Some of my money saving tips and advice that's worked for me - Page 6 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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These are all really great ideas! I think I am going to institute the family change law, the laundry fund law, the transferring of uneven paycheck dollars law, and the biweekly savings tranfer law pending immediately! I'm sure I can get my whole family on board for those, and I am considering convincing my husband that he needs to also chip in his tips from bartending. He volunteer bartends at our conservation club, and usually comes away with anywhere from $5 -$25 almost every week. That could really add up! Now, just to figure out how to persuade him....
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I started saving all my change and using only dollar bills when I am out and about. The change goes into my Popcorn bucket from Disney World. I started this about 4 months ago and I have (at last count) $60+. I know it is more now though. I even put in the leftover quarters from when my friends and I go play pool. This can sometimes be $5 in quarters.
I started saving all my change and using only dollar bills when I am out and about. The change goes into my Popcorn bucket from Disney World. I started this about 4 months ago and I have (at last count) $60+. I know it is more now though. I even put in the leftover quarters from when my friends and I go play pool. This can sometimes be $5 in quarters.
I bought one of those popcorn buckets back in May. It is now my official savings bucket for Disney. My goal is to save enough to pay for the gas for our next trip. I'm excited!
Well so far we have Disney gift cards from Christmas, ($300 so far) and $250 in a Smarty Pig account (SmartyPig®: Simple. Smart. Savings. ®) please tell them Kelly Powell referred you if you decide to join! I have a separate account for our vacation set up, you can have as many "goals"/accounts as you want! It's really easy to open, you just need $25 to open your account, and it pays you 1.35 % int, which is better than a normal bank account! Once your goal has been met, you can change the amount if you want, and you can change your goal date too! I need to do that now that I know how it works!
I'm also planning on continuing to sell inventory out of businesses I did in the past, like Cookie Lee jewelery (50% off!) and 30% off my Homemade Gourmet stock~easy to make casseroles, desserts, soup mixes, etc. www.homemadegourmet.com/kellypowell to see what they normally carry or ask for my list!! Good luck with your savings goals everyone, we surprised our kids at Christmas with a trip to DL in May!! I already bought our air tickets, got a great deal with miles and Alaska Airlines were having a sale! Whoo hoo!!
Last edited by marriedtoeeyore; 01-06-2011 at 08:53 AM..
One of the ideas to save money for Disney is to stop the "outings".
I have friends who go to some event every weekend and then complain they dont have money for Disney....
Really? $100 for family to see Thomas, ? how much for Disney on Ice?
How much for movies? How much for basketball tickets? How much money on???
THAT adds up fast. I am all about experiences and moments, but How many shows do we have access to at WDW? How many meet and greets and picture moments?
Anyway, I get sick of people freaking that Im going to Disney again while they are spending more than I do over a year!
A few years ago I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University which got us out of debt in 18 months by the snowball effect- it should have taken 30 months. Then the recession hit and my husband and I were both laid off but since we finally had some savings and no debt, not even the house just paying on one car, we survived and we've been applying the snowball effect to our savings. I was off 5 months and it's been 2 years for my husband (he went back to school on a displaced workers grant and will graduate in May). By cutting back, couponing, and being very frugal we have survived and the money we aren't paying on bills is going automatically to various savings accounts, we are basically living on my income and saving his unemployment. We have $10 regular savings/slush fund, $10 Christmas, $10 Vacation- plus all bonus checks I get from work goes to vacation along with rebates, refunds, my sis is on my cell plan- the money she pays for her part goes to vacation, my son pays $5 per week for his part of the text plan- that gets saved in an envelope monthly then gets put in vacation savings, any refunds from AFLAC, don't want any accidents or ER visits, but I have a clutsy hubby and 2 boys- their pain and suffering money goes into vacation ( one year we got $700 from AFLAC) we also have dental and get refunded from that thru AFLAC, we budget $50 a week for gas and anything left over goes into vacation savings, last week we didn't need gas so I put $40 in( had to use $10 for groceries) can't wait til it warms up so I can ride my bicycle or moped to work and DH can ride his motorcycle! Anything I pay out of my checking such as a loan or I just prepaid for my son's school fundraiser and then when he collected the money- it went into vacation,I figure if I got by without it, then it's Dream money! And my newest brainstorm- I get 8-10 hours a week often from overtime at work, sometimes more So I just made a promise to pay myself $10 for each hour overtime I work to vacation savings, after all we are trying to live happily within ours means, and you can't count on overtime- sometimes this won't be possible but I'm going to try real hard.
My 8 year old son really wants to go on the Disney Dream really bad and earlier this week he showed me his bank and said "Feel how heavy my bank is getting! I'm saving all my change for our family vacation on the Disney Dream!" I didn't even know he was doing it, I asked where he was getting all that money from and he said he doesn't like change in his wallet falling out so he started putting it in his bank, not bad for a little kid who gets $5 a week for allowance! His 14 year old brother also gives him all his pennies, nickles and dimes and just keeps the quarters and bills so that adds up pretty quick! I guess I need to start giving our little banker my change too! My kids only get gifts for Birthdays and Christmas unless I'm feeling very generous, so anything they want they have to buy themselves but often they give me money to deposit in their savings accounts. I buy them the things they need, they buy what they want. We also pay our kids for perfect attendance but it goes into a savings account for college, and I pay my oldest son $50 for babysitting and chores, but half goes into the college savings and he regulary makes deposits in his other account. I was paying $57 for the aftershool program , but hired my son once he was old enough. I also have $5 each week auto deposited into savings for both boys. Oldest son also mows yards and shovels snow and pays little brother for helping with the sidewalks. Oldest son has paid for last years school trip and this years- he has his own vacation savings besides his regular savings and college savings. I'm so proud of both my boys for being responsible with their money! :
And to be responsible we put all our tax refunds the last 3 years into an emergency savings along with the money we are no longer paying on our house and in 3 years that has gotten built up pretty good even having to dip into it for removing 2 large trees and roof repairs. And the money we were paying on my car is now going directly in a new car fund- we bought a used truck with cash and are rebuilding that fund. We also contribute to my 401K and a ROTH IRA although we haven't been able to max it out yet . I did take money out of vacation savings last summer to take the little boy on a surprise trip to WDW while his big brother was on a school trip, but I've since put that back plus more. I actually have enough saved now to take the whole family on the Dream but we are trying to be careful with the spending untill DH graduates and is back to work. And we will continue our frugal ways so that we can enjoy many more trips without feeling guilty by not being responsible savers in all areas, because I want to retire when I'm still young enough to enjoy going to Disney!
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suzyrugrat
Last edited by suzyrugrat; 02-27-2011 at 01:30 AM..
Reason: spelling error
Great job on getting out of debt suzyrugrat. I am trying to do Dave Ramsey now myself. Great way of saving by putting set amounts to the different areas.
Suzyrugrat I just saw your post from 2/2011 today, wow it was very inspirational. You really put life into perspective, we should all be thankful for the good jobs we have. Kudos to you for hanging tough when the economy wreaked havoc on your family's job situation. I hope you get to your Disney trip very soon.
Another way we have really been saving is we don't go to the movie theatre anymore to see movies. We just wait til they come out on DVD...and the only DVDs we will actually purchase are Disney DVDs...anything else is a rental...and free kids movie rentals so that is great too. Also, not going into the gas station for milk/snacks/coffee...you really pay out of the nose for the convenience factor. All loose change at the end of the day goes into the little coffee cans my DDs decorated as Disney Fund cans. I only keep paper money and a few quarters in my purse, but try to stuff all other coins and some dollar bills into the jars every day.
Another way we have really been saving is we don't go to the movie theatre anymore to see movies. We just wait til they come out on DVD...and the only DVDs we will actually purchase are Disney DVDs...anything else is a rental...and free kids movie rentals so that is great too. Also, not going into the gas station for milk/snacks/coffee...you really pay out of the nose for the convenience factor. All loose change at the end of the day goes into the little coffee cans my DDs decorated as Disney Fund cans. I only keep paper money and a few quarters in my purse, but try to stuff all other coins and some dollar bills into the jars every day.
i do the same with the dollar bills. any dollar bills in my pocket go into the jar, now getting DH's dollars from him...that's a different story
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He volunteer bartends at our conservation club, and usually comes away with anywhere from $5 -$25 almost every week. That could really add up! Now, just to figure out how to persuade him....
I just told ds about it (he's 6) and he was all for it.
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So I just made a promise to pay myself $10 for each hour overtime I work to vacation savings, after all we are trying to live happily within ours means, and you can't count on overtime- sometimes this won't be possible but I'm going to try real hard.
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