a little extra money.

What else????

 

[SeaWitch]

We do all the things you mentioned as well.
So, tell me, do you get any kind of employee perk (or I guess I should say 'castmember' perk) working at the Disney Store on a temporary basis....????

I've heard they get a substantial discount on park passes and wondered if you would be able to take advantage of it during your employment for the holidays... if so, let me know! It might make it worth my while to take a holiday job too!

 

[ceecee]

I do a gargage sale and sell some stuff on EBay as well. I don't think a job at Disney would work for me, I'd spend more than I made....the discounts would be nice though.

 

[jacee]

I have never done this, but I have a neighbor who donates plasma, $100-$200 a month depending how often he goes.

jc

 

[HookdonWDW]

Okay, maybe it's just me, but I find the donation of plasma for vacation $$ to be bit over the top. The next thing you know, people will be hitting the sperm bank on the way to the airport...

 

[patsal]

Hookdon LOL, but talk about extreme. Gosh, maybe I could apply to be a surragate! OMG I can't believe what people will do for money.

I just save all my change, cutback on unnecessary items, shop at a discount grocery chain, and have a garage sale or two ( for some reason they don't do well in my area, I usually only get $100. or so), and I sell the kids clothes via e-bay or a second hand shop. By using the discount grocery chain, I have cut my groceries for a family of four from $125.00 per week to about $45-55 per week (that's pretty substantial). Even with a quick stop one time per month for the items that are not carried by the discount chain I am saving at least $3500 per year.

 

[Spirit Feather]

Wow, Patsal! That is a huge savings. I live in Cincinnati and we have nearly every grocery chain. Everything from ALDI (great savings place!) to Kroger (IMO the most expensive grocery in town!)

I recently discovered that since my hubby is retired military I can get all of his perscriptions for free! Our co-pay is $48 for a 90 day supply. He takes 5 Rx's so that is $960 a year. It is only a 45 minute drive to the nearest military facility. I feel that the trip is worth the savings!

 

[patsal]

Spirit feather,
I have found that my DH's med. ins. has a ryder on it for mail-order prescription drugs vs. the pharmacy. I have started sending for them in the mail and get a 90 day supply for the same price as a one month supply filled at the local pharmacy. This has saved me about $50.00 every three months. If I had paid closer attention I could have been saving this for about two years now! I wasn't sure if I'd be comfortable purchasing prescription drugs through the mail, but my worries were unfounded! I agree with you, definately worth the drive for you!

 

[beansmom]

#1-There is a great need for plasma donations--otherwise they wouldn't pay for the stuff! Don't forget that in addition to being paid, you are helping save lives. I would do it but they won't take my blood--thinking about sending hubby, though. He donates blood all the time for free.

#2-we do the change thing, ebay, and some of the other stuff and I cut coupons like mad. Starting September 1 (after my last big mad grocery trip! Friday) every penny I save using coupons will go into the disneyfund. I expect it to be well over $1500 in the 15 months until our next trip. I'm trying to think of other ways...

 

[wdisneyaholic]

Hey beansmom,

How do you find out about the plasma thing. I would be interested in doing it. Not so much for the money for the help to others. I have twins that were born really preemie and had to have several transfusions. Just looking to give back a little.

 

[LizPR]

Your local red cross should be able to direct you to a site where you can make a plasma donation. My sister used to donate regularly to the red cross (for free). I think that this is a wonderful way for people to give back to the community.

 

[beansmom]

Or call the local blood bank at your hospital. They should know.

 

[Julia M]

I had a garage sale, but didn't raise that much (about $200) However, we sold some furniture dirt cheap, just so we didn't have to transport it ourselves to Goodwill!!

Because I am a volunteer for a couple of groups, I will have to buy things and get reimbursed. Usually, the reimbursement is a few weeks later, or longer, so by then, I have "absorbed" the loss. So, I put the check into the vacation fund.

I also save change, as does my husband.

I not only have a vacation savings account, I'll also buy travelers checks along the way. Somehow, if the balance is lower in savings, I'll try to get more into it (really watching grocery budget, or not going out to eat) I try to "trick" myself into double saving. It's stupid, I know, but it works.

The recycling money goes into the vacation money, too.

 

[wdwpluto]

Coupons for groceries! Selling stuff on eBay and Amazon.com and also the ever popular change jar! Any money I get from rebates or like another poster said re-imbursments goes into the "Mickey Money fund"

Lori

 

[AKASnowWhite]

We have a rather unique method of saving for money for Disney!

My kids belong to the local 4-H club, and my DS started raising chickens. We now have a flock of roughly 30 hens. The money that is earned from selling the eggs gets saved for spending $$$$ at WDW. It's been a great learning experience for him as well....

 

[Clover9990]

We recently switched our long distance to AT&T for a $75 prepaid Mastercard debit card. It took about 2 1/2 weeks and we just received it in the mail yesterday, just in time for our trip to Disney on Tuesday! We plan on using it to pay for food that day. We also got a great rate through AT&T- no monthly fee and only 7 cents/minute anytime, anyday. Not too shabby for just switching your LD service!

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

I do a lot of the same things everyone else has mentioned. About the mail order pharmacy-I started doing that 2 years ago to save $$. I get a 3 month supply for the cost of 2. This year when I went to see my doctor I also asked him if I could take a generic instead of a name brand and made sure he noted it on the prescription. Now I'm saving even more money. Also, DD, DS and I were all in the doctors office last week for bronchitis, sinus infections and I had pleurisy (inflammation of the lining of the lung-painful, but not fatal). I was given 9 prescriptions for my kids alone and 2 more for me. I once again asked both doctors to write prescriptions for generic-it still cost me $100 for all of them to be filled!

I also do the rebate and reimbursement thing too. I write a check for cash each time DH gets paid for our weekly lunch money, dining out money, etc. If there is any left when the next paycheck comes-it goes into the Mickey Fund. Sometimes I even take $20 or $30 out and put it in there automatically. It forces us to spend less that week and we're increasing the Mickey Fund. One last thing I did. I started saving when my twins were born 4 years ago. Since I knew we wouldn't go to WDW for a few years I put the money in CD's. I know they don't offer much interest right now, but if you don't plan on going for a few months or more, any little bit helps.

 

[antkim]

I know this is going to sound ridiculous but with the interest rates so low we just refinanced(consolidated!)so I took a little extra for our vacation!If you haven't already taken advantage of these rates then-why not,right?We didn't do it for our trip -just a little bonus!

 

[Maleficent2]

but come on over to the rewards board we can show you how to really save money or earn it how ever you want to look at it for your WDW vacation.

Many of us rewarders have totally paid for our WDW vacations doing rewards.

here is the link-it is a DIS board


http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=30&forumid=35





Mal

 

[206bones]

We sell quite a bit on ebay - either stuff that I would put in a yard sale or new stuff that I can get really cheap. Last trip that paid for almost the whole trip. We now use http://www.auctionworks.com to help us automate the sales & it has made it MUCH easier.

We also save any "extra" money that we get - like money from doing online surveys, any refunds, travel reimbursement from work, etc. This also adds up a lot more than I had expected. Whenever a rebate comes in the mail, I say "we got some more Disney dollars!"

My husband is also retired military & just started getting free prescriptions. I have not started saving the saved "copays" on this.

If you put the money away, you never notice that it's gone.