What do you "sacrifice" for Disney vacations? - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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put it down on paper....thats what we did. I wrote income....monthly bills...savings....grocery....anything we spend i have it written into the budget. Then i went paycheck by paycheck....what to put back...what bills to pay....we both get paid every 2 weeks so i wrote every payday down in my budget book....this paycheck we pay this...next paycheck we pay that....etc etc....and then you just have to stick to it. Theres no wiggle room...i spend every penny of what we make on paper every month. Use the envelope system if you want....once you see how much you make versus how much you spend...the fog lifts and you see you can do it...
This is what we do....and its working....with a little luck we never go over what i budget....we cook out of the freezer....i only buy meat when its on sale....we eat out VERY rarely...we do what it takes. And manage to pull off a trip most years....Write it all down and then show your DH...once he sees the numbers in black and white (or black red blue and purple in my book) He will see that its possible. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!
I try to take a packed lunch - I realised I was spending a big chunk of money at sandwich shops.
I ebay which helps cut back on clutter as well.
Hardest thing is cutting back on impulse purchases. If I get that moment when I feel I really really want something I walk away telling myself I can come back for it tomorrow. I hardly ever do.
I have followed several blogs and stocked up on food, household, and toiletries at rock bottom prices. I only go to the grocery store now twice a month and my budget for that shopping is 100.00. We have cut back on eating out. I finally have my DH in the mindset that he doesn't have to eat out everyday sometimes 3 times a day. He takes his lunch. We are trying to pay credit cards off right now so no money is going to the budget for disney....I know how the feeling is when all sorts of stuff comes up at once.
When we eat out we try to eat somewhere where it is very cheap or our son eat's free with a paying adult.
Impulse shopping is a biggie for me....
Target always has SOOO many great deals/clearance items that I would simply buy because it was a "good deal", half the stuff I REALLY didn't even need. I've really cut back on doing stuff like that!
I think selling things on Craigslist is a great idea!
I hope things work out for you
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Offsite May 2005, POR September 2006, POR August 2007, POFQ December 2008, POR February 2010,
Pop Century April 2011,
We don't eat out much anyway, so that's never a problem. We rent movies instead of going to theatre. I would much rather give up meals and movies out then a WDW vacay. No contest.
I also pay off our vacay every pay day. I calculate how much per pay day I have to pay for our WDW vacay to be PIF 45 days out.
You didn't mention which resort you are staying at, but CR, Garden Wing is your least expensive option in deluxe resorts that sleep 5.
Do you have the DDP? Think about using the quick service plan to save some $ Also packing bagels, packs of instant oatmeal, etc for breakfast in room. You can use food court toasters for bagels, and getting the refillable mugs for your drinks.
It seems a shame to give up the air tickets and 40% off rate. Hope you can make it work.
I just recently started this budgeting since we want to join DVC but my plan is to stop impulse buying at the grocery store (I waste a lot of money on this), no shopping online, and packing my lunch for work, as well as eating out less. I can't wait to cut out DAYCARE!!! That will be a huge amount of $$ freed up for us. DD goes to kindergarten in Sept. but unfortunately its only half day, but next year, one will be in the wonderful public education system lol
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First Disneyworld trip with our kids (ages 4 & 20 months) in 2/2010 at SSR
Thanks for the amazing feedback and support! I will try to comment specifically to some of the questions/comments above...
About the dreaded daycare expenses...That take up almost as much every month as our mortgage! Child #2 is in a full day of kindergarten this year (but we had to pay for the "extra" part). The total price was not much more than daycare, so we made the deciison based on child needs. (DS needed a nap and went half days!). Unfortunately that expense will still be there in some part into the forseeable future. DH and I both work full time so need berfore/after school care. If daycare costs would vanish, so would our budget woes!
I second the notion on daycare. Come september I will be paying 520.00 every two weeks for a newborn and my 9 year son for before and after school. It is outragious.
We originally planned to split half the time at the garden wing and half time at Port Orleans--but then tall DH said he could not do double beds...then we realized that the Garden Wing did little to reduce transportation times to some of the places we would visit, then we realized SAB bay at BC could "double" as our water park experience and the $15/day more for the BC seemed reasonable...But if the trip is really on the line, I may have to convice DH that he can have one of the double beds at POR all to himself!
We don't eat out much anyway, so that's never a problem. We rent movies instead of going to theatre. I would much rather give up meals and movies out then a WDW vacay. No contest.
I also pay off our vacay every pay day. I calculate how much per pay day I have to pay for our WDW vacay to be PIF 45 days out.
You didn't mention which resort you are staying at, but CR, Garden Wing is your least expensive option in deluxe resorts that sleep 5.
Do you have the DDP? Think about using the quick service plan to save some $ Also packing bagels, packs of instant oatmeal, etc for breakfast in room. You can use food court toasters for bagels, and getting the refillable mugs for your drinks.
It seems a shame to give up the air tickets and 40% off rate. Hope you can make it work.
The thing about the quick service plan (wow--it seems like I am full of excuses for not trimming costs at WDW!)...My littlest has a severe milk protein allergy. We have never felt as safe with her eating in the "real world" as we did in the table service restaurants at Disney. If money were not an issue, we would go for the DxDDP for that reason alone! As it is, we plan for the DDP and will hope for free dining in August.
We don't eat out much anyway, so that's never a problem. We rent movies instead of going to theatre. I would much rather give up meals and movies out then a WDW vacay. No contest.
I also pay off our vacay every pay day. I calculate how much per pay day I have to pay for our WDW vacay to be PIF 45 days out.
You didn't mention which resort you are staying at, but CR, Garden Wing is your least expensive option in deluxe resorts that sleep 5.
Do you have the DDP? Think about using the quick service plan to save some $ Also packing bagels, packs of instant oatmeal, etc for breakfast in room. You can use food court toasters for bagels, and getting the refillable mugs for your drinks.
It seems a shame to give up the air tickets and 40% off rate. Hope you can make it work.
Great tip about the instant oatmeal. My kids LOVE it and we had it for breakfast in our room most days last trip.
Impulse shopping is a biggie for me....
Target always has SOOO many great deals/clearance items that I would simply buy because it was a "good deal", half the stuff I REALLY didn't even need. I've really cut back on doing stuff like that!
I think selling things on Craigslist is a great idea!
I hope things work out for you
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
We take our lunches to work and only eat out once a month. We pared back our satellite televion to the cheapest basic package. We dropped our newspaper subsription and cancelled some extra magazine subscriptions. We try to minimize our spending as much as possible so we can do Disney! For us, it is worth the sacrifices (even the managers at work keep an eye out for extra hours for me since I am only part-time!).
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"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."
This is a great question! The day after Christmas, I decided to get a notebook and go through all of my receipts in detail and break down our family spending habits. I can honestly say that our spending was completely out of control! We were eating out WAY to often, impulse shopping, going to Target/Wal-Mart and overspending, etc. I started to reign in our spending and set a budget for groceries, bills, etc. We have been controlling ourselves pretty well over the last 8 weeks and while we haven't given up on cable or anything, we only eat out/order out once a week, we've traded in purchased lunches for lunches from home and DH and I have even saved some of our morning coffee money to through in our Disney jar. I've actually made some craft items and have sold several hats and dresses and put the money into our "Disney Savings" as well.
I don't leave the house really unless I HAVE to get something (diapers, food, gas, etc). However now when I do leave, I have a detailed list and the correct amount of cash. DH and I don't use credit, so if we don't save the money, we can't go to Disney. Are you handy at making any crafts, or can you mend clothing? Maybe you could do small alterations for people? I sometimes do that as well.
Oh how I wish I was crafty! My things never turned out like they were "suppossed" to...
I know it is just something small, but I find it makes a difference for us. Despite my good intentions every week I always, always end up being too tired/busy/lazy to cook at least 1 or 2 times. What I have found is that if I buy some quick, easy pre-packaged type meals at the store that even if it seems expensive to pay $10-$15 for those items it is a LOT cheaper to do that and pop them into the oven at home than go virtually anywhere for a restaurant meal. Even McDonald's costs our family of four $20-$25 for dinner. So while I am adding to my weekly grocery bill by doing this I am saving in the long run. We try to limit going out to eat because I cannot believe how expensive it has gotten almost everywhere.
Also I try to visit places like Sam's Club and go to a couple of different grocery stores each week to shop sales and get what's cheapest at each place. I feel like doing things like that helps us out and we have more money for Disney!
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15 total family trips with stays at the Poly, AKL, Wilderness Lodge, Beach Club, Swan, Dolphin, POFQ, Pop Century, All Star Music, Movies & Sports, and Coronado Springs.
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