What do you "sacrifice" for Disney vacations? About This Page:

[benjiboo25]

Originally Posted by alexchristianlily

We cut back our cable bill by getting rid of DVR, HD and a bulk of middle channels...I don't even know which ones...so I don't miss them. This saved us $40/month!
We also have the Disney jar and add not just change but random $1 & $5 left over in the pockets at the end of the day. By not going out to dinner as much those bills are really not missed.
Also my husband was just telling me how all the cell phone companies are cutting their rates in a competition war so I'm calling later today to see about changing our plan!
Good Luck!

I will call the cell phone company!

I mentioned the DVR to DH and he though that was as silly as giving up the cell phones. (well, honestly, I am not sure how our house would survice without TiVo...there is power in the "pause" button!)

[stubekis]

Originally Posted by benjiboo25

To the many posters commenting on impulse buys (especially at Target/Walmart)... that has been my problem as well. I would have a couple things on the list and walk out with another $100 spent. Same thing with dollar stores, Goodwill and the outlet mall in my community. I just cannot pass up a good deal! And now the kids drawers and closets are too full and we have too much junk. I am proud to say that in the last month I have not been to any of the places mentioned above. I know it should not be a remarkable statement, but it is a start. Maybe planning this next WDW trip will be good for our family in more ways that I originally considered--maybe it will help put all the little things into better perspective. Maybe my kids will end up with more memories and less stuff. And maybe...if we are lucky...they will not be spolied litte brats

I am with Marnie on this one - if I don't NEED something, I stay out of the stores and stay home. I try to consolidate trips and go when I need a bunch of items, because a quick trip into Target always results in an unplanned purchase!

[kalsmomma]

We are saving for our first Family Disney trip. In my house it seems that something unexpected always comes up. I will make sacrifices to be able to afford a family vacation. I clip coupons to save money and match them to the local ads to see where I can save the most money without driving around. I also buy staples (soap, canned goods, toothbrushes etc..) in large amounts when they are cheap to save money in the long run. We have started eating out less. Actually until Disney, I have made it a personal health and saving commitment to not eat fast food. We will round up the money we spend at the end of the day also and put it in our savings jar. For example, if I buy bread for $1.88 a loaf, and milk for $1.88, I will pay with a five dollar bill and put the rest in the jar.
I think being aware of what you spend allows you to save more.

[nurse_mom]

I have to say I make little sacrifices to help in the end. #1 I know I;m going to be in the small % but I think text messaging is such a waste. I don't see the value to spend 30.00 more dollars a month. We don;t have internet on our cell,ect. Call me old fashion, call me nuts, but I have money in my pocket.
#2. I never ever pay full price for my kids things.
#3 I look into getting our car and house insurance, every year. Never hurts to keep our costs down. We saved 75.00 for our 6 month policy, just be shopping around
#4 As much as it hurts be a "mean mom" I have learned say "No'' when buying things they don't need.

Just a few ideas, hopefully you can save enough for your vacation!

[saremca]

We almost never eat out. I can count on one hand the number of times we've eaten out in the past 12 months. We don't buy extras like coffee and sodas and candy when we're out and about. We don't go to movies unless Brent gets free tickets through work (if he gets so many good write ups from patients they give him 4 free movie tickets). We do subscribe to Netflix, but for us it is worth it as they have so many educational DVDs available and we can use the watch instantly to watch as many movies as we want either through the computer or the Playstation.

I also stay out of the stores during the week. Brent and I go grocery shopping and errand running on Saturdays. Period. We don't enter stores during the week unless we are in dire need of something and then we get ONLY what we came for and leave. It takes discipline, but you can do it.

[SarahJ]

I hate to say it, but I'm with your DH on cancelling the trip. You can see by my signature line that my family hasn't been on a Disney trip since our DLR trip in 2006, before my youngest was born. While we would love to go now, it's just not an option for us at this point regardless of what we could sacrifice. Our third child was unplanned and while we adore her, there are a lot of added expenses with daycare being one of the biggest.

We have chosen to pay down our debt rather than increase it with a trip. Having a roof over our heads, food to eat and clothing for my growing girls is way more important than a big vacation right now. We've sacrificed a lot in the last year just to meet our expenses and ensure that we are in an okay position financially should something terrible happen.

For now, we're happy to vacation locally. We plan to go camping this summer and spend a fair amount of time using family cabins that are at our disposal. Disney will always be there, we'll go when we can pay for it without going into debt.

[Chlaidan]

I found that we were always eating out on the nights that the kids had activities or on nights that I have to go in at 5 because it was easier than trying to cook, so I've started making a double batch of the meals I make the rest of the week and stick them in the freezer. It doesn't take any extra time and all I do is pull it out of the freezer the night before and then put it in the oven. This has saved us a huge amount in the last year. I also only shop at the grocery store, SuperTarget and Walmart are too tempting to pick up things the kids "need".
We also have prepaid cell phones, when we added up how many minutes we actually used we were spending $70/month on our plans and with prepaid we spend $70 every 6 months, but we also are rare in the fact that we hardly use our cell phones.
Another thing we did is cut out movies and renting movies at the video store and signed up for netflix, we get unlimited movies for $8.99/month and we used to spend that in one trip to Blockbuster!
These are just a few of the things we've cut out of our budget in the last year. I hope you get to make your trip it sounds like you have a great deal!!

[Suzie-Q]

Originally Posted by nurse_mom

I have to say I make little sacrifices to help in the end. #1 I know I;m going to be in the small % but I think text messaging is such a waste. I don't see the value to spend 30.00 more dollars a month. We don;t have internet on our cell,ect. Call me old fashion, call me nuts, but I have money in my pocket.
#2. I never ever pay full price for my kids things.
#3 I look into getting our car and house insurance, every year. Never hurts to keep our costs down. We saved 75.00 for our 6 month policy, just be shopping around
#4 As much as it hurts be a "mean mom" I have learned say "No'' when buying things they don't need.

Just a few ideas, hopefully you can save enough for your vacation!

You're not alone - I don't text and only have a cell for work and emergencies from the kids school. Most of my friends don't even have the number!
As far as the original question....
We don't spend a lot to go to WDW. We stay at value resorts for the most part and when we went POFQ it was with a bounceback offer. We have always gone during value season and pulled the kids from school - less money and bonus - less crowded!! We also don't spend a lot on souvenirs - I buy T's and hats at home on the discount racks at the Disney Store for 2 or 3 dollars and then we have new clothes without having to save for souvenirs. We breakfast in the room and bring microwave popcorn for the foodcourt to have by the pool. We share meals when it works (usually me and DS8 are quite content to split a CS meal that otherwise would have gone partly uneaten) and we usually stretch our dining plan to cover an extra day that way.
My DH is 6'4" and we sleep apart each with a kid so that he can stretch out on the double bed. We have time enough to cuddle at home - that's not why I'm going to Disney!!
We are lucky in Canada that we have done away with the one and two dollar bills and now have coins (loonies and twonies) I have a huge piggy bank that I regularly dump my quarters, loonies and twonies in and it is just for vacations. If you start putting your small bills in with your change, your piggy bank will add up faster and I bet you wouldn't miss it in your day to day spending.
Bottom line - there will either be a compromise you are willing to make or there won't - life will go on if you have to cancel, it just won't be fun to do it, right? I'd hate to give up the flights and a great PIN so I hope you find the right solution.

[benjiboo25]

Originally Posted by nurse_mom

I have to say I make little sacrifices to help in the end. #1 I know I;m going to be in the small % but I think text messaging is such a waste. I don't see the value to spend 30.00 more dollars a month. We don;t have internet on our cell,ect. Call me old fashion, call me nuts, but I have money in my pocket.
#2. I never ever pay full price for my kids things.
#3 I look into getting our car and house insurance, every year. Never hurts to keep our costs down. We saved 75.00 for our 6 month policy, just be shopping around
#4 As much as it hurts be a "mean mom" I have learned say "No'' when buying things they don't need.

Just a few ideas, hopefully you can save enough for your vacation!

We also have "old fashioned" cell phones--no text or internet--but I am also not willing to give that up

[FanofFlorida]

I ♥ to travel, so I have to sacrifice other trips to go to WDW. We dont have any Vegas trips planned for this year yet I thought I would miss out again as I am cruising with my sister for her birthday in June. (Just paid off trip- woot!)

My husband is usually the money guy, and takes care of whatever we need on a trip, but recently encouraged me to pursue my travel research for girls getaways. This means I have to squirrel away the money myself . I work and earn a salary, yet contribute largely to the household and the needs of 3DDs ages 11-18.

HOWEVER- when I sat down and figured out what it could cost me to go to WDW in October, I realized I COULD afford it if I resisted other personal expenses like going out for lunch, shopping, etc. (Fingers are crossed for a free dining deal!!!)
I want to pay for my friend to go too as her husband has recently lost his job and she needs to get away for a bit- she can give me mani/pedi's so I can save a fortune and still beautify!


Now if I just resisted spending the money on "this and that"; so each month I plan to pay on the trip until PIF and then take my spending money and put it all into traveler's checks- they are so unaccessible- at least I will have to jump through hoops to use. It will force me to ask myself whether whatever I need the cash for is worth chipping away at a fabulous getaway.

[GoofyCrazy]

Our eating out stopped and on the weekends we just started staying at home. It seemed like everytime we would leave the house it cost us over a $100. My husband is a truck driver so he takes so much with him a week and leaves the rest with me. I buy groceries two weeks at a time and just stay home. I'm a photographer and my studio is in my backyard so I don't even have to leave to go to work unless I get a location shoot then they pay me for driving there. Every cent we get goes into a huge jar that has a place cut into the top and the lid is super glued shut. When it's time to go we'll break the jar and roll the change. Our 6 year old son has his own jar and every cent he comes across he puts it in his Disney fund. We paid for our trip in May with our tax return. God blessed us this year with the biggest refund we have ever gotten. After paying for our trip we still had money left over so it's in a savings account not our checking account.

My advice is just cut out any extra spending (movies, eating out, weekend trips and anything that isn't needed to live everyday). Find fun things to do at home on the weekends. Make Saturday night movie night at home. I have found that it's amazing at what you can do without if you really want to go to Disney. My husband is the worlds worst for spending money on nonsense but even he has cut that out to save money for our trip. We've had a few unexpected things happened to, our car needed almost a thousand dollars work done on it and my husband was hurt at work causing us to depend on works comp for three weeks.

Just save every penny you can get and cook every meal at home. You'll be surprised at what you save. I know we sure was surprised. Good luck

[LoriMistress]

We cut back in spending. We start saving for a WDW vacation around two years before our arrival. This time, I'm going to start purchasing Disney Gift Cards each month to save money for dining, gifts, etc.

[mousestruck]

Along with everyone else, we cut back on dining out and entertainment expenses (like the movies, etc.). I also stockpile rebate cards that seem to accummulate through various store promotions (last year we had about $120 in total from the phone company, our newspaper publisher and retail store), and I submit claims to our flexible spending account about 6 weeks before our vacation so I can spend that check at Disney. We have a change jar, which typically racks in over $100 per year, and use some money from our tax refund.

I would say our biggest sacrifice is the lack of major home improvements, such as updating our kitchen, expanding our deck and various other projects we'd like to do. (This year we have to replace our windows, which totally stinks, but we can't put that off anymore!) For us, the Disney memories mean more than granite countertops or a sunroom, so we choose to spend our disposable income on vacation.

Good luck... you can do it!!!

[kmurburg]

Besides throwing all the spare change into the Disney jar, you can also have an automatic deposit made to your savings account. I have $75 every pay put into a vacation account at my credit union. It adds up fast and we don't miss the cash since we never actually have it in hand. I have never been a big saver but this method really works for us. Good luck with your saving - it would be a shame to lose that almost free air fare!

[benjiboo25]

Great tip!