How do you save $ for your WDW trip?

[LoriMistress]

Tell me your best secret on how you save money for your trip to WDW.

 

[Mr_Tom_Morrow]

i do whats called a "power week" at my job,this is nothing more than terminology for working anything over 50 hours in one week,some people take it to extremes and put in 70 or more hours,it can easily rake in $1500,$2000,even occasionally $3000 in a week's time,I work on a commission plus anything over only 35 hours is considered overtime which pays time and a half of course but the company also pays you an extra 8-12 bucks an hour on top of that too so any hourly wages can be upwards of 27 dollars an hour!!!!

 

[Jimmy Thick]

Save?

Never!!!!

I'll just work as much overtime as I can physically withstand and earn the vacation the old fashion way.

 

[blappin]

I don't know if this has already been covered and if it has then I apologize - I save up for the $200 that is required for Disney reservations, then each week when i get paid I call Disney and make a payment of $25. I know its not much but it adds up and you can now make payments online. Within about a year our trip is paid for and I don't have to worry about putting it on credit cards.

 

[Qatari girl]

I love shopping and buying clothes alot and I used to go to the Mall every week-end, but once I and my husband decided to visit the WDW, I started to save money and I have made my visiting to the Mall 1 to 3 times every month and instead of having coffee at Starbucks I make my own coffee at home.:lol: ​

 

[tink68]

I work in my families business and I am able to take the kids to work with me in the summer so no daycare cost. We eat breakfast at home and pack our lunch and eat at home at night. Going out to eat is off limits when we are planning a trip. We usually use our tax refund but ended up having to pay this year so we made the reservation and just made payments of 25-50 a week until it was all paid for it. We have not bought our park tickets yet but will be doing that next week. I also gave up the Starbucks and now make my coffee at home too. We keep all spare change and turn it in to use as spending money right before we leave. Buying the Disney Dollars is a good idea and I think I may do that also to use for my shopping. We are the type to eat breakfast and just snack for lunch because I would rather shop with my money. hehe The big help this year (if you can call it that) is that my husband got sent back to Iraq again and the pay is good. It stinks that he is gone but he will be home sometime in the next couple of weeks :sohappy: . That makes this years vacation all the more special.

 

[agtlmm]

I have a couple different tatics I use for saving:

1 - plan way ahead. Right now we are planning for Sept 08. This gives me plenty of time to budget and save enough. Sometimes it's hard to wait, but it is worth it.

2 - transfer to savings - every pay check i have money taken from my paycheck and deposited into a savings account. it is there if i really need to get to it, but not in my checking account which seems to empty pretty quickly. this money pays for the bulk of my trip

3 - change - i think everyone has a jar for saving change. this i take to bank and cash in as my fun money at the park

4 - Gifts - since we do a gift exchange at christmas, i request disney dollars. which i can take to the park or go buy one more shirt to wear to the park. if that is not possible I request gift cards to walgreens where i have my pictures printed.

5 - returns - if I have a return to walmart and I can not find what I need, I ask that they put the money onto a gift card. I then gather those cards up to go purchase all the things that I need for my trip.

It takes a lot of planning, but I agree with the folks that said there is no better feeling then knowing that your trip is paid for ahead of time and that you don't have to worry the whole time on how you are going to pay for it when you get home.:wave:

 

[agtlmm]

I almost forgot...TAX RETURNS!!!:sohappy:

 

[rimousefan84]

My fiance and I do the change thing but we also recently set up a "vacation account" with the local credit union. This account takes $$$ a week from my checking and deposits it into a special account that they will charge us a fee if we try to take it out early. Luckily for us you need to keep it in for 50 weeks which is exactly two weeks before our next trip.

 

[hls1023]

Stock money

 

[scorp111]

I get paid bi-weekly, which means that if we live on the money from 2 paychecks per month, we have two extra checks for WDW. That is our spending money. Hotels & Annual Passes and the like, we save up for a couple of months to do so. We are now DVC members, so that we don't need to save for hotels any more.

 

[1crazymom]

When Christmas time and birthdays come around I will be requesting Disney Giftcards http://disney.go.com/disneygiftcard/index.html
Also like many have said, planning many months in advance gives you lots of time to save up, & what else is "paid vacation" for? My husband is paid on commission and will have aquired 2 weeks of paid vacation next year. He mentioned that he could ask for the pay and not take the days, so that would be like getting a bonus in a since.

 

[santa's surpriz]

Bank of America's Keep the Change program! Check it online. It's a great way to save! I enrolled a couple of years ago, and was offered an annual match up to $350.00. I am not sure if they still offer the match, but's great way to save. I paid off a BOA Visa that way too. Each week I transferred the funds to my credit card. That extra change adds up fast! (I do not even work for BOA anymore and have moved out their footprint, I just love the program so much I have stayed with them.)

LADIES....go to the bank every couple weeks and deposit the change in your purse into savings account. I do this instead of the jar thing. I usually get about $5-8 everytime.

Online savings accounts are great too. There many banks out there that pay 5% and above no mo fees no min balances. Break up your direct deposit or automatic transfers. Some of these banks only offer online banking so they have ways to deposit with out stepping foot near them.

 

[Ilovecorbinbleu]

Well being a single mum its very hard to save money but i know it will be worth it by the time ive saved up to go. Already i have £300 in my savings account and that was just by selling on ebay. Im plannin to put £100 away each month after bills etc for this holiday. 14 days in paradise, i cant wait.

 

[J_Krafty24]

I don't spend change and I rarely spend one's. They all go into a bucket that is my "Disney Fund"

 

[wdwmomof3]

I stop eating out & I stop spending money on things that I really don't need anyway. I set a budget and tell my husband how much I need on each payday and pray hard that he will give it to me. I save change and dollar bills. I pay my kids to do things around the house, including rubbing my shoulders for their spending money. I also have a yard sale and this helps a bunch because my house is free of clutter and I get money for Disney. The kids are more willing to get rid of things this way too & they have more money to spend. I just do what ever it takes to save the money. We normally plan so far in advance that it's not a problem. I think that makes a big difference.

 

[MdCaterer]

We do the change thing also. Do not spend any change and collect it in a piggy bank, You would be amazed how fast it adds up. I believe someone mentioned you can put it in an online account and earn close to 5%.

My son gets disney dollars from the tooth fairy and Easter Bunny, etc. That all gets put away for WDW and them he can purchase what he wants. This usually means he will wait until late in the vacation to make certain he has checked everything out carefully! Saves alot in the long run.

Every monetary gift or found money (oops did not know I had a $5 in that pocket) also goes into the piggy savings.

For birthdays and anniversaries my husband and I usually take the money we would spend on a vey nice gift and contribute that to the vacation fund. If there is anything we really need we usually get it and we would rather have a great vacation for the family.

Whenever we think about buying something non essential we decide if we want to spend the money or that or put it into the Disney fund.

Ebay sales on things we no longer use or need. If you haven't touched it in a year do you really need it???

Disney Visa we put everything possible on the card and pay it off every month (that is the most important part) so we are earning 1% on bills.

Online reward program! I have one that has earned me almost $400 since January.

WE have managed to buy Annual passes and fit in 2 cruises and 3 trips in the past two years.

 

[H20Babie]

I quit smoking ... putting $10 a day in a jar over a year REALLY adds up (not to mention the health benefits)

Oh, and travel rewards. I use my AirMiles everytime I grocery shop. They just had a 10-week "extreme bonus" promotion, which has already paid for my flight!

 

[mousebymarriage]

We always use our tax refund!

 

[DisneyChris]

1. I pack my lunch and take the money I would have spent and put it in an envelope. At the end of the week it get deposited into savings paying 5%

2. Do the change jar thing too. Also bring coffee instead of buying it, that goes into the change jar.

3. I use amazon turking to make some easy cash when Im watching tv. I would post a link but dont know the policies. Search google for turking.

4. Direct deposit from my checking into savings, the interest builds up quickly.

5. Put my tax return into savings for next year to start off the fund.

I usually have about $5k saved when it comes time to plan, its easier to plan a trip using money you have rather than using credit.

Once I do plan I usually still have $500 -$1000 for Downtown Disney or Universal.

 

[figment3258]

We just put aside money each month into a savings account and we also put money on a Disney gift card.


48 days to go Beach club here we come!:ROFLOL: