You have to save for a 3 thousand dollar vacation, right?

[lizabu]

There are always going to be people with more and people with less. I remember when Jessica Simpson used to have her reality show when she was married to Nick Lachey (sp?). There was one episode where she went into a lingerie store and spent $6,000 on underwear. I was floored. But for her 6k is probably nothing. I save for my trips. Not everyone has to. What are you going to do? I know I still have it better than 3/4 of the world so I will be thankful.

 

[wvjules]

Yeah, I should change this into a Camper vs Disney thread! I actually love my camper. It's small and was less than 10k, I'm paying it off over time because the interest is low and I can write it off in taxes. I've sunk a TON of bills into it though. Lots of car stuff plus the gas.
!

How????

 

[kkandaj]

How????

I think that if it has a bathroom and kitchen it can be considered a second home. I know there are some stipulations around it like that. I can't remember for sure the exact details--mine is too small for that.

 

[ICF]

This is one very odd thread

 

[photos_101]

I dislike the insinuation that if you can't afford to come up with $3000 right now, you aren't working hard enough.

The majority of this country works hard and can't afford to vacation at Disney.

I have caught myself saying the phrase 'we work hard for what we have/can do', when people question our vacations. We are probably poor folks in the eyes of most of the disers on here. lol And I am serious about that. However, when I say that phrase, what I actually mean is we work hard at keeping the money we do make instead of spending it on things we don't need. We do EVERYTHING we can to keep what money we can out of dh's paycheck. I coupon, live below our means, only buy groceries we need and only when they are on sale, don't eat out, have old cars, etc etc.
So I don't mean we work harder to make the money we have, but may work harder to keep what we make.
It really all depends on what you would rather spend your money on. In the end it doesn't matter how much one makes, as much as, what you do with what you make.
I fully understand that we do not have the income compared to some to have new cars, bigger house, PLUS vacation, so we work with the income we do have and vacation!!

I do have to say I really don't understand the op's post. What exactly are you asking? Is it why, with you making 6 figures can you not afford a Disney vacation? And if that is the question I ask why can't you? Answer that and it will give you the answer to 'your' question.

 

[DisneyMomJen]

According to the author of "The Millionaire Next Door" this is a common fallacy- most millionaires are self-made. Thought I guess it depends on how you define TONs and how much 'money.'

One of my favorite books. Everyone should read this.

It is all about choices and priorities as someone else previously posted. I work hard to save as much as we can to be able to go to Disney every year. We get comments all the time from family, including that we should take other family members with us since they can't afford to go. These same family members do many other 'smaller' things though that we cannot afford. These smaller expenses could easily all add up to $3K to be saved into a trip to Disney. I think there are many people who sacrifice and cut back on expenses in order to go to Disney.

 

[MomToOne]

As I tell my DD13 constantly, "Life isn't fair - not sure who told you it was supposed to be!"

I also find it is better to contemplate the many good things I HAVE in life, not spend time fussing about what I DON'T HAVE .

My life is much better than the majority of people on this planet. I have a dry roof over my head, dinner on the table each night, and yes, I have the luxury of contemplating Disney vacations although it takes some work to save for them. If you ask me, that's one hell of pretty good life compared to people in Somalia or Syria or Russia or China or even many of the folks that live just a mile away from me in "the projects".

 

[ceecee]

It's all relative. If you can't find $3k to go on vacation at being just north of six figures, I say you're doing something seriously wrong. Try finding the $100 for the electric bill when you are at half the $100k let alone vacation money.

If I suddenly had $100k income starting in 2014, I'd have my house paid off within the first two years (taking taxes into consideration), pay cash for two 2 year old cars the 3rd year (we keep them forever), my kids' colleges funded the next 3 years, and have about $50k just to play with there on out.

Agree!
That is a lot of money to make and not be able to afford a $3000 vacation. You can't depend on inherting $ and I would NEVER expect my mom to pay for a vacation for me. We have been going to Disney yearly for 15 years and we did it on less than half of six fiqures for years! We also had no debt and a paid for house. It's like when someone wins the lottery and is novice rich, the $ is soon gone no matter the amount.
P.S. HOW can you write off a camper???

 

[mrsklamc]

It is all about choices and priorities as someone else previously posted. .

There is some luck involved too though. We struggled with cancer and then infertility and spent thousands there that others didn't have to to have their children. Now, our son is expected to have Down Syndrome and our days of having vacations may be over. I would just feel like I was being irresponsible spending money to go on vacation when some day we aren't going to be around to provide for him. We did everything 'right' financially but in the end it just isn't going to work out the way we planned.

 

[pk1023]

I think that if it has a bathroom and kitchen it can be considered a second home. I know there are some stipulations around it like that. I can't remember for sure the exact details--mine is too small for that.

Exactly right, a travel trailer in this case is considered a second domicile and therefore the interest portion is deductible right along with the primary mortgage interest.

 

[JanaDee]

I have caught myself saying the phrase 'we work hard for what we have/can do', when people question our vacations. We are probably poor folks in the eyes of most of the disers on here. lol And I am serious about that. However, when I say that phrase, what I actually mean is we work hard at keeping the money we do make instead of spending it on things we don't need. We do EVERYTHING we can to keep what money we can out of dh's paycheck. I coupon, live below our means, only buy groceries we need and only when they are on sale, don't eat out, have old cars, etc etc.
So I don't mean we work harder to make the money we have, but may work harder to keep what we make.
It really all depends on what you would rather spend your money on. In the end it doesn't matter how much one makes, as much as, what you do with what you make.
I fully understand that we do not have the income compared to some to have new cars, bigger house, PLUS vacation, so we work with the income we do have and vacation!!

That makes sense, thank you.

I don't like it when people say they have more because they work harder. That isn't always true and condescending to those that do work their behinds off and still live paycheck to paycheck.

 

[KaLyn]

Our first trip was $800 (Just DH and myself for 2 nights) and that was paid by our tax return, we typically get $6,000 per year. No saving was needed but then again, the trip was planned so late we didn't have time to save even if we wanted to.

Our second trip (the one coming up in May) is being paid for by selling my MILs house. We are using 3% of that money to take our girls to Disney for the first time ever. The rest will be invested and used to pay off bills. However, if we were to save up for this trip, it would have taken us 3-5 years.

 

[mickeyboat]

I dislike the insinuation that if you can't afford to come up with $3000 right now, you aren't working hard enough.

The majority of this country works hard and can't afford to vacation at Disney.

That is not the insinuation. It takes both working hard and living below our means to be able to have extra money. It's simple math. If we were not doing both of those things, we would not have it.

And BTW, we have been married for over 21 years and have taken one WDW vacation and one DCL vacation. The rest of our vacations are to less expensive / more bang for our buck places because the choice of where we vacation is part of choosing to live below our means.

 

[akcire]

There is some luck involved too though. We struggled with cancer and then infertility and spent thousands there that others didn't have to to have their children. Now, our son is expected to have Down Syndrome and our days of having vacations may be over. I would just feel like I was being irresponsible spending money to go on vacation when some day we aren't going to be around to provide for him. We did everything 'right' financially but in the end it just isn't going to work out the way we planned.

Hoping for the best for you. I too had cancer 3 times before I was 30 (different kinds). Was told I'd never have a baby (despite best efforts and lots of $$). Spent another 25k on a failed adoption. Six months after I finished radiation the third time I found myself pregnant and scared. The things they told me would be wrong with my child--lets just say I could write a book. 99, yes 99 prenatal appointments later every genetic test known, nurses never asking me how the baby was through the whole pregnant (I heard them "room" other patients and ask the mom first how they were then the baby). Everyone expected a bad outcome ( hell I half expected her to glow from all the radiation and drugs sort of like glow worm) I continued the pregnancy despite all kinds if bad news because this was my baby. Most likely my only (although I'd love another).

Happily I can report the result has been great. The doctors were wrong. My daughter is awesome and is 2.8 years old with a couple oral motor issues and speech issues but something any child could have without all the doom and gloom surrounding the beginning/middle and pretty much until she was born. If you saw her on the street you'd never know the docs were so worried.

If you ever want to chat shot me a pm. I can also give lots of advice about a special needs trust if you need it. We had one set up.

 

[DSNY4ever]

This is one very odd thread

My thoughts exactly

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't like it when people say they have more because they work harder. That isn't always true and condescending to those that do work their behinds off and still live paycheck to paycheck.

I agree that it can feel condescending, but I don't think people EVER mean "and you aren't working hard". I think they are just thinking of themselves, and how hard they are working in their households.

And of course you have to figure out how to define "hard". Hard manual labor like picking berries isn't going to yield a whole bunch of money. Hard manual labor like construction can bring in some coin. The hard work my brother and his wife put in was studying their whole school lives, putting in hours and hours more than many others did (far more than I did!). That hard work plus some luck has resulted in a pretty stinkin' awesome life. And now the hard work means long long hours and traveling at a moment's notice (and having travel canceled while they are in line to board planes)...they aren't picking berries, but it's a different form of "hard work". We never even know if we will SEE my sister in law when we visit, let alone get to spend a day with her...such is the life of a partner in a top 10 law firm!

And, of course, my husband has the same travel issues; he was gone more than half of 2013. But he's paid far FAR less than my sibling and his wife are. (her bonuses tend to be as much as DH's salary)

And all are earning far more than the average berry picker, and none of them are physically sore at the end of the day like a manual laborer will be.



I think it's best to not project what you feel people are saying onto what they are actually saying in this sort of thing. Benefit of the doubt.

But, sure would be nice to come into a cushion like 300k. That changes lives on the small scale and makes 3k possible.

Am I right?

It would be nice to come into an extra $300K. You are very right about that. The taxes would be frightening that year, though.

 

[ArmchairDetective]

What the hell is this thread about!?

I'll bite.

My wife and I use a budget program and budget in vacations and have it set as a priority as it's what we looooove to do.

If you need to save $3k in a year you would budget about $60/wk! While it might not sound like a lot... the folks that have the biggest cell phone plans, the 400 channel package, and are dining out all of the time may find it difficult to scrape it up.

We don't have an issue finding the money for vacations. We canceled cable and now pay only for Netflix. My TV bill each month is a measly $8. We bought a Nest thermostat and scheduled it and if it gets cold, grab a blanket. If it gets hot, feel free to run around nekkid. We don't eat out more than twice per month. We invested in a second fridge and freezer and they are usually stocked to the brim. There's plenty to eat in there and no, kiddo, we are not going to McDonald's. We check and recheck our insurance rates, we adjusted our medical plans to HSAs as we are young and healthy. We dropped our cell plans down drastically. We are socking money away in to retirement and savings.

I do the weekly budget, give each dollar a job, and vacations are near the top of my list.

It's all about priorities.

 

[married2mm]

Seriously,I'm not sure what this threads all about either


I would imagine most of us,are not in the privileged position of spending money on luxuries without saving for them.whether they're electricals,vacations or whatever..

We save for our vacations,it's necessary for us,as we travel from the UK.
We do not have a pot of money available,to just dip into.

Our plan is one day we shall,but sadly not through any inheritance-just old fashioned work-all being well.

 

[photos_101]

Hey all,


I got to thinking about life, money and people with this. Our yearly household is just north of six figures. We have a mortgage, two car payments, Camper payment and storage(less than 200 a month) and all the other phones/cable/inet junk bills everyone else does.

So I re-read this first post. Here is your vacation (the bolded above). I am positive you would have a nice healthy fund going if you wanted to and are willing to sacrifice some of the bolded, cause contrary to your belief, not everyone else has those junk bills.
You only NEED basic necessities and I assure you phone, cable and internet is not one!
You could just do away with one car (get a cheapy second), ditch the camper and storage, and shut off cable, get basic phone and internet. Wow..could you imagine how much disposable income you would have each month!! Or you could as you have indicated plan for an inheritance which sounds kinda creepy to me.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Yes, OP, I think you need to budget regardless of your salary. Like a PP said, $3000 a year is $60 per week. Can you divert that into a separate savings account so you are not tempted to spend it on something else? If not, then you either need to make more money or spend less on other things to afford a vacation. That's an oversimplification, but budgeting to me is knowing where your money is going and allocating it where it matters to you.

I wouldn't wait around for an inheritance if it were me - I would make a plan to get where I want to be.

And if someone makes a higher salary (like your friend) but doesn't have corresponding higher expenses, then they have more "fun money".

Have you considered camping at WDW? I don't know if that would save money or not, depending how far you are from Disney and what your travel costs would be.