saving trip money

[Firewolfe51]

Just wondering, who all has a WDW change jar or bucket? we have 32 days left and just dropped a $100 bill into our change bottle. About a week before we go we will take our bottle to one of those change counters. That will be our spendeing money on drinks,tips and food outside the park.

 

[MissDiznee66]

We, too, do the "change savings" thing that we put into a vacation club account! And for the first time this year, we did garage sales throughout the summer. So, between the two ways of saving we have over $600 spending $$$ for our upcoming trip (December). At this point I figure any change from our change savings can go towards the next trip. I feel $600 is enough spending for 8 days when room, tickets and dining is included. I geuss whatever your priority is! :king:

 

[Craig & Lisa]

The wife and I have been doing the bottle thing for at least the last 7 years, we save the money for our sons. When it's a day or 2 before we leave, we take the change to the bank to have it made into cash. Then we even it out and split it between the 2 of them into Disney Dollars, and it teaches them how to spend. They realize that if you spend it on something too much you may not have enough to get anything else. So they learn a lesson without even knowing it. :animwink:

 

[ynot167]

For our trip this December, we have a children's daycare expense account which money gets taken out of my check. We haven't been claiming the money all year long. In November, we'll claim it all and have $2500 for the trip. Might start it again for next year.:animwink:

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

We save change, too, and every so often, we roll whatever is in the jar and put it in a drawer in the bedroom. I've found that I'm less tempted to steal "just a couple of quarters" when it's all neatly wrapped waiting to take to the bank before the trip. $145.00 so far and still 6 weeks to go. I also have a vacation club account at the credit union - that's where I put yard sale money, birthday and Christmas money, anything extra that comes along throughout the year.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

I have done this myself in the past. When the jar gets full we cash it in and get Disney $$ that way we are not tempted to spend it before we go.

Pam

 

[dreamscometrue]

We too have a Disney bank account in which we deposit a set amount of money every week. Our 'change' bank is a Coke bottle bank which we purchased at Epcot (during our first visit in 2003) and completely covered in pictures of WDW which we cut out of travel brochures. We agreed to put all change from our pockets at day's end into the bank, no matter how much it is. Living in Canada results in our 'change' bank being a source of significant savings for our trip. In 1987, Canada eliminated the $1 bill and replaced it with a $1 coin (affectionately known as a 'loonie' because of the image of a loon on one side). In 1996, the same thing was done with our $2 bills (Yes, we did have $2 bills, and the coins are called 'twonies' or 'toonies'). Imagine how much money you can save when you are dropping $1 and $2 coins in the bank along with the other change. We empty it every few months, roll the change and take it to the bank. The 'loonie' rolls are $25, while the 'toonie' rolls are $50. It's great fun!

 

[Tara Stone]

I have done this myself in the past. When the jar gets full we cash it in and get Disney $$ that way we are not tempted to spend it before we go.

Pam

This is a great idea!
We fill a big jug we have had for years....when the grandparents visit they always give the little ones bucks to put in. The kids put birthday money in it sometimes too!
I like to give my daughter who is 5 years old Disney dollars for special occasions or just a little pick me up every now and again. If you keep them on hand and someones having a bad day a couple of Disney dollars always gets a smile out of them!

 

[Nansafan]

Disney Dollars for birthdays and Christmas is something we've always done. We were taking a cousin with us one time and her mother was a stickler about money going into the bank for college. I got around that by giving her Disney Dollars for her 8th grade graduation so she wouldn't need to do that much extra baby-sitting to save vacation money.

 

[HoneyMnShawnee]

Living in Canada results in our 'change' bank being a source of significant savings for our trip. In 1987, Canada eliminated the $1 bill and replaced it with a $1 coin (affectionately known as a 'loonie' because of the image of a loon on one side). In 1996, the same thing was done with our $2 bills (Yes, we did have $2 bills, and the coins are called 'twonies' or 'toonies'). Imagine how much money you can save when you are dropping $1 and $2 coins in the bank along with the other change. We empty it every few months, roll the change and take it to the bank. The 'loonie' rolls are $25, while the 'toonie' rolls are $50. It's great fun!

Ah, another canadian who understands how quickly the "change" can add up.. I have a change jar (an old kraft peanut butter jar, shaped like a teddy bear) that receives all my pennies and the like.. I have another tin that's put away that gets bills and our toonies and loonies.. I usually depoist $60 - $80 every four months just from change (not including the $1 & $2).. People think it's a waste of time but as you can see it's not... We had quite a lot saved for spending on our Honeymoon...

 

[hokielutz]

Everyone on here has some great ideas about saving money for these trips. My wife and I have been compiling change in a glass Mickey bank, and it usually equals out to about $50 or $60 when it is full. We've also worked on taking excess cash from our wallet/purse and put it away in a cupboard for use later.

I really like the extra bank account idea for siphoning off a little bit of money each paycheck into the rarely used account and then cash out when it is time to party at the mouse's house. If you can find an interest checking account, that could add a few extra dollars to the Disney savings. We will try this our for our future trip in May of 2007.

 

[mrtoad]

We have 2 of them. One that my wife and I use and one for my daughter that she gets money for doing chores and it goes in there. She uses hers for her souvenier money which we add to as it is never enough. On ours we never spend our change thoughout the year. So if I buy something at the store that is $4.10 and I get 90 cents back I don't spend it even if at my next stop something is $3.10, I don't take a dime from the 90 cents but rather bread another bill so now I will have $1.80 in change for that day. In the end we save a ton. Last year we cashed in a few times and then dumped the bills back in the jar as it gets kind of full and we had somewhere around $700 or $800 in change I think. It is our extra money for the trip. We usually budget a certain amount and anything in the change jar is just a bonus for spending money.

 

[mrtoad]

For our trip this December, we have a children's daycare expense account which money gets taken out of my check. We haven't been claiming the money all year long. In November, we'll claim it all and have $2500 for the trip. Might start it again for next year.:animwink:

We do the same thing. I put in 4,500 in the dependant care account and my company puts in 500 which is to reimburse for what we put out each month for school.

We take it out in January after the full amount is in and it all goes to the trip. We usually take out some earlier in the year for the air so whateve the remainder is gets pulled in Jan.

 

[LittleLeota]

Excuse me, but aren't these employee dependent-care accounts generally funded through pre-tax dollars? How do you go about pulling the money for vacation reimbursement? Or are we just talking about regular savings through payroll deduction? Just wondering...

 

[mrtoad]

Excuse me, but aren't these employee dependent-care accounts generally funded through pre-tax dollars? How do you go about pulling the money for vacation reimbursement? Or are we just talking about regular savings through payroll deduction? Just wondering...

They are but you are misunderstanding. We still need to pay for the child care during the year so you are paying that out of your pocket. The fund is reimbursment so there is nothing sneaking going on. Look at it like this:

My account is $5000 pre-tax but the money comes out of my check over the course of the year in every paycheck. At the same time out of my normal bank acount which comes from mine and my wife's paychecks we pay out our monthly school payments for my daughter which is about $10,000 per year. The account money we get as a reimbursement.

Do you understand now? It is nothing sneaky at all. You need to fill out a form for the reimbursement saying how much you paid them and their tax ID number. You could not get the money back from the account without proving you paid it out of pocket. And if you had them pull the 5,000 during the year and for some reason you only spent 3,000 that year on childcare, you lose the other 2,000 and the government keeps it...

Hope that clears it up for you.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

We have 2 of them. One that my wife and I use and one for my daughter that she gets money for doing chores and it goes in there. She uses hers for her souvenier money which we add to as it is never enough. On ours we never spend our change thoughout the year. So if I buy something at the store that is $4.10 and I get 90 cents back I don't spend it even if at my next stop something is $3.10, I don't take a dime from the 90 cents but rather bread another bill so now I will have $1.80 in change for that day. In the end we save a ton. Last year we cashed in a few times and then dumped the bills back in the jar as it gets kind of full and we had somewhere around $700 or $800 in change I think. It is our extra money for the trip. We usually budget a certain amount and anything in the change jar is just a bonus for spending money.

I do a lot of the same thing. I buy a newspaper for 50 cents every morning - I break a bill every day and put the change in my cup holder. Any change I get while shopping goes in the bottom of my purse, and every payday I put all the loose change from the past two weeks into the jar. It's a relatively painless way to save some extra $$$ for Disney....

 

[Yellow Shoes]

I do a lot of the same thing. I buy a newspaper for 50 cents every morning - I break a bill every day and put the change in my cup holder.

Why not just subscribe? It's usually much cheaper.

About a week before we go we will take our bottle to one of those change counters.

HATE those things.

We call them "The magical machine that turns a dollar into 92 cents."

Seriously, check with your bank on their policies on loose change.
My bank prefers that I NOT roll it because they un-do the rolls to put it through the counter.
I take the change, they put it into a heavy bag, count it, and credit my account. Totally painless.

When you deal with change this way, $1 = $1

 

[disney2005]

Change jar for us. Like others that have posted we'll go to our bank to put it through their machine and let them count it. (we don't lose anything by having our bank count the change.)

I always feel I've hit the jackpot when I get anything over .50 in change. Sometimes when I don't get much change back I'll ask for change for a 1.00 and put that in the jar too.

I have the option of the Child Care Spending account too. We did it last year I don't know why I opted not to do it this year.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

Why not just subscribe? It's usually much cheaper.

I leave for work about an hour earlier than the paper would arrive at my house.

 

[Yellow Shoes]

Why not just subscribe? It's usually much cheaper.

I leave for work about an hour earlier than the paper would arrive at my house.

WOW!! That's early. Ours usually arrives around 5:00 a.m.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

WOW!! That's early. Ours usually arrives around 5:00 a.m.

I do have it delivered on Sunday - it arrives anywhere between 8-9AM. DH leaves for work @ 430AM and I leave @ 630AM, we work at the same place but in different departments, and end up buying two papers every day.:hammer: