The last time I was at WDW was March 2007. I wish I could go every year but right now in my life, I cannot. Some of the ways I'm planning to save when I'm in WDW are:
Not buying many souveniers. I really want to go to experience rides, attractions and my family. I don't need a hundred new doo dads, do I want them? Sort of. I do want to increase my Belle Snowglobe collection but I don't need to. I do want some new souveniers but I plan on taking an immense amount of pictures. My family may hate me for making them pose and smile so much, but I will have not spent much on getting my digital prints. This is something I can do when we arrive home and I can order them online to save some cash. Come on you doubters, what's better, a picture of you and Mickey Mouse or a t-shirt of Mickey Mouse? I totally vote for the picture.
I plan on eating at least one meal at the house daily. I'm not a huge breakfast person but I would like to have something in my stomach before venturing out. We can cook a quick meal of eggs and toast or just grab a pop tart for the road. Cereal is always easy and cheap too. We can also pick up a couple of frozen pizza's for lunch before or after our nap or even for an early evening. We also plan on bringing snacks and bottled beverages to the parks. This will be a nice savings.
I plan on purchasing discounted tickets through an authorized agency. I'll blog more about them later.
I'm also going to the parks prepared. I will make sure I have enough digital camera memory and enough disposable camera's for my son so we will not have to purchase these in the park. I'm also going to remember to charge my camera every night! I'm going to carry headache medicine, sunscreen, tissues, etc. so I don't have to pay for anything unless it's absolutely necessary. I'm not going to carry a 50 pound book bag but I plan on not having to buy necessities in the parks. I'm also packing clothes for everyone but keeping them in the car. Just in case we need to change we won't have to be uncomfortable for too long and we don't have to buy unnecessary clothing.
By saving on some expenses I can have some additional fun. I plan on surprising my son with Breakfast with Mickey at Chef Mickey's and going on a tour at Daytona Nascar Stadium. If I were to blow money on every knick knack I thought was adorable, we'd never be able to experience these.
Showing posts with label Budget Friendly Tip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Budget Friendly Tip. Show all posts
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Budgeting
I have saved money for WDW by budgeting. I like to think I can transfer money from each paycheck but we all know this is hard for some, especially me. Some of the ways I like to save money is by saving my tax refund, saving my spare change, purchasing Disney Dollars, and sending $10 a paycheck to my vacation fund. I save all my spare change as well as my boyfriends. We put it in a jar on my dresser or we put it into my son’s Florida jar. Whenever my son gets money he puts some in one of his four jars, Florida, Spend, Charity, and Save (for college). I’m starting to buy Disney Dollars for the trip for purchasing souvenirs and possibly some treats for myself. I also buy Disney Dollars for my son for celebrations. We gave him three Disney Dollars and a new NASCAR for Valentine’s Day and he’ll receive golf clubs (bought on clearance) and two more Disney Dollars for Easter instead of candy. He’ll also have to find some eggs filled with quarters. My tax refund, which is also my vacation fund, is sitting in an online bank account earning 1.63% interest. This money is for the majority of our vacation. With my spare change I’m hoping to pay for tolls, gas, and our food on the trip down. I can roll this a few weeks before our trip and cash it in at my bank for dollar bills. I’m also saving quarters and shiny pennies for the penny and quarter press machines. We have some at our zoo so we will use them there also. With a lot of planning and creative thinking I’m hoping to pay for our trip with cash, as in not accruing any more debt. I don’t want to carry all that cash around so we’re going to have to figure out how to spend that money. I’m thinking a pre-paid Visa gift card, depositing that money into my bank account and just using my debit card, or just finding an ATM and paying a fee to withdraw money as I need it. I hate paying fees so that last one doesn’t sound so good to me.
Another trick, but takes lots of self-discipline, is the Disney Visa Credit Card. For every hundred dollars you spend, you earn 1 point. 1 point is equal to 1 dollar on a gift card, after 20 points you can request a gift card and use these to purchase items at WDW or even your park tickets. You can also use them at The Disney Store. I have found that unless I pay each and every bill by myself I can probably do this but with other people in my household paying bills and me not having access to the bills consistently I am unable to use this without over spending. Let’s do some math to show how easy it is to spend $100 and earn points. My car payment can be auto billed to my credit card, my car payment is $337.00 per month (well until June it is!), my electric bill is about $80 a month, my gasoline is about $100 a month, my cell phone bill (for two phones) is $82 a month and my satellite bundle is $137 a month. Just by using these simple recurring bills my total spent is $736.00 per month x 12 months in a year and that is $8,832 divided by $100 (equals 1 point) that is 88 points per year. Since I didn’t include the other household bills I could put on the credit card (food, oil changes, medications, memberships etc) I would estimate at least 100 points per year. The trick is to pay that card off in full each month. This way finance charges are avoided and your points are free. The best part is under the terms I have the points do not expire for 60 months, so if I knew we were going to WDW in 2 years I could easily earn $200 free dollars to use to pay for part of my vacation. I do not endorse applying for credit when it cannot be used responsibly. I am a testament to that. I did not use credit responsibly until recently. I do sometimes slip up and abuse it but I’m doing my best to pay off all my debt in the next 24 months. It may take me longer but at least I can say I should have a bunch of it paid off soon!
Another trick, but takes lots of self-discipline, is the Disney Visa Credit Card. For every hundred dollars you spend, you earn 1 point. 1 point is equal to 1 dollar on a gift card, after 20 points you can request a gift card and use these to purchase items at WDW or even your park tickets. You can also use them at The Disney Store. I have found that unless I pay each and every bill by myself I can probably do this but with other people in my household paying bills and me not having access to the bills consistently I am unable to use this without over spending. Let’s do some math to show how easy it is to spend $100 and earn points. My car payment can be auto billed to my credit card, my car payment is $337.00 per month (well until June it is!), my electric bill is about $80 a month, my gasoline is about $100 a month, my cell phone bill (for two phones) is $82 a month and my satellite bundle is $137 a month. Just by using these simple recurring bills my total spent is $736.00 per month x 12 months in a year and that is $8,832 divided by $100 (equals 1 point) that is 88 points per year. Since I didn’t include the other household bills I could put on the credit card (food, oil changes, medications, memberships etc) I would estimate at least 100 points per year. The trick is to pay that card off in full each month. This way finance charges are avoided and your points are free. The best part is under the terms I have the points do not expire for 60 months, so if I knew we were going to WDW in 2 years I could easily earn $200 free dollars to use to pay for part of my vacation. I do not endorse applying for credit when it cannot be used responsibly. I am a testament to that. I did not use credit responsibly until recently. I do sometimes slip up and abuse it but I’m doing my best to pay off all my debt in the next 24 months. It may take me longer but at least I can say I should have a bunch of it paid off soon!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Staying At WDW
Walt Disney World is a huge complex of resorts. For this particular trip we are not staying on WDW property. My favorite resorts to look at and plan for another trip are the Contemporary (my boyfriends absolute favorite!), Pop Century, and the All-Star Movies. I'd like to look at more upscale resorts but I simply can't afford them at this time. Since we have 9 people going to WDW with us this November we opted to rent a house which is a much more budget friendly way to enjoy the trip. We rented a house through a vacation home rental company and managed to snag a 6 bedroom 5 bathroom house with a pool & spa for a little over $1500. Now that doesn't include our tickets but if you split the cost between 9 people it's not much.
I like renting a house because you get more privacy, a full kitchen (make food to save money!), our own private pool & spa, and we have more room to relax. I would like to stay at a WDW resort because of the excellent service, themed rooms and the proximity to the parks. I also think staying on site would just be a lot of fun! Each option has it's own perks and let downs. I chose a house this time based on cost and we were able to have my sister and boyfriend along for the trip. Another option we considered but quickly threw out was a hotel room with a kitchenette.
There are many options to choose from when traveling to WDW. You must figure out what your needs are before you can make the right decision. You'd have to consider the following to make an informed decision; Budget, Party size, special needs of any member of your party, proximity the parks, options you'd like to have available to you.
Our party size is 9 people. My mother will be in a wheelchair, my son is young so he will need down time throughout the trip. Our budget will be very strict, we must stick within out budget or else we may go further into debt. Obviously with the our constraints a house would be best. We can cook some meals at the house, keep snacks readily available, we have a pool & spa for relaxation and fun, and the house is large enough that my mother can sleep when she needs to and can have more room for when she decides to stay at the house while we're at the parks.
I like renting a house because you get more privacy, a full kitchen (make food to save money!), our own private pool & spa, and we have more room to relax. I would like to stay at a WDW resort because of the excellent service, themed rooms and the proximity to the parks. I also think staying on site would just be a lot of fun! Each option has it's own perks and let downs. I chose a house this time based on cost and we were able to have my sister and boyfriend along for the trip. Another option we considered but quickly threw out was a hotel room with a kitchenette.
There are many options to choose from when traveling to WDW. You must figure out what your needs are before you can make the right decision. You'd have to consider the following to make an informed decision; Budget, Party size, special needs of any member of your party, proximity the parks, options you'd like to have available to you.
Our party size is 9 people. My mother will be in a wheelchair, my son is young so he will need down time throughout the trip. Our budget will be very strict, we must stick within out budget or else we may go further into debt. Obviously with the our constraints a house would be best. We can cook some meals at the house, keep snacks readily available, we have a pool & spa for relaxation and fun, and the house is large enough that my mother can sleep when she needs to and can have more room for when she decides to stay at the house while we're at the parks.
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