Favorite Ways to Save for a Disney Trip?

[annawilliams]

I am trying to find new ways to save for our next trip, and have come up with a few new ways that will take a chunk out of the cost for us.
1. Book through hotels.com and save up the free nights (I book a lot of travel for my company)
2. Tax return money- put it in a special disney savings.
3. Start a blog- I randomly started a blog for fun (I'm by NO means a professional writer) and found out you can make money off of it. People just have to click the ads on the side! I am going to save it all for the ticket costs. AH! So pumped. I only had 4 clicks and made almost $5. Not too shabby! It will definitely help to pay for at least a day or two of tickets by the end of the year.
4. Transfer over at $35 a month into my savings. In a year, that will pay for a 10 day park hopper pass with access to the water parks! \
5. Cashing in all my coins. Isn't it amazing how fast change ads up? I've always put my change in a jar and usually have around $70 in souvenir money by the end of the year.



What are your favorite ways to save?

 

[UPbeekeeper]

Saving change: We have a huge water jug decorated with WDW pics that the entire family throws change in. We never use ANY change when making purchases. We always round up so we get the change back to dump into our jug.

Coupons: When I use coupons, I take the actual amount saved and put that into my vacation fund, instead of just using that money to buy more things.

Ebay: When I sell things on Ebay that we no longer use, all the money is put towards our goal. I will also be doing a yard sale this Spring.

Each paycheck: I take a specified amount out of every paycheck that goes towards my fund.

Tax Refund: An agreed upon amount is taken out of our refund and put aside.

Work Bonus: Each quarter, I am eligible for a small bonus at work. No matter how big or small, if I get it, it goes into the fund.

It's surprising how much the little things add up when you put your mind towards a specific goal. This is a great topic and I am eager to see everyone else's responses, so I can steal some ideas.

 

[real mad hatter]

Open a Disney Account.

We opened a Disney account at our building society.We can't withdraw any money in a 18 month period,so what goes in,stays in.We only visit every two years,so we save £2.00 coins into a cinderella saving bank,when it's full it holds approx £800.00.I dabble in the share Market,any gains go into the Disney account.My DW plays bingo twice a week,any winnings,into the DA. It would surprise you after 12 months how much we had saved.:wave:.So this year shares gave me £2475.00 interest,bingo winnings were £650.and cindys £2.00 coins reached £720.00.Whoo Hoo.:sohappy:

 

[annawilliams]

I'm going to do the yard sale as well. It will definitely provide money for souvenirs and food!

 

[Magical Dreamer]

Every week I squeeze out any extra cash I can and purchase a Disney gift card at our local Walgreen's. Then go home and enter it as a payment.

It really get's me focused to pay it off as I see the balance decline weekly.

Gift cards can be purchased at Walgreen's for any amount from $15 - $500 with no fee.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

I call and pay whatever is extra from my check even 30 dollars adds up!

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I get a $25 Disney gift card every 2 weeks so I know I won't use it anywhere else, I'm using my tax return this year for a down payment, and Whatever money I have left that I'm not doing anything with goes into Spaceship Earth......

Oh I know what your thinking...I actually have a small Spaceship Earth that sits on my shelf that can be open in the center of the ball as a Keepsake...

The Monorail is for Scale...

But, getting back to the point. This at least I know it's going only there and nothing else. And it makes me feel happy.

 

[yensid67]

Trying A New Way to Save!

2012 has brought me one step closer to my December 2013 Trip! Yes, I like to REALLY plan ahead!
I have searched for a way to save money other than the traditional ways. I have found an online banking site to help!

With ING Direct, I have opened a Savings Account. Every month, I TRANSFER my monthly savings into my ING account. This way, there is no temptation of going to the bank and pulling the money out. If I do, I have to go through a major production to do it, thus hindering me of even trying it!

I am also saving my change and cashing it in, with that money going into my souvenirs account! And I am taking each pay each month, and taking out $200(after all my bills are paid of course!) and leaving any other money above that amount in the savings account connected with my checking!

 

[Mikester71]

We usually book our trip through CAA/AAA and go in and put money down on a room-only reservation a year or so out and that way we can go in throughout the year and make payments as our finances allow us to.

My wife works over in Michigan (we live in Canada - she is from Michigan) so we usually have a set amount transferred each pay from her bank account over there to a separate account at that same bank. Anywhere from $75 every two weeks years ago to $125-150 every two weeks a couple of years ago for our last trip last March.

Happy saving! :wave:

 

[BrittanyRose428]

We put all the money on Disney gift cards. I would use visa cards because thats probably safer, but then I could end up spending it lol... Actually I have a hard time not spending the Disney gift cards on clothes and things online as it is. :ROFLOL:

 

[annawilliams]

Loving these ideas. Keep them coming! I could use all the help I can get.
Cmdr_Crimson: LOVE the bank! Such a cute idea!

 

[rsoxguy]

Years ago, while attempting to save money, I looked at the amount of money that I was spending on unnecessary junk food per day ($2). I then decided to stop spending the money at 7-11, and save it daily instead. I faithfully placed two dollars in an envelope every day without fail, and at the end of a year I had $730 saved in a well-hidden place. Times have changed, and prices have gone up. You can pick one unnecessary indulgence in your life, give it up, and save the money daily. You'll have a tidy bundle of cash within a year.

 

[tuppence]

I really like the gift card ideas as well and think we're going to start doing that as well. Our daughter actually goes to Catholic School and they have a gift card program through the school which benefits the school and also helps reduce tuition the more your buy (or sell to family and friends.)

The only issue is that they do not have a Disney Gift Card in the program (booo!) but we found another way.

Our local grocery store carries tons of different gift cards including Disney and we can use the grocery store gift cards (which our program DOES carry) to purchase the Disney Gift Cards in-store. So we're getting the credit for making the purchase through the program and that helps us with our tuition by reducing those payments. So, it's not really a discount at Disney but we are saving money in the long run.

Where there's a will, there's a way!

 

[captainkidd]

Every day when I get to work, I transfer $30 from my checking to my savings. If I can do more, I do. When I get commission checks, I put large sums into my savings from my checking.

 

[dgm21578]

every little bit

I've barely used my own money to go to Disney since 2008! Apparently I am every credit card company's wet dream. I have received offers to open cards for as much as $500! Usually the company will let me and my wife open separate accounts and get double the cash. Right now I have four offers sitting on my desk that total over $1000.

But, the best way to save is to literally save everything. I got $5.03 from ebates yesterday. Ebates is a decent rewards program for shopping at regular stores through their website.

I got $10 from starkist after buying some canned tuna that had been packaged wrong.

I do the same thing stated earlier by UPbeekeeper with coupons. That can really add up. Sometimes as much as $100 a month. Use Southernsavers as a starting point to learn about coupons.

ING gives out bonuses for opening banking accounts occassionally. Usually b/n $50-100.

Sell old jewelry or coins. Precious metals are way up in value. Hell, sell everything you don't really need and especially what you don't use. There are shops to buy almost anything. I've sold exercise equipment at Playitagain Sports, clothes, old movies and tvs at pawn stores.

just a few ideas to help

 

[bgraham34]

We always take spare change and put it in our piggy bank. We empty it a few weeks before we leave. We have had anywhere from 100-500 dollars. It becomes meal money.

 

[Silver Figment]

I save all my change and cash it in prior to a trip. I also put some tax refund money towards the trip. Every time i get a paycheck i little is saved so that i know i'm working towards my next trip. Everything adds up and i feel better knowing i'm getting closer. Penny by penny if need be.

 

[JIMINYCR]

In my area lately there have been people showing up on the sidewalks by WalMart and Dennys holding cardboard signs saying "homeless please help". Our local paper did a story on one of them and it turns out they had been collecting some major bucks. Soooo I'm seriously considering standing in a convenient spot with a cardboard sign saying " collecting funds to pay my way back to Disney". O.K. only kidding. Saving change, saving tips and selling personal items at yard sale going on here.

 

[woodardfamily]

We usually save $ by going with our really rich friends. :lol: If we don't have any friends available, we jump the fence at MK and set up camp somewhere in the JC area. :lookaroun

 

[nc_disneyfreak]

change, change, change

whenever we buy anything, food, clothes, whatever, the change we get goes into a bucket...usually well have about 120-170 bucks, which we use for our 2-3 ADRs we do...then well have a specific number for tax money which we use for souveniers...then for the trip itself, we pay about 30-50 per week....we book about a yr in advance or so, so it works out pretty good...