spending cash

[forevermickey]

Today I had my second yard sale of the summer to raise money for spending cash in WDW. I DO NOT want to come home with a credit card bill and I don't want to have to restrict myself too much because I am on vacation in my fav. place in the world!

Boy, last year it really added up even though we were on the dining plan; there were tips, a couple drinks, B.B.Boutique, souvenirs, pressed pennies, my pin obsession...... the list goes on and on!

Do you all do anything special to raise extra cash to spend while on your trip?

and....... how much do you think you spend in general.

 

[harveyt0206]

For a year prior to our last trip we decided that any time we went to the store (or wherever) and received change or dollar bills back, we would put it in our Disney fund. By the time our trip came around, we had close to $500. We too were on the dining plan so that extra cash came in handy for tips, etc....

My goal was not to spend over what we had saved and we stuck to it. We actually came home with some leftover cash.

 

[heartodisney]

I am putting 50 dollars every paycheck into a Disney gift card, it will be a very nice little nest egg by next November!

 

[JohnLocke]

Saving up change is one thing to do. It seems to add up over time and you may be able to get a couple hundred that way. Setting aside a little money from paychecks is something else to do to gather up some money before a trip.

I think going with cash and a bit of a budget is the best way to go. I pretty much will put items in different categories, if it's something that I think will have to be purchased immediately purchase it then, but some items you can find throughout WDW, so I think holding off on them would be the right way to go.

It's also probably good to set some sort of a limit on what you're going to purchase. Since you pin obsession, perhaps you should cap the number of pins you purchase. Set a goal of only buying 5 or 10 pins or whatever you think is a good number for you. That way you will be much more selective in your purchases and it could make the pins you buy that much more special.

 

[rodserling27]

I, too, did the saving change thing. I rounded up every purchase to the nearest dollar and dumped the rest in my "The Matrix: Reloaded" cup, which is my "official" change saving cup. :lol: From February to June, I saved over $200, which was my entire spending money in the park. It's a great little way to save.

I don't have any other ways to raise extra cash, but I will tell you that I save a ton by never buying water or coke in the parks. I bring a bottle and just fill it up at the fountains and ask for tap water in the restaurants....I know, I know...stupid fact. Everyone probably already does this on this board

 

[bgraham34]

I use to buy Disney Dollars back in the day when I had extra money to play with.

 

[Martian Crab]

We try not to spend foolishly when we are in the park. IMO the expensive sit down restaurants are not worth the price, we stay in the value resorts, and don't spend much on souvenirs...this equates to a manageable bill and the abilty to go more often.

 

[SeaCastle]

We have a Visa Disney Rewards card, so with every purchase we make, a tiny fraction of that goes to money to spend on Disney. We usually pay for part of our accommodations (concierge at a deluxe resort), and use the rest as a gift card to spend on shopping.

 

[CaptainJackNO]

For us, being on the dining plan, I find 100 dollars a day is more than enough money. The wife likes to indulge in the gift shops sometimes, though. So, I work extra here and there when I can to save a little extra.

 

[forevermickey]

It is crazy how it adds up! If your on the dining plan and you are eating at buffets or Table service you still have tips-
*Tips for us for 7 nights average about $110.00 (10%-20%).
*Then If they ask if you want to purchase your family photo at a TS and you love it, about $35.00
*The you have a couple cocktails- beer or wine, tinkerbell cup for the little one $ 50.00 (maybe)...we do stop at Publix on the way to the hotel for drinks and snacks
*Then you have souvenirs (I try to buy some stuff on clearance at our Disney store outlet before I go:animwink
* I have a 4 year old Disney enthusiast ( you try to cap this off)
* I love Disney merchandise D)
* If you want to rent a Sea Raycer $50.00
* mini golf maybe
*B.B. Boutique $50.00
* Balloon $10.00
* My husband plays golf $100.00

Needless to say I have been saving from here and there I am going down with at least $700.00 - last time we checked out we had $474.92 in extra charges!

 

[The Disney Kid]

I have a payroll deduction of $100 a week that goes into a savings account that my wife and I have dubbed, "The Emergency Go to Disney Fund". When that fund has enough to pay for EVERYTHING, we go.

 

[twoweirdos]

we have been only once...but before we went
I saved pocket change....and just put it in a big plastic jar
AT the end we had almost $2oo.00 just from tthat
closer to the time...i socked away dollar bills back from change
once there...we just were careful
had only one SPLURGE night for food...the rest was turkey legs...and kids meals
one souvenier a piece and we had the times of our lives

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

I've done just about everything that's been mentioned - change jar, automatic payroll deduction into a vacation club at the Credit Union, garage sales. Any "found" money like expense checks, or rebate money also goes into the vacation club. Our grocery store now has Disney gift cards so I try to pick up a $25 one each week when I do the shopping.

As far as how much I spend, it depends on when I go. My last 4 trips were in December so I spent a lot more than I normally would because I did a lot of Christmas shopping. And last year, I took my niece & nephew on their first and probably only trip to the World, so I went kind of crazy buying stuff for them, like the little twirly light up things, and the glowing ice cubes, and pins by the boatload! Aside from that, when it's just me and DD21, I budget about $100 a day for tips, drinks, and sundries.

Hope this helps!

 

[3fordisney]

We over budget and always come back with extra cash. We are a family of 3 (8 year old son included) and we budget $175 a day for food and spending and take an additional $ 300-$400 for spending and table service meals. The daily budget is in cash and the extra is on the debit card. That way we can't over spend what we don't have. We always stay at the value resorts and we go frequently enough that shopping has slacked off for all of us. We already have it or will wait til the next trip to buy it.

Some other cost cutting measures while you are there: ask for a cup of water. Its free at most places. The only place I found that would not give us a water (in a cup) is Flame Tree BBQ at AK. I am usually the water drinker and I take the Crystal Light packets and stir it in. I also will ask for a cup of ice to finish off any 20 oz we had that is no longer cold. Its not cheap at $2.50 a pop. I do, however, find that WDW has affordable prices when compared to other amusement parks and events (state fairs, Thomas the train, etc). We also ask for a kid's drink if my son and I share a meal or if he gets an adult meal. He isn't gonna drink the $2.19 coke, but he will finish a $1.29 kids coke. It never hurts to ask and the worst thing they can do is say no.

We save our money through out the year. We take tax refunds and use them to purchase annual passes. Then we use the AP discounts on the room and to get a discount on merchandise when the special is running. There are many ways to stretch a dollar at WDW. We always come back with leftover money and never put a dime on the credit card.

 

[erstwo]

A lot of my friends are really into couponing. I'm not a hard core coupon-er, but if I do make a trip to the grocery store - do my buy one, get one deals and my coupons, I'll take whatever I "saved" - usually about $30 and put it aside.

If I do that 2 times a week, I'm able to pay for our shorter 2 or 3 day trips to WDW (the ones we combine with our trips to the beach.) Now for the 7 to 10 day trips........ it takes a lot more than that!!!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We take tax refunds and use them to purchase annual passes.

What?! They send money to you?!?

:lol: Just kidding. Hasn't happened for us in a very, very long time. I miss those days.... **sigh**


Back in the day we did saving strategies, etc. like what other posters' have described. Nowadays I pay the bills on pay day, set aside our usual for food/gas, then put every last nickel into savings. We know how much our trips cost. If we don't have the money to go we just don't go. It's that simple. Sometimes I do things to head off big expenses coming up in order to not touch savings because the savings is where Disney vacations come from. Most recently I was staring down $1300 for curriculum for the coming school year. I sold several dolls out of my collection & voila. No touchy the savings.

 

[snowpony]

I get paid every 2 weeks and have a budget that's based on monthly expenses. Because of this, I usually wind up with 2 extra paychecks a year (26 pay periods rather than 24). The first extra paycheck comes at the beginning of the year, and goes directly into my savings.The second extra paycheck which comes toward the latter part of the year goes toward a winter vacation.

We've been doing this for several years and using the second extra paycheck for an annual week-long snowboarding vacation (usually Tahoe). This year rather than going snowboarding, we've decided to go to WDW during Christmastime, our first time during the holiday season.
:xmas:

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

save whenever I can.....

We save change, $1 bills and occasionally $5, too. If I get a refund or my DH gets a bonus check I put that towards or Disney fund. And last year I booked our package before the free DP was offered and the entire refund was put in savings, also. It amounted to a good amount of money, so much so I bought whatever I wanted and still came home with a good chunk. Don't think it's going to be that good next year but we should have a decent amount by next Sept. (I hope!)

 

[enoe01]

I found that if you rummage through your junk drawers you can find all kinds of items (old cell phones, cameras etc..) and sell them on ebay. I have been selling old cell phones for 35 to 50 bucks a phone. Then we sold some old video cameras and still camera, yes people still want them. I also have been selling my wife's old purses!

Just another idea for your Disney cash.

 

[RedBaron]

We are going on our first family vacation on Saturday and are thrilled to have $700+ on our Disney rewards Visa card which we will use for the park tickets. We also put all of the money we have earned from garage sales, we also put all of our silver change in a can for savings, and money earned for odd jobs here and there into a box and amazingly over the last few years we have nearly $2000 in there and we will bring half of that to Disney for spending. Anything above that we will just put back on the Visa. I guess I have no problem putting some stuff right back on the Visa to make reward dollars for our next trip.