Tips on saving to book next trip?

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lolastardust's picture
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Joined: 04/07/2013
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Tips on saving to book next trip?

Hi there,

We're going to Disneyland Paris in just under two months, but we're also aiming to get back to WDW for my 30th birthday in January 2016. I'm notoriously terrible at saving money but I know I need to do it if I want to get back to the World. My Mum bought me a Minnie Mouse piggy bank that you need to smash in order to retrieve the funds, and I've already deposited in it, as well as putting money away in my savings account, but I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for saving easily? We are in the UK so flights are our biggest expenditure but we are determined to book again by the end of this year. muchlove yay mickey I'm excited just thinking about going back there!

Kristen K.'s picture
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Joined: 09/01/2011
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Hello Lola - So nice to see you back again!

I am *horrible* at saving money. The thing that I have found that forces me not to spend the Disney Vacation money is that I always put my Disney money onto Disney Gift Cards, that way the ONLY place that I'm going to spend it is at Disney.

Other than that I like to make sure that I have everything for the trip pre-paid. As soon as I have a portion of it (enough for park tickets, dining, hotel, memory maker) I pay it off right away. I never let it sit around in my house or at the bank too long. It gets put right to work!

Spook's picture
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Joined: 04/27/2012
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Kristen K. wrote:
Hello Lola - So nice to see you back again!

I am *horrible* at saving money. The thing that I have found that forces me not to spend the Disney Vacation money is that I always put my Disney money onto Disney Gift Cards, that way the ONLY place that I'm going to spend it is at Disney.

Other than that I like to make sure that I have everything for the trip pre-paid. As soon as I have a portion of it (enough for park tickets, dining, hotel, memory maker) I pay it off right away. I never let it sit around in my house or at the bank too long. It gets put right to work!

I wish we could do the gift card thing. Unfortunatly, the ones we buy here in Canada are only good in Canada waiting

Ms.Mouse's picture
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Joined: 12/31/2013
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Will your bank do automatic withdrawals from your check into a savings account? We have done that and it works well!

alicemouse's picture
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Joined: 10/22/2013
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Not sure about UK, but some banks in the US have Vacation Club accounts. You put in so much a week and you can only withdraw the money once per year. It usually earns very little interest, but it does keep you from being able to touch the money.

We do the gift card thing and we use a Disney Visa so that we rack up Disney spending money without having to work much at it. For my business, I use an airline rewards card, so I earn points toward "free" flights. Once again, geography could play a roll there. Not sure what is available to you.

I understand that WDW sometimes runs really great deals like 40% off deluxe accommodations for UK travelers. The best that we ever see here is 35% and 30% is more common. Try to take advantage of a room sale or at least free dining. The more discounts you can get on your trip, the less you have to save up in the first place! mickey

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

lolastardust's picture
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Joined: 04/07/2013
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Thanks all! I know I've not been around much but I'm making a point of trying to get involved in the community again. We've been really busy as we bought a house so we have only really found the time to start working towards our next trip now. Hopefully DLP in March will keep us entertained until we get to go back to the World. My birthday is in January 2016 but I haven't decided if we will definitely go then or some other time around then. It will depend on how quickly we can save the money. Smile x

Mad Hatter's picture
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Joined: 09/28/2013
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My wife and I have a couple of strategies that work well for us. First, at the end of every day, any single dollar bills we have in our pockets are set aside. After a little while, you really don't even miss the money, and it adds up faster than you'd think. To discourage dipping into the cookie jar, it is allowed but must be repaid at 50% interest! eek We have a separate "Vacation Account" set up at our bank where we deposit the money when the cookie jar gets full. Secondly, any money we receive that's not the usual budget stream, such as gifts, rebates, whatever, gets deposited in the vacation account. My wife calls that unexpected money. Between the two, you can make it to Disney sooner than you think! Good Luck!!

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Nyxess's picture
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Joined: 09/09/2014
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Spook wrote:
I wish we could do the gift card thing. Unfortunately, the ones we buy here in Canada are only good in Canada waiting

I know how you feel! When I saw Kristen's post a year or so ago about putting money onto the Dis Gift Cards I was excited to try it out... Especially since the exchange rate fluctuates like mad up here in the Great White North. When I went into the store to try and hand them some US cash to load onto the gift card they wanted to exchange it for CAD funds to load it... And my day was just so very sad.

Ever since I've been on the hunt for a work around. If anyone has some tips or tricks on getting my worthless, monopoly coloured Canadian money onto USD Dis Gift Cards, you lemme know XD

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LouisianaMike's picture
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Joined: 04/22/2014
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Buy your US dollars when the British Pound is doing well.. Right now, our $$$ is doing good against the Pound.. Also, I was looking for cheap flights back to the US from London this past week and found that Norwegian Airlines flies direct from Gatwick to Orlando and it was only $280 bucks one-way.. So shop around for other airlines other than the top tier airlines..

I sell unwanted items or collectibles I've purchased over the years, on ebay, so all the income from that goes into my Disney fund... awesome

lolastardust's picture
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Joined: 04/07/2013
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Thanks all. These are really helpful tips. My husband is more cautious than me so he won't want to book until we know we can afford it. I would love to go end of 2015, but he thinks we would need a lump sum to help us do that, so early 2016 is the soonest we can manage. I guess that makes sense anyway since that's when my birthday is.

CdnSquirrel's picture
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Joined: 10/12/2013
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My savings technique is to deposit funds monthly into my debit credit card, which is tucked away in my Halliburton case.