Saving for Trips

[dhoywdw20x]

Maybe this has been discussed. But, yesterday by boss for Christmas gave me a Disney Gift Card (good at all Parks and Merchandise locations). Has anyone ever saved for a trip by purchasing Disney Gift Cards. Essentially pay for the trips ahead of time by placing equity in the cards?

 

[BeanSz]

I have purchased cards as trips gets closer to use for spend money at the parks or to apply to my room bill once I am there since my supermarket often gives me extra gas points for these cards. My fear of using as a savings plan is if you need to save specifically for this trip, what happens if something happens in your life that would require you to use this money for something else -- medical issue, new car, or other things life has a tendency to throw at you and you need to postpone or not book a trip. You would not be able to get to this money if needed, and spending several thousands of dollars at the Disney store doesn't seem appealling. Just my two cents. I think you would be better off setting up a separate savings account even if you only put small amounts in it at a time and even if it is almost zero interest. I know some banks have programs like round up -- where when you write a check or use a debit card, they round up the amount to the next dollar amount and transfer the difference into savings. Adds up quickly -- for example, if you used debit for $30.65 they would round the deduction up to $31.00 and transfer the 35 cents to savings. Not sure what the banks have in your area.....

 

[dizzney]

I've held Visa cards, Amex cards and Disney cards when given as a gift to bring down, as for regular savings, I transfer money every week automatically to a savings account. Thats a safer way than buying Disney cards in my opinion

 

[disney dharling]

We don't spend any of the coins we get back all year. It all goes into the Disney vacation fund. We usually have at least $200 in fun money to do something special with.

 

[Magical Dreamer]

That's how I paid off our last 2 trips.....

Walgreens sells the cards with no fee for any amount between $15 & $500.

I purchase a card weekly and then go home, go online, and submit the card as a payment to my balance.

I really get on a mission to get it paid off quick this way....

On target to have our Nov '12 trip paid for by the end of March.

 

[Disnee4Me]

I was just thinking that one of my bosses always gives me Target gift cards for Christmas and Staff Appreciation Week and they sell Disney Gift Cards at Target so I am thinking of using his gift card to buy Disney Gift cards as my family is planning to go to WDW next Christmas ... add that with all the Disney $$$s I earn on my credit card, we should have free tickets and hopefully at least half of the hotel bill covered.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

I have money directly deposited from my paycheck into a vacation club at my Credit Union, but I also try to purchase at least one $25 Disney gift card at my grocery store every week when I'm doing the weekly shopping. Sometimes I can even swing a $50. Our store also give the cents off for gasoline so I win both ways. I'm not really planning a Disney trip in the near future (DD is attending grad school in Scotland so that will be my vacation spot for the next couple years) but after that I figure I'll have enough gift cards to pretty much have a Disney trip paid for.

 

[Engine 51]

Pick up a gift card every time your local store has a double fuel point promotion.

 

[lbrad]

Disney Visa Card!!!:sohappy:

 

[finaldynasty]

When you purchase a Disney Gift Card, do you pay online or call in to pay with the card? I've only used my debit or credit card, so this is new to me.

 

[lebeau]

I got a Disney gift card for X-Mas as well. I may hold on to it and use it for spending money. But I have to say that buying gift cards as a means to save for a trip is highly inefficient. It's kind of like sticking cash in your mattress. Only worse because if you have an emergency, the cash is still liquid.

Disney gift cards are a committed resource. They don't increase in value and you run the risk of misplacing them. They are fine for spending cash, but there are far better ways to save for your vacation.

If you use a credit card responsibly, the Disney Visa can be helpful. We usually pay for meals and souveniers on our rewards points every trip. Beyond that, you're better off using a traditional savings account (or vacation savings of some kind). The interest you collect won't be much these days. But there's no chance it gets misplaced, you can use it for an emergency and the interest might just buy an extra Dole Whip.

Just my $.02.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

What I do is I have a separate savings account from my checking/savings account. It's not linked to anything else and what I do is figure out how much I will need to save (approx.) and transfer money over there every paycheck. That way I have it where I can keep track of it and if I absolutely HAVE to take from it, I can. (You cant do that with the Disney gift cards) It's worked pretty well for me so far!

We also use all our bottle return money and throw it in a little container with all our spare change. You can save quite a bit that way, too.

 

[marcriss]

We save all of our coins, charge everything to Disney Visa (pay it all off each month) and we exchange disney gift cards for all holidays and occasions. We're past the point of needing "stuff," but we go to Disney every year. So even though we got back on the 12/20, we got $130 in giftcards for xmas towards our trip next december. We keep them in a special Disney tin, along with any found money (like my DH's superbowl winnings). Tis way we don't lose them .

 

[devoy1701]

I have money directly deposited from my paycheck into a vacation club at my Credit Union, but I also try to purchase at least one $25 Disney gift card at my grocery store every week when I'm doing the weekly shopping. Sometimes I can even swing a $50. Our store also give the cents off for gasoline so I win both ways. I'm not really planning a Disney trip in the near future (DD is attending grad school in Scotland so that will be my vacation spot for the next couple years) but after that I figure I'll have enough gift cards to pretty much have a Disney trip paid for.

That's a LOT of Disney Giftcards... why don't you just open up a Savings Acct or Money Market instead? I don't know if I would want to working with dozens of $25 giftcards!

 

[plaz10]

We have a Disney Jar (aka a Disney popcorn tub with a slit cut into it) that we put all spare change and other money in whenever we have it. We also ask for Disney gift cards for birthdays/Christmas. Sometimes for other holidays (valentines day, anniversary) we buy a giftcard to put in the jar instead of flowers/expensive dinner. We know we'll appreciate it come trip time!

 

[Alison1975]

This trip I am planning now we are doing Disney cards for spending money. I get paid bi-weekly from my day job and with each check I am buying a Disney card at Target.. this is going to be our spending money...

 

[mets7]

we always buy a few gift cards for spending on our trip when we get close to time. We usually buy a couple of smaller ones for the kids to buy themselves something(they get a big kick out of paying for it themselves) and they they think they are using a credit card like a grown up.