LoriMistress
Well-Known Member
Tell me your best secret on how you save money for your trip to WDW.
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How do you save $ for your WDW trip?
- Thread starter LoriMistress
- Start date
sbkline
Well-Known Member
5 years ago, I got burned on my taxes. I started a new job and went part time at my old job and, for some reason, I thought I would either pay very little taxes at tax time or get a refund this time around. However, it turns out, I ended up owing over $700 in taxes. I then discovered that I was claiming the wrong amount on my W-4. I was either claiming "0" when I should have been claiming "1", or the other way around. Either way, I was not having enough withheld from my checks each pay period, so it left me a large balance at tax time.
Anyway, to answer your question, I promptly fixed the error, plus I did a couple extra things. On my W-4, I marked "married, but withhold at a single rate" and I also opted to have an extra $15 taken out each check so as to give me a bigger refund at the end of the year. I then increased it to $25 a paycheck, such that I would get an even bigger refund. The past couple years, I have received refunds of almost $2000, which I have used to fund vacations. We had a baby this year, which means, if I understand correctly, that I will get a $1000 tax credit next year, which should boost my refund by $1000. And, if I get the amount I got last year, plus the $1000, that should be almost $3000, and our WDW vacation is around $2500, plus cost of gas, lodging on the way and food on the way there and back.
So a good way to save up throughout the year is to take those steps to get a bigger tax refund which you can then use for vacation.:wave:
Anyway, to answer your question, I promptly fixed the error, plus I did a couple extra things. On my W-4, I marked "married, but withhold at a single rate" and I also opted to have an extra $15 taken out each check so as to give me a bigger refund at the end of the year. I then increased it to $25 a paycheck, such that I would get an even bigger refund. The past couple years, I have received refunds of almost $2000, which I have used to fund vacations. We had a baby this year, which means, if I understand correctly, that I will get a $1000 tax credit next year, which should boost my refund by $1000. And, if I get the amount I got last year, plus the $1000, that should be almost $3000, and our WDW vacation is around $2500, plus cost of gas, lodging on the way and food on the way there and back.
So a good way to save up throughout the year is to take those steps to get a bigger tax refund which you can then use for vacation.:wave:
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danpam1024
Well-Known Member
It is no secret....
We plan and start saving for our vacation's a year in advance.
I use Microsoft's MONEY program and budget savings for it throughout the entire year. It is a reality within our home that we don't have as much expendible income within our daily budget because we save so much for Disney. But, within any budget, this practice should work.
Fortunately, my husband has a good job that allows us to expliote this program quite a bit..We "go all out" for 10 days every October. Our vacation costs us over $10K, every single year....:hammer: Sometimes I look at our old washer and dryer machines and think to myself, "I could replace it, but is it worth a day at Disney?".....The answer is always "No". :lol:
We plan and start saving for our vacation's a year in advance.
I use Microsoft's MONEY program and budget savings for it throughout the entire year. It is a reality within our home that we don't have as much expendible income within our daily budget because we save so much for Disney. But, within any budget, this practice should work.
Fortunately, my husband has a good job that allows us to expliote this program quite a bit..We "go all out" for 10 days every October. Our vacation costs us over $10K, every single year....:hammer: Sometimes I look at our old washer and dryer machines and think to myself, "I could replace it, but is it worth a day at Disney?".....The answer is always "No". :lol:
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JimboJones123
Well-Known Member
Overtime month has begun. 4 weeks of 65 hr weeks = 2 weeks of fun. First week finishes today.
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DanStat
Well-Known Member
Saving
I usually know about how much I want to buy, so I plan accordingly. I'll give myself about $300 and let that go towards merchandise. My parents used to give my sister and I money to spend, as well. As far as sticking money back, I don't really do that. However, saving change is an extremely quick way to save up!
I usually know about how much I want to buy, so I plan accordingly. I'll give myself about $300 and let that go towards merchandise. My parents used to give my sister and I money to spend, as well. As far as sticking money back, I don't really do that. However, saving change is an extremely quick way to save up!
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I donated my eggs to pay for this trip, no joke!! This is my first trip to Disney World 
This was my second time donating eggs and may I say it is very worthwhile to help someone else experience the feeling of having a child that they otherwise could not have, I just don't do it for the money:animwink: Having said that my trip is paid in full and I cannot wait to go because I also have the dining option included!!
This was my second time donating eggs and may I say it is very worthwhile to help someone else experience the feeling of having a child that they otherwise could not have, I just don't do it for the money:animwink: Having said that my trip is paid in full and I cannot wait to go because I also have the dining option included!!
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We've have used the following techniques: budget part of your savings for travel. Any pay raise I earn, part of this is added to the travel account. Any extra momey that is recieved can be added to your travel account. Certainly, tag sales can help to bolster the travel account. Money the kids recieve for birthdays, holidays etc., part of this can be used for their personal spending for at the world. I'm sure there are many more, but these are the first thoughts and techniques we have used now and in the past.:sohappy:
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srd1969
New Member
Pick a number, and every bill you find with that number, put it away. For Example, my wife and I got married in 2000, so our number is 00. On every monetary bill we get, we see if it has a 00 anywhere in the serial number. If it does, it goes into the fund. We manage to save about 1500 a year if we watch real close. Just a fun way to save extra $$ for the trip!
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Dagger
Member
My new incentive is to pay off our CC completely and then I can charge the WDW trip to it. I am going to book the trip with the money down next week and then pay off the CC as fast as possible. The reason being.... I've had the card for several years but never paid it off (we just got married in December so that had a lot to do with it) so once it's paid off, it will help our revolving credit a lot
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k.hunter30
New Member
Being a HUGE fan of Dave's plan I thought this was worth quoting once more. My husband and I have planned a trip to Disney coming up in a few months. Because of the financial wisdom we received from Dave (and definitely not because of our income! LOL!) we will be able to go on a wonderful 7 day WDW vacation - eating at amazing restaurants and having the ability to buy some fun stuff while there - and NOT have to worry about having to pay for it AFTER experiencing it! We saved up the money to go to WDW and by doing so have truly earned a trip there.
Being debt free is one of the largest blessings we have as a newly-married couple. We can go to sleep at night knowing that no matter what happens to us financially tomorrow, we will be just fine b/c we have an emergency fund and no extra bills to pay month-to-month.
This is the first WDW trip I'll be going on which will be completely paid for by just the two of us before we leave the parks. I'm so excited!
...so pretty much, my advice is save for the trip before you go! :animwink:
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awalte7
New Member
Since I LOVE spending money, The disney dollars might be a good idea for me! Then I can spend money to buy disney money!!!!!
Can tickets be bought with disney dollars? Is there somewhere I can find out exactly what I can spend the disney money. Since I have a hard time saving money this could be a really excellent idea...:sohappy:
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mousebymarriage
Active Member
Our income tax refund is a HUGE part of our funding! We also save any loose change in a bucket and we usually tell the grandparents and a few other relatives to give the kids Disney Dollars instead of small gifts for Easter or for Christmas and birthdays, this way the kids have their very own money for souvinears( they can spend it however they want, up to a certain amount each day and when it's gone, it's gone!) We go to WDW every year and this method has always worked great for us.:sohappy:
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JustPlainBill
Active Member
Our income tax refund is part of what we are using, half of it goes for our annual property taxes though. I received a fairly large bonus last year at the place where I was working. I don't usually get "extra" money all at once like that, which is why we can go to disney this year. My wife opened a special bank account and socked it away there, and any extra money that comes it goes into the account. I'm the only one working now, my wife quit her job to raise the kids. By the time we leave most of our vacation will be paid off (no credit cards.) the only thing we have to pay for is food and trinkets. We tried getting the DDP but due to an error made by Disney we are unable to attach it to the park tickets they presold us like they told us we could. We complained all the way to a VP in guest relations but to no avail, we gave up. They did tell us they disciplined the castmember who made the mistake, even though we told them that is not what we wanted to have happen, we wanted the dining plan. We'll plan our meals and pay cash only for them, at least we won't be locked into anything, looking on the brightside.
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I completely agree with you. I believe our society is completely selfish and impatient. But that's completely off topic.
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ldsprincess
New Member
so, this isn't so much about budgeting...but...we always bring lots of snacks and foods to make sandwiches and stuff. we'll eat breakfast in the resort. (in our rooms...we bring those little boxed cereals). this gives us more money for lunch in the parks and a nice dinner if we want. often times we don't even eat dinner in the park so we just back to the room and eat what we've bought. then we'll go all out for one really nice dinner during the week.
~Renee
~Renee
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