Earning Extra $$$ for Vacation

[amyharris0919]

Just wondering, are there any extra things you all do to save up $$$ before your big vacay? Cutting back on spending is pretty obvious, and I do know about Swagbucks and things of that nature. Any other ideas?

Personally, I do a kids' consignment sale twice a year, and everything I make the first sale goes into a travel fund, and typically everything from the second sale goes into a Christmas gift fund (although this year, with our trip to WDW in September, I'm sure a lot of the second one will go to travel also). I not only sell my own kiddo's stuff, but I tag for other people and make 25% of their sales!

Going along with the cutting back on spending idea, I pull a certain amount of cash out on each payday for groceries. I've been cutting corners with grocery shopping, and any cash left over at the end of the pay period is getting saved. I'm really hoping to pay for all our meals and souvenirs with the money I'm earning/saving these two ways.

 

[Marionnette]

Just wondering, are there any extra things you all do to save up $$$ before your big vacay? Cutting back on spending is pretty obvious, and I do know about Swagbucks and things of that nature. Any other ideas?

Personally, I do a kids' consignment sale twice a year, and everything I make the first sale goes into a travel fund, and typically everything from the second sale goes into a Christmas gift fund (although this year, with our trip to WDW in September, I'm sure a lot of the second one will go to travel also). I not only sell my own kiddo's stuff, but I tag for other people and make 25% of their sales!

Going along with the cutting back on spending idea, I pull a certain amount of cash out on each payday for groceries. I've been cutting corners with grocery shopping, and any cash left over at the end of the pay period is getting saved. I'm really hoping to pay for all our meals and souvenirs with the money I'm earning/saving these two ways.

Saving on or for your Disney trip hasn't changed much since I first started going in 1987. There are basically two ways to "fund' your trip: Either bring in more money or spend less. It's just a matter of how you approach it that can change.

To make more:

• Pick up overtime or get a part-time job.
• Sell your stuff on eBay, garage sale or consignment.
• Participate in rewards programs.
• Do credit card hacking.

To spend less:

• Cut back on extras at home like cable TV, eating out or going to the movies. Then divert the money in the budget that was allocated to those activities to a vacation fund.
  
• Find the best deals on rooms, airfare, tickets and dining. Be ready to buy whenever a deal presents itself.
  
• Discover ways to purchase gift cards that can be used on your trip for less than their face value.

That's it. In 30 years of going to Disney, those recommendations have not changed.

• I no longer work extra hours to pay for vacations. My free time is more valuable to me.
• eBay dried up for me a long time ago because you eventually run out of things to sell and I'm not about to comb garage sales and thrift stores to find saleable items.
• I still find rewards programs and credit card hacking to be the easiest and most profitable way for me to pay for my trips.
• Cutting back on luxuries at home in order to get one week of fun only goes so far. Then my husband wants his cable stations back and I want a regular dinner date with him.
• I purchased DVC so that I don't have to chase deals on rooms. I travel hack to pay for airfare. I usually buy an AP every other year and get at least 2 long vacations from it before it expires. And I enjoy dining & merchandise discounts that are extended to AP holders and DVC members.
• I follow the Disney Gift Card Deals thread and try to take advantage of offers that get posted when I can. The past three weeks have been especially good. I pay for my DVC dues, AP and meals with those GCs.

 

[queenofthehive]

I so agree with previous poster, don't sacrifice life for one week of vacation - sacrifice within reason. One thing I do but certainly not for everyone, is that I use coupons. I do not focus much on using coupons for food but use them primarily for personal/household items. It takes work and time but it does save you loads of money. CVS is the main store I coupon. I never pay for toothpaste, shampoo, razors, body wash and mouthwash to name a few. For example, laundry soap - my stock up price is 1.50 and that is for Tide. I purchase all my paper products as well for extremely cheap. Learn the CVS coupon process using by combining Extra Care Bucks with store coupons and manufacture coupons for some really good deals. Purchase multiple Sunday papers a week for the coupon inserts. I only purchase two Sunday papers a week. There are plenty of you tube videos to get you started in the process. You can learn the process by just watching these videos. Just follow their plans each week. Some of my favorite you tube channels is "clean cut couponing, Couponing with Toni, and Saving with Daisy. Like I said - it takes work and time but for me, it is so worth it.

 

[dclpluto]

Extra overtime if I can. Always get some but having extra is nice.

 

[amyharris0919]

Saving on or for your Disney trip hasn't changed much since I first started going in 1987. There are basically two ways to "fund' your trip: Either bring in more money or spend less. It's just a matter of how you approach it that can change.

To make more:

• Pick up overtime or get a part-time job.
• Sell your stuff on eBay, garage sale or consignment.
• Participate in rewards programs.
• Do credit card hacking.

To spend less:

• Cut back on extras at home like cable TV, eating out or going to the movies. Then divert the money in the budget that was allocated to those activities to a vacation fund.
  
• Find the best deals on rooms, airfare, tickets and dining. Be ready to buy whenever a deal presents itself.
  
• Discover ways to purchase gift cards that can be used on your trip for less than their face value.

That's it. In 30 years of going to Disney, those recommendations have not changed.

• I no longer work extra hours to pay for vacations. My free time is more valuable to me.
• eBay dried up for me a long time ago because you eventually run out of things to sell and I'm not about to comb garage sales and thrift stores to find saleable items.
• I still find rewards programs and credit card hacking to be the easiest and most profitable way for me to pay for my trips.
• Cutting back on luxuries at home in order to get one week of fun only goes so far. Then my husband wants his cable stations back and I want a regular dinner date with him.
• I purchased DVC so that I don't have to chase deals on rooms. I travel hack to pay for airfare. I usually buy an AP every other year and get at least 2 long vacations from it before it expires. And I enjoy dining & merchandise discounts that are extended to AP holders and DVC members.
• I follow the Disney Gift Card Deals thread and try to take advantage of offers that get posted when I can. The past three weeks have been especially good. I pay for my DVC dues, AP and meals with those GCs.

All great suggestions, thanks! I used to do ebay also, as well as Craigslist. Don't care for either anymore. My twice a year consignment sale is enough for me. I do volunteer long hours during the actual sale, and get an amazing percentage on my own items I sell. Last sale between my own stuff and the people I tagged for, I made over $2000. Here's hoping this one coming up is as successful!!

 

[DisneyHardin]

One little thing I do is throughout the year if anyone pays me back for anything I put it in the vacation fund. For example, at work, I'm always the one from my team to buy the wedding/baby shower gifts so then the people on the team pay me their part - I tuck that money away.

 

[amyharris0919]

One little thing I do is throughout the year if anyone pays me back for anything I put it in the vacation fund. For example, at work, I'm always the one from my team to buy the wedding/baby shower gifts so then the people on the team pay me their part - I tuck that money away.

Ah, yes, this too! I purchased stuff for an event at church, got the reimbursement, and it got tucked away as well!

 

[littlbugmom]

I'm really hoping to pay for all our meals and souvenirs with the money I'm earning/saving these two ways.

We pay for meals oop while at Disney. I made it my mission to have most (if not all) meals paid for through these small efforts:

*Mypoints has earned me enough to pay for 3 meals, so far
*I save the rewards I earn through Meijer grocery and pharmacy to purchase Disney gift cards
*DH and I each opened a Disney Visa Rewards card for the credit, which I used to buy Disney gift cards
*Ebay items I have to sell should bring in enough for a couple QS meals
*Garage sale this year should earn at least enough for 2 TS meals
*Any money in my purse at the end of every week goes into the Disney jar
*I've started Earnhoney but not seeing much progress there.

At the rate I'm going, I might even end up paying for the groceries that stock our kitchen for the 10 day trip! As soon as I save enough for the last few TS meals, I'm going to work on that grocery bill.

 

[firefly_ris]

I just started using iBotta, and I have been taking a few G2 surveys to get Starbucks gift cards to use to buy coffee and such in the parks.

My husband and I sell fairly regularly on eBay. We scour local garage sales for certain items to sell. We also get a lot of things at garage sales for our own personal use as well -- especially kid stuff that they will quickly outgrow or need multiples of.

 

[stace1214]

I didn't read through all of the replies, so not sure if this was mentioned, but we use Acorns and that saves a bunch. It's an app hooked to our bank account, we have it set so that every purchase is rounded to the nearest dollar and that extra money is put into an investment account. We've gotten about $600 in our account since we started a bit less than a year ago. It's an easy way to save up and not miss the extra money in our everyday life.

 

[therapistalexandra]

Saving on or for your Disney trip hasn't changed much since I first started going in 1987. There are basically two ways to "fund' your trip: Either bring in more money or spend less. It's just a matter of how you approach it that can change.

To make more:

• Pick up overtime or get a part-time job.
• Sell your stuff on eBay, garage sale or consignment.
• Participate in rewards programs.
• Do credit card hacking.

To spend less:

• Cut back on extras at home like cable TV, eating out or going to the movies. Then divert the money in the budget that was allocated to those activities to a vacation fund.
  
• Find the best deals on rooms, airfare, tickets and dining. Be ready to buy whenever a deal presents itself.
  
• Discover ways to purchase gift cards that can be used on your trip for less than their face value.

That's it. In 30 years of going to Disney, those recommendations have not changed.

• I no longer work extra hours to pay for vacations. My free time is more valuable to me.
• eBay dried up for me a long time ago because you eventually run out of things to sell and I'm not about to comb garage sales and thrift stores to find saleable items.
• I still find rewards programs and credit card hacking to be the easiest and most profitable way for me to pay for my trips.
• Cutting back on luxuries at home in order to get one week of fun only goes so far. Then my husband wants his cable stations back and I want a regular dinner date with him.
• I purchased DVC so that I don't have to chase deals on rooms. I travel hack to pay for airfare. I usually buy an AP every other year and get at least 2 long vacations from it before it expires. And I enjoy dining & merchandise discounts that are extended to AP holders and DVC members.
• I follow the Disney Gift Card Deals thread and try to take advantage of offers that get posted when I can. The past three weeks have been especially good. I pay for my DVC dues, AP and meals with those GCs.

Ready for a chuckle? I am so embarrassed!!! Long story short, I work with criminals.....I saw in your post about CC hacking, which has an entirely different meaning to me because of my job, and I was like " is this person actually openly talking about committing fraud to fund their Disney trips?!" and then DH explained what it is.....silly me.

 

[therapistalexandra]

I so agree with previous poster, don't sacrifice life for one week of vacation - sacrifice within reason. One thing I do but certainly not for everyone, is that I use coupons. I do not focus much on using coupons for food but use them primarily for personal/household items. It takes work and time but it does save you loads of money. CVS is the main store I coupon. I never pay for toothpaste, shampoo, razors, body wash and mouthwash to name a few. For example, laundry soap - my stock up price is 1.50 and that is for Tide. I purchase all my paper products as well for extremely cheap. Learn the CVS coupon process using by combining Extra Care Bucks with store coupons and manufacture coupons for some really good deals. Purchase multiple Sunday papers a week for the coupon inserts. I only purchase two Sunday papers a week. There are plenty of you tube videos to get you started in the process. You can learn the process by just watching these videos. Just follow their plans each week. Some of my favorite you tube channels is "clean cut couponing, Couponing with Toni, and Saving with Daisy. Like I said - it takes work and time but for me, it is so worth it.

I second this! I coupon every chance I get. Not only do I get the ones from Sunday papers, but I also sign up for different coupon sites online. Procter & Gamble is good one! I can't remember the last time I paid full price for stuff like toiletries and groceries.

 

[scard192]

One little thing I do is throughout the year if anyone pays me back for anything I put it in the vacation fund. For example, at work, I'm always the one from my team to buy the wedding/baby shower gifts so then the people on the team pay me their part - I tuck that money away.

curious on the details of this. I am the one in my office who goes to get the group wedding or baby gift for my office.
Say we agree to all contribute $25 each x 10 people (small office). I get the gift, usually use my credit card to get the rewards. When people pay me their share, I use that money to pay my credit card charge.

 

[danielocha30]

Ready for a chuckle? I am so embarrassed!!! Long story short, I work with criminals.....I saw in your post about CC hacking, which has an entirely different meaning to me because of my job, and I was like " is this person actually openly talking about committing fraud to fund their Disney trips?!" and then DH explained what it is.....silly me.

you have no idea how many times this abbreviation mess my mind... TTC here Tickets Transportation Center in my head Trying To Conceive it took me a while to translate them correctly

 

[Woth2982]

When we recycle our cans and bottles we put the money from that into a box. It isn't much but it adds up quickly. Also we don't spend change, again not much, but when we add it all up we end up with about $100 just from saving our change.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I use my Disney Visa card for everyday purchases (groceries, etc.) and pay it right off before any interest, so I rack up the points toward our trip.

The particular way the pay schedule is handled at DH's work tends to mean some extra money right around the time we go, so we always try to "ignore" that in our main budget and use it for our trip.

Right now, we have a clear bank with a picture of AKL in it, and we're all throwing extra money in there to save up for a special trip - pocket change at the end of the day, money saved if we pack lunch for an outing instead of buying, that sort of thing.

Oh, and I've always kept a tin Disney bank in my laundry room. All money left in pockets goes toward Disney!


I agree with posters above who said that you have to keep it reasonable. One week of fun isn't worth misery the other 51 weeks, so I do small things that don't "hurt" too much.

 

[DisneyHardin]

curious on the details of this. I am the one in my office who goes to get the group wedding or baby gift for my office.
Say we agree to all contribute $25 each x 10 people (small office). I get the gift, usually use my credit card to get the rewards. When people pay me their share, I use that money to pay my credit card charge.

Mine isn't that much money. There are just 4 on my team, so if we buy a gift for $50 I will just pay with my debit card and then the $37.50 they paid me would go into my vacation fund. If it was a big amount like yours I wouldn't be able to do it.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I work from home so OT to me equals what I would spend to commute, if I can pick up an extra 5-10 hours a week, it just offsets the time it would have taken me to drive to work anyway. A pay with 10-20 hours of OT every 2 weeks makes a HUGE difference.

Some states have beer rebates where you don't have to buy the beer. Heineken and Dos Equis are 2 of the bigger ones. Kroger often has the forms. I have just over $100 in checks laying on my desk toward a trip.

The credit card churn/hack idea helps here too. We enrolled to get a Delta airlines credit card and received enough points for 2 flights from Lexington, KY to San Diego plus enough miles to make a 1 way trip somewhere closer. Any credit card is paid in full before interest is charged.

We also shop through other portals(rental cars through airline sites, etc).

 

[osopecoso]

I read a while back that a family would go and sell blood/plasma

 

[littlbugmom]

The credit card churn/hack idea helps here too. We enrolled to get a Delta airlines credit card and received enough points for 2 flights from Lexington, KY to San Diego plus enough miles to make a 1 way trip somewhere closer. Any credit card is paid in full before interest is charged.We also shop through other portals(rental cars through airline sites, etc).

I forgot that one!

DH did the same thing with SW. The bonus points took off $700 from our flight cost!
He's a stickler for paying no interest. (we were burned many years ago and learned our lesson)