Your creative cruise fund-raising ideas!

[Luckymommyx2]

My first Disney cruise is not for many months but it's never too early to start collecting money for souveniers, spa treatments, etc. I would like some input on some of your most unique and profitable fund-raising ideas. Your ideas could include or exclude children. The only thing I can think of is taking some of our hardly worn clothes to a consignment shop! All ideas are welcome!!

 

[BeanoC]

Get one of those 5-gallon jugs that they deliver bottled water in.
Put it in a spot where everybody in your household can get at it. Everytime you come home from the store with change, drop it in the bottle. Got an extra 10 bucks? Stick it in there. Feed extra money to it whenever you can. Have a yard sale and put all your earnings in the jug.

We have done this for the last 3 years and have averaged over 700 bucks each time!!





'Beano'

 

[Willowwind]

I'm going to embellish just a bit to Beano's idea. I got this from one of the Motley Fool Investment books.

Rather than just emptying your pocket change into a container, as many of us do every day, take the smallest bill that you have in your wallet and stick it in there as well.

Some days it might only be a $1 but some days it might be a $20 or even more! Those extra dollars add up fast. Also, I take my saved money and turn it into Disney Dollars right away, that way I can't spend it anywhere else.

 

[4nana]

Ditto on the jar!
Each family in our grp let the kids decorate a jar. We've saved all our change, savings fr. coupons, gifts of money, etc. In 2 yrs Nana and Pop Pop have saved over $1850. to splurge with. We also like to give the grands Disney dollars as part of their BD & holiday gifts. Consignment shop, ebay, yard sales are a great ideas too!

 

[lUVTOGO]

I also put my spare change in the sugarbowl ,and we are having a garage sale in the next 2 weeks.My dh works a part time job in the summer stocking icecream in the local supermarkets and I sock away that for our spending on the ship. I do not want to come home with any charges so I make sure we have enough BEFORE we go!!

 

[KaitlinsMom]

These are all great ideas - We also use the big gallon water and fill it with our change. It does add up quickly.

I know friends that do Ebay and are really successful with it. That would be something to look into.

Yard Sales are good to if you have a lot of stuff to sell.


Good Luck!

 

[Willowwind]

Oh yeah! The part time job, I forgot about that one.

I just applied for a seasonal position at The Disney Store so that I wouldn't have to spend our monthly cruise savings on gifts for the holidays.

I havn't heard back yet. Send some pixie dust my way someone!

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Thanks for your responses so far! We do have several large water jugs that we dump our change in so that has helped. Also, we started having my husband's pay check automatically deduct $10 per week and put into a savings account which should about cover our airfare. I have never sold anything through a consignment shop but I think I'll look into it. The yard sale idea is out due to our location and the overall hassle of it all. Keep the ideas coming!!

 

[atigeg]

Have you ever thought about becoming a secret shopper? The pay is not huge, but you get a free meal too. Check out www.secretshopper.net
They handle accounts like Arby's, Country Buffet, Boston Market, some cellular companies, and McDonalds. You get anywhere from $7 to $15 per shop, plus they reimburse you for your food. I started doing it just for fun a couple months ago.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[DreamsDoComeTrue]

That 'secretshopper' deal was interesting. I thought I was on my way to bed, and just spent 30 min reading thru all of it! Just how much 'online training is really required I wonder.

My families cruise is being paid for by my part-time job. My DH works Swing shift, so I found a part-time position where I can work occasional mornings while he's still home with the kids. I have the paycheck direct deposited to a separate account that is only to be used for vacations. It's not all that many days, but in one year, I've earned enough for the cruise. It's amazing how quickly it adds up when your not allowed to spend ANY of it . I figure, that if we got by without that extra income before, than we don't need to be spending it on household stuff now. It seems to work. Good luck!

 

[imgoingtodisney]

Ive been going to the Disney Store once a month and charging $100 for disney dollars. I find it's easier to pay off $100/mo than $1200 at once. If I tried saving it, I would find some other way to spend it.
As far as the offship expenses (flight, meals/hotel before & after, etc) I do take $50 from each of my paychecks and put that aside.
So no Im not planning on just Disney dollars.

 

[westjones]

We booked through Dreams Unlimited and you can make payments along the way. I like that much better than trying to come up with the money all at once.

Right now, though, we are paying off our Disney Vacation Club membership (my goal is for it to be paid off by March when we take our first trip), so I will work on paying off my cruise after that. I can't wait until the DVC is paid for! Then it will seem like a really cheap vacation every year!

DJ

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Barb, thanks soooo much for the idea and link about secret shoppers. Boy would that be right up my alley! Has anyone ever done this, especially through secret shopper.net? I'm wondering if I could take my kids along with me because with the hours my husband works that would be the only way I could do it. I would think I could because that would definitely help keep my cover! I love it!!

 

[twinmom1292]

My cruise is being paid for by rummage sale money. I have one twice a year & put all money in a special account. Five years ago we went to Disney this way, so we did it again. Family of 5 & we never missed the money. We leave 10-19. Happy Sailing!

I'm having a sale next weekend to start the next disney fund!

Bethe

 

[SusanD]

My husband has stashed away quite a bit for our trip by selling books he no longer needs (mostly job related) on amazon.com. We have also sold a few items on Ebay.

 

[MelissaE1]

I saw a neat idea that I might use to help save up for our next trip... you have to decide how much money you are aiming for in advance. Say, $1,000 for example. In the original idea they made a paper chain "worth" $1,000, with each link being worth $10 I believe. (If you don't have space or don't have kids, you could do a chart with each square being worth a certain amount, or whatever. ) Then, when the family had a choice to say, have pizza, they could either have the pizza or eat from the pantry and put the pizza money in their trip fund and tear off links on the chain worth $20. When they got to the end of the chain they would have enough money for their trip. It was a great visual reminder of what they were aiming for and helped them make choices about what they might be willing to give up to get to their vacation faster. What fun to see that chain getting shorter and shorter (or the chart filling up or whatever.) They were surprised how many times they were willing to make a sacrifice when they could see the immediate results of doing so.

I hope that made sense the way I explained it.

 

[DiznEeyore]

Melissa, I really like that idea! I've always heard that you should take the money you would've spent eating out and set it aside for the trip, but we never seem to do that. Maybe with something to physically look at like the chain, it would be easier! Thanks for sharing!

 

[SueEllen]

You could always sell on DIS Auctions (see link in my signature) That always helps to get some extra $$.

I also do secret shopping. The assignments tend to be few and far between (I have been doing it for 5 years now) and they do discourage your taking kids with you on the shops. Not all companies, but many. I have had restaurant shops where they specifically said NO KIDS, so I have made arrangements for a babysitter. That being said, they don't know if you had a child with you or not, but it is easier to keep up with ALL of the facts necessary if you don't have children with you.

The change idea, the garage sale, and the auctions seem to work best for me.

Sue Ellen

 

[atigeg]

DreamsDoComeTrue, the "training" is taking online quizzes for each of the stores you want to shop. The answers are based on information on the website that you can look up as you are taking the quiz. You can try most of them as many times as you want...the only one I've run into with a limit (3 tries) is McDonald's. I think you could take your children on some, like Country Buffet and the cell phone ones, just so long as they do not break your anonymity. I take hubby on the ones where I have to do a drive-thru and in-store visit on the same day at the same time...otherwise, I'm always afraid that they will recognize me if I do both!
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[patches-4]

JUST ANOTHER IDEA WE USE IS SAVING POP CANS AND TAKING THEM TO THE RECYCLE STATION. A SMALL LOCAL RESTAURANT LET THE KIDS PLACE A TRASH CAN IN THEIR KITCHEN AND THEY WOULD PUT THE CANS IN THERE AND EVERY COUPLE OF DAYS THEY WOULD GO AND EMPTY THE CAN AND REPLACE THE BAG. THEY WOULD PUT THE MONEY AWAY FOR WDW AND THE CRUISE FOR EXTRA SPENDING MONEY. SOMETIMES IT WASN'T VERY MUCH BUT OTHER TIMES IT WOULD BE SEVERAL $100'S.