Do you do without something to fund your Disney trips?

[SusanL]

Do you do without something to fund your Disney trips?

Do you give up other vacations/weekends away? Do you eat out less often? Inquiring minds want to know?

[SusanP]

We do not go into debt for vacations so we definitely need a plan! Often it is the tax return that funds it. We rarely go anywhere overnight, pretty much stick close to home. I'd rather save the money for a trip to the World. The only eating out we do is fastfood pickup-no drinks (and we surely could cut back on that-for health reasons as well!) Just seems to cost so much to take the family out to eat...I don't mind cooking at home. Again, I'd rather have a longer family vacation.

Now, if I could refrain from any more bookbuying, we would get back down there much quicker!

[Bookwood]

DH travels alot and his miles and hotel points are very helpful for WDW trips. This is the first summer (ever??) we are taking a "family vacation" besides WDW and it involves a week at Wisconsin Dells before a family wedding. We don't just take trips unless there's a reason for them (ie family thing) unless it's WDW. WE should probably start broadening our horizons but since we have lived in all 4 corners of the country (except really Northwest "Hi Miss B") and visited the sights while we were there I don't feel the need to go back to the Grand Canyon or Mt Rushmore ect.


Ok sorry I got a little off topic there!:confused: No we don't do without (except for without DH) for out trips!

[nono]

We have a travel savings account. Money goes directly from paycheck to the savings account. Just trying to figure out how to make it pre-tax dollars...:rolleyes:

[Tagrel]

nono - when you figure out the pre-tax thing, let us know! :peri:

I give up buying my lunch. :yes: I take everyday including cans of soda and find I save a LOT every month (plus I have better control over what I'm eating!) Lunch can cost $5 - $8 a day and that really adds up over the year. It easily pays our DVC dues (that was the plan). The only downside is that I now have much less change to save every day. ;)

Tax Refunds, rebates and garage sale profits all go into our vacation fund. I try to buy and pay for most things before vacation so the bill does not come due all at once. One month plane tickets. Next month some park tickets... etc.

[jiggerj]

I kinda play a little game with myself- When I am at ANY store I ask myself "Do I really need that?" "Wouldnt I rather have a Mickey Bar?" Well of course the answer is MICKEY BAR! LOL!

I have envelopes that are marked for different expenses at the World with a total. Stroller, grocery stop, towncar, tips ect. I stash the "would be spent cash" in the envelopes. By the time the trip rolls around I have saved a nice chunk of cash- I feel like I have pre paid.

I take all the SEALED (thats the most important part dont open them!) envelopes with me and take them out to be used for whatever I had them marked for- works for me! :mickey:

[Linda S]

We have a travel savings account. Money goes directly from paycheck to the savings account. Just trying to figure out how to make it pre-tax dollars...:rolleyes:
I used my health care spending account reimbursement - to me it's like "found" money - we recently set it up - and paying the $20 or $30 co-pays is something we always do, so when we get the reimbursement check, it's kind of like a bonus and it goes right into the Disney account and I can think of it as a pre-tax vacation fund. :D

[minnie321]

I,also,have a vacation account that I deposit money into. I'm even putting my birthday money into it this year!!:minnie: :mickey:

Then we have a 'Disney Bucket" that we put all our change into throughout the year...every year we seem to end up with at least $300 just from those coins!:bouncy:

[Cinderella]

Wish I knew! We just decided to take up that offer from neighbor and rent his two bed/two bath unit with kitchen/dining room/patio/washer/dryer for $250. I have money my DS sent for airplane ticket for me to help DIL with baby in June and I paid for ticket on AE so I have the cash for that which will cover the $250 for the unit. We also have our income tax check but that has to go to July taxes (our big one). It's hard to budget at all with one pension check coming in for all expenses per month. Next year, I will be OLD enough (okay, let's hear the comments) to collect early soc. security and I plan to put some of those checks away for March and July taxes and what's left goes in a pot for DW vacations on a regular basis!! (at least that's the plan). A year later DH will start his and then I can really make regular plans and hopefully take my grandsons for their first visit (they can drive themselves there by that time - Niko will be 14 this year and Kyle will be 11!!!)
:mickey: :mickey:
We don't take any other vacations during the year except to make the ten hour drive to Maine to see my Mom in a nursing home and attend an occasional wedding in NY when we stay at stepson's house so DW is really our only vacation.
We don't go out a lot, dinner now and then, lunch if we're at the outlets or away from home, so we are pretty good about money. I have a Cinderella "tin" that came with candy in it and I save a dollar here and there and keep it in that.

Always some way you can squeeze a dollar here and there to help.

Cinderella

[Linda S]

Speaking of envelopes.....I did that for our last trip - had an envelope for each item - grocery stop, airport parking, Happy Limo, a mousekeeping one for each day, food for each day, extras for each of us. Boy did my "non-planner" DH make fun of me! LOL
BUT, the good thing was that when we did the grocery stop and dind't spend it all, I felt like it was a bonus I could treat ourselves to something else with.

And, the funny thing is that I'd been putting $100 in envelopes for spending money extras and storing them in our small safe. (note the empahsis on small). So the trip comes and I'm kind of thinking I'm short, but I must have miscounted at one point, no biggie, just do some refiguring and off we go.

MONTHS later, I'm putting something else in the still small safe and what do I find? An envelope wiht $100 in it! It had gotten burried under birth certificates and SS cards. So that went into the next trip fund! :mickey:

[pinoch]

We try not to do other overnight trips throughout the year except for vacation trips. Even when kids played travel soccer/basketball we would usually get up early and travel that day to games rather than staying overnight the night before. We also try not to eat out or do takeout more than once a week to save a little that way.

I give piano lessons at home and my piano money basically funds our trips as well as kids' college. First 10 lessons every week go into college fund and next 10 go into vacation fund and the rest go toward Christmas, birthday, etc. On those days when I think I can't listen to one more version of "Fur Elise" or "Ode to Joy", I say to myself, "This will pay for 4 Mickey bars!" :) Makes it a LOT more enjoyable!

Barb

[GloriaK]

I have payroll deduction into a credit union account to help fund my trips and I save change as much as possible. This year I should have a garage sale and if it is like it normally is where Mom does all the work that money will go to my trip also.:nahnah: Right now I have to worry about my DH Nascar trip in a couple of weeks so I will have to help him with gas money for the motorhome they rented :cry: but luckily he doesn't need much spending money since they will be staying at the track and not eating out.
I try not to eat out much for lunch and I always have a supply of soup in the cabinet at work to save money. One way I also save for Disney is to purchase Disney dollars with a little extra cash each payday. Money I would normally spend and never know what it is used for (approx $20) because it is a $1 here a $1 there...I now just buy $15-20 of Disney dollars and put them away.

This year I will pay for as much as possible before the trip so all I have to worry about is food/doodads.

[Linda S]

My husband has a "side" computer business and any of that money goes into our vacation fund. It's not regular and we don't budget for it, so it's more "found" money. Recently he's had a few more jobs than usual, and we remind ourselves what it pays for too when we are tired of him either being gone or working on computers all the time.
As others have said, we do the same with rebates, bottle/can returns, and any consignment shop income we get.

Since the trip is now scheduled (yeah!) we will start going out to dinner less and putting that money in THE fund. We will make a definate choice - dinner out - or Disney fund. We don't want to go into debt for vacation, yet at the same time while ON vacation don't want to have to feel like we are watching every penny we spend.

[Timon]

Do you do without something to fund your Disney trips?

Do you give up other vacations/weekends away? Do you eat out less often? Inquiring minds want to know?

In a word yes. My free time is what I do without. Many of you know I umpire baseball and softball. The money I make (not enough BTW) from that goes directly to the vacation fund.

RANT WARNING...RANT WARNING

It's starting to get to be more and more of an effort to do this. Beyond the rushing home from work to put on my uniform so that I can rush over to a game, is the dealing with players, managers, coaches and parents who think arguing with the umpire is part of the game. This is really beginning to wear on me. So much so that I actually thought about not doing it this year. They can get over a player making an error, but if an umpire blows a call (something I never do ;)) there seems to be no end to it. I have no problem with discussing an interpretation of the rules, but I will not "discuss" judgment calls. Umpires, even major league umpires, miss calls, and there's 4 of them for major league games. Most softball and little league aged baseball games I work solo. Youth league games usually have only two umpires. If they want us to get more calls "right", put 4 of us out on the field like the major leagues do and we'll get more calls right. Otherwise get over it and get over it quickly. I don't have the time or patience to deal with idiots that treat their or their childs recreational activities as if they were playing in the World Series.

RANT OVER...RANT OVER

[Topaz]

I give up my free time:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

About 5 yrs ago, I decided it was time I start working parttime. I figured I could live on working 3 days a week being a substitute................

Well, then I kept going back to Disney. Now I work close to 5 days a week to pay for the trips!!!

And it's still worth it to me!!:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[nicholaspaige]

My kids can do banking at school. Since I volunteer to help out...once a week for about 45 min or so...I can get the same rate that they do.....4.5% for balances under $1000!!!!:D So I opened up my own account and every week put $$$ in it. And then when we go to Disney I just take out what we will need and start saving for the next trip!!:mickey:

Plus, I have a Disney Visa and try to pay for everything on that and then just pay it off at the end of the month. Most of our bills can be paid with a credit card online so that gives us more Disney Dollars every month!!:D

[Ursulinda]

Let's see. . . I pack my lunch, dh goes home for lunch most days. We don't do fast food (I THINK dh does Wendy's on Fridays, but i'll never tell ;-) We only eat out about twice a month. We save our change. We have a savings account into which we each transfer money every month. We've done everything we can think of to reduce our monthly bills. We don't have car payments and I keep putting off getting a newer one because i'd rather travel. On the negative side, dh spends quite a bit on skiing, and I scrapbook and buy clothes for Dimples, but it could be a lot worse ;-)

[SuzyQ]

I guess that I could say that I do without clothes shopping. I rarely ever buy new clothes, shoes, purses, etc. But hard to say that I am giving them up for Disney since I don't care do shop regardless. But I do know that if I did enjoy shopping that we most certainly wouldn't be able to afford the trips that we take to our favorite Mouse House.

[Sheryl]

We've cut back on eating out, and eat at home more often. I've also stopped shopping at our BIG grocery stores unless I absolutely have to. We have a less thrills grocery store similar to Aldi's called Save-a-lot, and I have cut our grocery bill in half by shopping there for the basics. I only shop at our Big stores if I really have to.

I've cut back a bit on my shopping "problem" and don't go out to shop when I'm bored or feel like spending, instead I only go out to shop when we need something. Target misses me I'm sure, but I was buying things I really did not need to.

I still try to purchase some of the boys clothes in advance, but that has gotten a little more difficult with the way they are growing. I just got Zachary $46 Polo jeans at JCPenneys for $15.99 and this weekend, I'm going to go ahead and purchase the next size for him to grow into.

I limit how much I am willing to spend on the boys sneakers, and always try to buy them on sale. If they want $80 sneakers, I'll pay so much and they can cover the rest, and they are always willing to wait for their favorite brands to go on sale with the price I am willing to pay.;)

[Photographer]

If I'm saving for a trip I look for additional ways to make money like doing focus groups, having a yard sale, small photography jobs and so on. Also I stash away birthday and Hanukah money.

[Bookwood]

I just found a new way to fund my Disney habit- I volunteered to work at the HS Track meets and(I thought I was volunteering - really I did!) It turns out I get paid for helping out! So I let the athletic secretary sign me up for Baseball and Softball to if she needs me. Enjoying a sports event and getting paid- it doesn't get any better than that! :cool:

[Cinderella]

I forgot to add that I am going to be part of the community yard sale in May. The community homeowners pay for the advertising and put up signs at the ends of each street that has homes included in the sale. I have a ton of stuff downstairs that we brought when we moved that I really can't use in this house. I also have about 10,000 pocketbooks (well, it seems that way) that I've outgrown or that family gave me for gifts that I just never used. I have a bunch of coats and jackets too. Mostly have knick-knacks that we don't need and I don't want to dust! We have some extra end tables and sofa tables and a bunch of lamps too!

If I plan this sale like I did my others in NY I should make enough for food and gas for DW. I always wash and clean everything until it sparkles and wash and hang up clothes and put out tablecloths on the tables where I display items. We took apart FIL's double bed and I had just bought brand new sheets this year so I will wash and fold them and tie them with ribbons and sell them along with the "Martha" bedspread, curtains, table skirt and bedskirt and shams.
It's all in the marketing!!! I'll be using my computer for making pretty labels for each item also.

I hope to do well and might put in some extra ads around town. The homeowners association doesn't go out of their way to put ads in too many places....they count on the neighbors visiting the sales....most neighbors here don't want to buy other peoples leftovers.

So, on to the preparations and then I can reap the rewards and SPEND SPEND SPEND at DW!!!

Cinderella

[Linda S]

One thing I thought about when we "give up" something to go is that for it to work for me, I have to actually put the money in a seperate account.
So, if I give up going to dinner one week, I need to take the $75 our family would have spent on dinner and put it in our vacation account. Otherwise it doesn't work for me. (Somehow no matter how we try, it's never under $75 for the 4 of us - especially now that DS is 13 and eats like its he doesn't know when he'll eat again!).

Same thing when I use my Disney Credit Card. I need to write that amount out of my check book at the grocery store, like I'm writing a check and then at the end of the month, I add them up and write the actual check to Chase. Otherwise it's way too easy for me to say "holy cow, I don't have enough to pay all that!" at the end of the month.

One more thing I'm going to do, is my American Express rewards - I was bummed when they discontinues thier Disney rewards a few years ago - but I get the Lands Ends rewards now for kids clothes. We get them anyway for school (uniform required dress) so when I use the rewards to buy the clothes, I'll pay myself the amount instead.

Speaking of Am Ex rewards - I haven't looked at their resturaunt list lately - are any there that can be used at Downtown Disney by any chance?

[TracyMB]

I'm very fortunate when it comes to my vacations. I get 5 paid weeks a year. I also live at home so my expenses are nihl. Before I bought into DVC with my best friend (who is also single and lives at home), we would book our DVC vacation at least 7 - 9 months in advance. Buy & pay for the airline tickets at that point so they are paid for. Then we tried to pay for one nights hotel stay per month. By the time we got to WDW, the hotel and airfare had long been paid off. We also usually go in January so our families know that the best present they can give us is Disney Dollars. I also save a portion of my Christmas Bonus for the trip. About 6 months before we leave, I start saving my change and putting any single bills into a jar at the end of the day. This past February, between my gift of $500 Disney Dollars, my bonus and the change jar, I had enough to pay for a 10 day park hopper with water parks & no expiration, and all my spending money. It was nice not to have a huge American Express bill come in after the vacation.

[PixiePrincess]

Well, there was a time when we had to save for a trip. I'd sell items on e-bay after going to the Disney outlet. The store is now closed :mad: so that's out. Last time I did that I pocketed over $400 profit!

Now when we plan a trip to Disney hubby just has to add a few jobs to the schedule. :lol: But I do watch what we spend. I try to cook more and question myself before we buy something.


Anyhooo, the kids do save money before a trip by doing extra chores. I like having a set amount of money for them, that way they can make decisions based off how much money they have. It's funny how picky they are when it's their money! My daughter always comes home w/ money!! ;)

[Linda S]

It's funny how picky they are when it's their money! My daughter always comes home w/ money!! :winking:
Our last trip the kids each had a certain amount to spend ($50 I think). My daughter would have had hers spent in the first 20 minutes if we had let her (and I do mean the FIRST 20 minutes inlcuding the airport! LOL). Our son, on the other hand, wanted to be absolutely sure he had chosen the right thing. So our last park day we were running around trying to remember which store at which park we saw what! But, how would have left with nothing he was being so careful!
This trip it will be THIER money so we'll see if it's any different.

One thing I've noticed in the last few weeks is that while on a regular basis we save our loose change and I do try to save at least half of all our bottle/can return money, rebates, and consignment sale money - that with a little thought and planning we should be able to have pretty much our whole trip paid for in 9 months. So, it's got me thinking that if I did even half of all I'm doing in the next 9 months each year, we could do to Disney (or...GASP!...) on other vacations.....more often!

[Carrie]

I am fortunate that Jamie's paycheck covers the bills. So my paycheck funds my car payment, shopping, and Disney trips.

[DVCerLee]

I opened up a special savings account with Emigrant Direct. They give 4.5 per cent interest! We also make it family policy that any cash we receive in the mail goes to savings. All birthday and Christmas money. My DH gives me cash in my stocking!:mickey: Sometimes the kids complain, but they won't be complaining when we buy DL Ap's! I have also given up buying every single Disney DVD that goes on the market (gasp!) I used to, but I don't just love every single thing they put out now.

We also purchased DVC, so at least lodging isn't an issue, except for the annual dues.

Dis

[jill]

I have stopped getting my triple tall mochas three times a day (at work). I work on wearing out my espresso machine every morning and make my own. I fill-up three refillable mugs (the skinny ones). Two fron WL and one from PO. I get alot of comments from strangers on the street carrying them to the office like a frueline carrys beer steins at Oktoberfest.

[SuzyQ]

I have stopped getting my triple tall mochas three times a day (at work). I work on wearing out my espresso machine every morning and make my own. I fill-up three refillable mugs (the skinny ones). Two fron WL and one from PO. I get alot of comments from strangers on the street carrying them to the office like a frueline carrys beer steins at Oktoberfest.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Das vas so funny!