Saving for a trip

[OhioDisneyLover]

Since we're not rich by any means, we have tried several different things. We do the change thing (last year we had $552 in change:sohappy: ) and have also started to save $1 bills. This is rather difficult to do but we try not to spend ones. So far we're over $250. We normally plan our next trip as soon as we get home from a trip so right then I make new mousekeeping enelopes and fill them for the next trip. Friends and family ask what we want for our birthdays, Christmas, etc. and we always tell them Disney dollars. We save tax returns and I also have a share purchase plan at work with a match so we cash that out too. It's after tax money that goes into the plan so it's not so bad to cash it out here and there.

 

[TheBeatles]

This thread is right up my alley.

My girlfriend has school, so I'm going to WDW (Oct 1!) by myself. I started at the end of last month. I try to get to work early, leave later, and eat up every shift that comes my way. I also do not buy fast food or (my problem) eBay. Cashing in change and asking people for cans is also a great way to make money. Luckily for me, Michigan gives you .10 for bottle returns :sohappy:

 

[Jessie&Buzz]

These are all great ideas! Keep them coming. We are having a family meeting at 6 pm tonight to talk about it.

One thing we did to try to help is my hubby has a change sorter (bought it for him as a gag gift and it's turned out useful). He always takes the quarters for the vending machine at work. We were at the commissary and they had a bulk box of the same candy he was getting from the vending for a lot less per bar. He said that the quarters will now go towards Disney! Yay! :sohappy:

 

[macsmom]

Since we're not rich by any means, we have tried several different things. We do the change thing (last year we had $552 in change:sohappy: ) and have also started to save $1 bills. This is rather difficult to do but we try not to spend ones. So far we're over $250. We normally plan our next trip as soon as we get home from a trip so right then I make new mousekeeping enelopes and fill them for the next trip. Friends and family ask what we want for our birthdays, Christmas, etc. and we always tell them Disney dollars. We save tax returns and I also have a share purchase plan at work with a match so we cash that out too. It's after tax money that goes into the plan so it's not so bad to cash it out here and there.

I also do the savings of $1 bills. Occasionally, I'll throw in a $5, but not too often. Those are a little bit harder. But, I find it easy to do that one little thing and the savings add up so fast.

Oh, I have also started getting gift cards from McDonald's and Wendy's for my trip to and from the World, so I won't have to spend my Disney money. I don't mind eating a hamburger if it saves me money in the long run.

danna

 

[frankd1962]

What I did (and do) is have a vacation club account at my bank. I have so much direct deposited into the account each week from my paycheck. So I don't see it or can touch it until the banks cuts me a check for the amount around the first week of June.

When I'm ready to go again I'll up the deposit amount and put in some of my tax return money into it so by August of 09 I'll have the trip itself paid for. Then be saving for the spending money for the trip itself.

 

[kennygman]

We also use the Disney Visa for all our purchases and pay it off at the end of the month. That's 1% that is dedicated to Disney Trips.

I've been known to accept a credit card offer just to get the free flight points too ;-)

We keep zero debt on credit cards, so it works out well for us.

 

[Tenny317]

Well my boyfriend and I have been saving our change but we put them in seperate bags or whatnot and label them for different things like a nice resturant or tickets etc. then what the balance is we pay cash for

 

[SteveVAB]

Saving For Disney

My wife and I don't really actively "save" for our annual Disney trips either. Like another post said, "we just go no matter what." If you're staying on property you can pretty much quote to the dollar how much you're going to need. Especially if you use the meal plans.

As for spending money in the parks, you know you're going to buy some trinkets so put a certain amount aside for those items. Choose a less expensive airline such as Southwest or Air Tran. We have flown both and have had nothing but wonderful flight experiences.


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[Kristamouse]

I love the family meeting ideal. My kids are 2 and 3 and every time we see a penny or another coin we put it in the "Disney Jar". I mean every one, in the middle of the Kroger parking lot in the rain we get the penny.
We also save by yard sales. I work for Gymboree part time and sell all outgrown clothes and everything else I can find. Our last two trips were paid for by our yard sales. We also take advantage of Points, we use our card and cash in our points for gas card for the way down and back.
We also attended a time share and got 10-day park hoppers tix for half price. On our trip in Sept we will use our remaining days and are looking for another time share. Any ideals? We did Orange Lake last time and they were pretty good with NO.

 

[Jessie&Buzz]

The meeting went well. We decided to go with SoG since it will save us money (even with a car service and paying for meals out of pocket. We just won't do as many TS which is fine with us). We can get our tickets at the base here or when we get to SoG. We also went through all the cups/bowls/jars that my hubby had change in. We got $43.50. :sohappy: Hopefully we will have $50 by the end of the month. I hope to keep that up on top of the amount we said we'd take out of each pay. We will have a yard sale in the spring/early summer. We have tons of junk, I mean gently used items, that we could get rid of.

Thanks again for all the ideas and tips!

 

[DisneyGigi]

We have both saved prior to planning and booked spur of the moment and then saved like crazy after we booked. We love it so much that if we have to we will cut corners to go. I have been stashing away spending money for our trip for awhile, we went in February which was our trip for the year but with the free dining, it was just to good of a deal to pass up, we made payments and knew what we we had to budget and have done very well, I think it just takes planning. This is the first time we have been able to go twice a year and we are planning on budgeting for AP's next year, with planning it is not that much more than any other vacation for us.:wave:

 

[primetime52]

I recently discovered the greatest innovation in Banking ever created!

If you have your accounts in Bank of America (which is a pretty popular bank these days), they have this new savings option called "Keep The Change." In order to use this feature you must have both a checking account and a savings account with Bank of America (I promise I don't work for them).

Ok, so what happens is, every time you use your debit card for a purchase, Bank of America rounds your purchase up to the nearest dollar (always rounds up). Whatever the difference is, they automatically deposit this difference in to your savings account! It's the banking equivalent of a piggy bank.

For example, You spend $7.50 on a combo meal at Subway. However, Bank of America will round this purchase up to $8.00 on your debit account. Then, they take that $0.50 difference and automatically deposit that $0.50 into your savings account. You'd be amazed at how much this adds up over time, assuming that you are like me and pay on debit quite often.

I'm not sure if any other banks have anything similar to this, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did, since it's such an amazing idea.

 

[LoriMistress]

It depends on several factors:

What time of year are you going?

How many days do you plan on going?

Is there a particular hotel you that you want to stay at? On property or off property? Is there a budget that you're trying to stick to?

Do you want to eat mainly CS (counter service) or do you want to eat at some particular restaurant(s)? If you do, then you would need to figure out days on what park for which day and you will need to make ADRs.

I started planning our trip back in October 2006. I did a lot of research on how we wanted our next WDW vacation would be like. And with careful planning so far we've gotten everything want we wanted booked and confirmed for our trip. It seems like every year WDW gets more crowded (even during off season). You have to start making plans in advance. Early planning gets you ahead of the game.

 

[luvjiminy]

I don't have the account type that primetime52 is talking about so every month when I get my statement, I do the math and figure out what I would have if every withdrawal was rounded up to the next dollar.I then transfer that amount to a special account earmarked for vacation. In addition to the small amount I deposit in this account every payday,it does add up and make the trouble worthwhile.

 

[macsmom]

I also bank at BOA and whenever I purchase gas with my debit card, I put in whatever dollars and one cent so that the next 99 cents gets put into my savings without me having to do it. I have 60 or so dollars in there now. I had forgotten about it!

danna

 

[Montyboy]

I've always been pretty tight and live beneath my means, so I can keep a few thousand dollars for a rainy day. Sometimes when it rains, I go on vacation.

 

[Pocamahontas]

Idk if this helps,
but they told us at training that the average guest at WDW saves for 5 years to come for 10 days.
That might be a bit much if you factor in the size of your family, but this includes staying on site and all that jazz.

 

[primetime52]

I don't have the account type that primetime52 is talking about so every month when I get my statement, I do the math and figure out what I would have if every withdrawal was rounded up to the next dollar.I then transfer that amount to a special account earmarked for vacation. In addition to the small amount I deposit in this account every payday,it does add up and make the trouble worthwhile.

Yup. It's amazing how quickly change adds up to be worth something! Ever since I finished college I've been all about saving money whatever ways I can. I do the bank account thing that I posted about earlier, plus I also keep a piggy bank of sorts for spare change and one dollar bills. I plan to use the bulk of my savings on WDW trips this year. I'm probably making at least 4 trips between now and next summer (most of them weekends with maybe one long trip sprinkled in).

 

[Mikester71]

My wife has a Christmas fund with her bank where so much is taken out of each pay and put into this account (we usually do $75 a pay). I think you are penalized if you withdraw it early or too many times throughout the year. She can then withdraw it in October to use without a penalty. The years we plan on going, we usually tend to cut back on the Christmas gifts the year before and use that money towards the trip for the following March Break. My wife then takes some money out of a retirement fund or something through her work to provide us with our spending and food money for the trip. It also helps that my mother-in-law and my brother come with us and we all split the gas, food, room and other misc. costs between us.:sohappy: