Yard Sales
Cleaned out those closets lately? Yard Sales are a great way to save for Disney. Go through the house room by room. What does Oprah say? If you haven’t used it in over 6 months, let it go (unless of course it has sentimental value or is collectible or whatever… you know what I mean). Go through old clothes, books and movies your children have outgrown, movies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in, kitchen gadgets someone gave you for Christmas or your housewarming party how many years ago that you still haven’t used, clean out the garage… you get the idea. Have your yard sale and stash the money away for Disney! Have leftovers? Donate them to a local church, shelter or organization in your area. Not only have you saved for Disney, you’ve de-cluttered and will feel great!

Craigslist
This is basically the same concept as that above, but works in a pinch if you don’t want to mess with yard sales, live in an apartment, or just have a few items here and there. Remember to use caution and common sense when going this route. I’ve used this for several years and haven’t had any bad experiences. Just use your head… and remember to put the money away for Disney!

Round Up/Down in your Checkbook Register
So, how does this work exactly? Well, it’s pretty easy once you train yourself to do it. You simply round your transaction up to the nearest whole dollar. Dinner was $26.32? Record $27 in your register and you’ve just saved 58 cents! I’m also rounding down with my deposits (deposits or refunds), so if I’m depositing $100.98, I record $100. There’s another 98 cents!

I started this toward the end of June and finally “balanced out” at the beginning of August to see where I was. I accounted for all my transactions, making sure they had cleared. I took the balance according to the bank and subtracted any transactions that hadn’t cleared yet. From that total I subtracted the balance I had recorded in my check register. Want to know what I had saved?

In that 6 weeks, just by rounding up or down, I had saved over $60! And since then another $40+!! This technique is amazing and sooo easy! Don’t forget to move that overage over to your savings account!

While I don’t bank with them, Bank of America offers a program that does this automatically. Check your local BoA, because mine offers to match your savings for the first 3 months, up to $250!! Hmm… that may be worth looking into a move, huh?

Couponing
This is another method I’ve recently started. Like very recently- I’m talking this past Saturday recently. The Sunday before, I somehow got sucked into a marathon of that extreme couponing show and it dawned on me that this was something I could actually do and control. While I’m not going to the extreme and stock-piling and all that, I have decided to make a conscious effort to save more money this way. I had always clipped here and there, but never really bothered with doing the research to get the most for my money using coupons. That’s changed now though. I’ve started following several couponing blogs, found online coupon sites that offer printable coupons, and asked some coworkers for their leftover coupons. I spent a couple nights last week clipping and matching ads and made my first trips Saturday. I saved over $60 between two stores! I mean wow! Talk about seeing immediate results! That was $60 I was going to spend anyway that I can now just put straight into savings.

I don’t claim to be a pro by any means, so if you want more tips and tricks on the matter I suggest heading over to Couponing to Disney for more info. I’m quite the newbie to this and that site has been invaluable so far!

Disney Gift Cards
Gift cards are an excellent way to save for Disney, and you can get them for just about anything!

• Don’t really have any big wants or needs this year for you birthday (Mother’s/Father’s/Grandparent’s Day, Anniversary, Christmas… you get the gist)?? Ask for a Disney gift card!
• House-sit for someone who wants to give you a little thank you? Mention Disney!
• Give your children gift cards in place of their allowance or “treats” for special tasks or achievements as the trip gets closer.
• My work gives out gift cards for certain crowning achievements, does yours? Or maybe another group you belong to? If you’re comfortable with it, and you know you’re due for one, ask them to make yours a Disney GC. (For example, we have a walking program at my work. When a person reaches 2.5 Million steps, according to their pedometers, they get a $50 gift card. As my milestone approaches, I’ll ask that mine be a Disney GC!)
• Enter to win them through all these fabulous blogs we follow. You often see contests and drawings for Disney GC’s in various denominations- take the time to enter!!
• The list could go on and on!

A personal favorite of mine, I suggest getting them with refunds! Not sure what I mean? Well let me tell you… Say you get a cash refund at the Disney Store, or a place like Walmart, Kohl’s, Kroger, or wherever else that has the gift card centers carrying Disney gift cards- turn around and use that cash to purchase a gift card!! The money was already spent anyway! By turning that cash into a Disney gift card you’ve guaranteed that that money is now solely for Disney.
You can use the gift cards as payment on your vacation package, on purchasing tickets, on buying Disney goodies before your trip, as spending money while there, or for anything really!

Flexible Spending Accounts
You’re probably wondering how in the world you can use a Flexible Spending Account to save for Disney, but let me just tell you, this is definitely my favorite! Read on and I’m sure you’ll see the benefits.

You can read more about an FSA through this link, but please check with your own employer about the details of the plan they offer. I’ll give you the gist in short though to tide you over. Your employer may offer an FSA, an account in which money is pulled from your paycheck each week, pre-tax, and put into this account. The money is for medical or dependent care expenses. You may use the money in the account to pay for co pays, coinsurance costs, prescriptions, and prescribed over the counter meds, or daycare costs. (Please be sure to check with your employer as guidelines for medical and dependent care are different. Also, in most cases, what you don’t claim at the end of each year is lost, so be sure to use what you’ve set aside!) They give you a debit card that you may use throughout the year to make these payments/purchases, but they will also allow you to turn in your receipts and reimburse you.

What does this have to do with saving for Disney, you ask? Well, I currently use mine for Christmas money, but it would be excellent for Disney, too! As a matter of fact, I may just switch to that. Anyway, here’s how it works… Rather than use the debit card all year, I simply pay for our medical expenses out of pocket as I normally would. Just before Black Friday (the biggest shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving), I gather all of my receipts for the year and turn them in. I usually have a check or direct deposit in a matter of days. Just in time to do my Christmas shopping!

You have to spend the money on the doctor bills and prescriptions anyway, why not set up the FSA, save your receipts and cash them in right before paying for your vacation package, or cashing in right before the trip for that spending money?!

Simply assess what you spend each year on co pays and prescriptions, glasses/eye care count, too, (or the daycare expense, but again this works a little differently) and decide how much you want to pull out from your check. I’ll give you an example… I counted up our scheduled visits- a wellness visit for each of us per year, a yearly check up for my thyroid condition, a yearly checkup for Bug’s heart, and factored in a couple sick visits. Then I counted the co pays for my medicines taken monthly (2 scrips per month for my thyroid and PCOS), and threw in a couple for those sick visits. At the end of this, I was comfortable saying we spent at least $500-$600 a year in medical expenses (and this is a minimum!). To make it easy on myself I only designated $10/wk to be taken from my check, giving me a total of $520 for the year. I may have undershot a bit, but like I said, if you don’t use it, you lose it. At least this way, I know for sure I’ll get enough receipts to cover it all.

That’s a guaranteed $520 just in time for Christmas each year… or DISNEY!

It’s a bit of an unconventional way to save, but I’ve done it four years in a row now, so if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Well, there you have it, my Favorite Tips on Ways to Save for Disney! Do you use any of these methods? Which is your favorite? Have one I didn’t mention? I’d love to hear about it!

Want help planning your Disney vacation? Find out how the FREE services of a Disney World travel agent can make it all simple…and save you time and money too!

Brittiany, better known through the blogosphere as Bird, is happily married to her best friend, “Boo”. They have two beautiful children- daughter “Bug”, age 7, and son “Bubby”, age 2. They live in Kentucky and aren’t able to make it to Disney as often as they’d like. That doesn’t keep them from believing in the Disney Magic though! While she may not always be planning her own trip, she’s always planning one. Bird enjoys helping others have an amazing, yet affordable time in Disney without missing out on anything! She hopes to one day work for Disney in some aspect. With Walt’s encouragement, “All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them” she hopes to make that dream a reality. In the meantime, she is happy helping others through the tips, information and reviews she shares on her blog, DisneyBird.

I honestly think that one of the keys here is to approach this part just like all the rest of your Disney vacation planning…and make it fun. I like to always have pictures of Disney on my computer as screensavers or background…because it reminds me of our goal! Envisioning a goal is half the battle, and it helps you remember that giving up that latte now may mean a Dole Whip at Disney World. Anything that keeps “Disney” in your mind is going to help you keep “vacation saving” on your mind as well.

Now having said that, here are some other ways that we have used to build our Disney piggy bank:

1. Credit Card Rewards: I personally love using my Disney Visa card for our Disney World vacations. The rewards that are accrued over an entire year or so can, and often do, pay for significant parts of our trips. And even if you don’t plan to visit Disney World that often, you can use those Disney rewards for all kinds of Disney products: merchandise, videos, shows etc. Another benefit is the ability to postpone payments on a trip for 6 months, interest-free…so if you know you will have access to, say a tax refund that can pay for your trip, this can be a strategy too. If you have kids, and credit cards work for your lifestyle, this can be a card that can be great. But don’t overlook other cards you may have: many offer all kinds of rewards that can be used on your trip. Discover, for example, actually accrues dollars. Others add Frequent Flier miles which lots of folks use to pay for their transportation. If you are getting any kind of rewards, look into saving them up and applying them to your trip.
2. Coin Jars…for Kids of All Ages: You might be surprised about how much money can be saved over the course of a year by collecting your change. And what is great about this is that it really is money that is not really designated for anything else, so you won’t really think about all those coins sitting around, and probably won’t use them for anything else, so they really won’t be missed. Many folks take this a step further and add money that is saved from coupon savings, and any other “found” money. Another way to implement this idea, is for your kids to use it to build their own vacation funds. When kids have their own money…they won’t be begging you for yours.
3. Get Rid of Your Junk: Having a yard sale is probably my husband’s favorite vacation-saving strategy for two reasons: we get rid of stuff that we don’t need/use, and get money for it in the process. Again, this is a great way to get your kids involved by setting up their own section of the yard sale with stuff they really need to part with: let them be responsible for selling their own items, and they can then put their profit towards their own Disney fund. Clearly children need to be old enough to comprehend this process, but as an affordable Disney vacation strategy, it is highly effective.
4. Save Up Gift Cards: When your family members ask what you (or your kids) want for gifts, think vacation, and request gift cards. Disney gift cards are great ways to make your vacation to Disney World more affordable. Whether for birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Easter, or Christmas, they really are the perfect gift. Even if you are getting them yourself throughout the year, when buying in small denominations, they can help you budget easily for your trip. Don’t overlook other types of gift cards too though. Gas cards can help you save on transportation. And restaurant cards can help pay for meals: an awesome way to really get a lot of “bang for your buck” is by using Restaurant.com gift certificates. Buy them, often for less than $4 for a $25 certificate…and a number of Disney area restaurants accept Restaurant.com certificates!
5. Out of Sight, Out of Mind: You can really avoid the temptation to dip into your vacation savings, by putting the money someplace else, like a separate account. Consider a short term money market account or CD, if the timing works for your trip. Another idea is to start a “Vacation Club” account at your local bank: a variation on the old Christmas Clubs where you deposit a small amount each week and at the end of the year you have quite a little nest egg, this strategy really works well for many people. Turns out that old saying, “out of sight, out of mind” really works.

So now, after these past few weeks, hopefully you have a good idea of what it takes to create a Disney vacation budget, and save up for it too. All that is needed is for you to get started!

So today I want to share some things that my family has done, as well as a few ideas I have come across in my internet wanderings.

• Credit card rewards. I already have mentioned how much we love the benefits of the Disney Visa rewards card. I have honestly found that the rewards that I accrue over an entire year or so, can pay for significant parts of our trips. And even if you don’t plan to visit Disney World that often, you can use those Disney rewards for all kinds of Disney products: merchandise, videos, shows etc. If you have kids, and credit cards work for your lifestyle, consider this card. But don’t overlook other cards you may have: many offer all kinds of rewards that can be used on your trip. Discover, for example, actually accrues dollars. Others add Frequent Flier miles and such. If you are getting any kind of rewards, look into saving them up and applying them to your trip.

• Pennies, pennies, pennies! Yup, we have a coin jar, and you won’t believe how much change a family of 3 saves up over the course of a year! The thing about this strategy that I love is, it really is money that is not “missed”….we don’t really think about all those coins sitting around, and don’t really use them for anything else (well, except for my daughter’s college laundry, but that’s another story )

• Have a yard sale. OK, I really like this for two reasons: we get rid of stuff we don’t need, and we get money for it in the process. Added bonus: have your children create their own section of the yard sale with stuff they really need to part with, have them be responsible for selling their own items, and they can put their profit towards their own Disney fund. Clearly the kids need to be old enough to comprehend this process, but trust me, it is highly effective.

• Disney gift cards. This is where planning in advance can really pay off, because they make great little gifts throughout the year. Valentine’s Day? Nothing sweeter IMHO. Easter? Perfect size for an Easter basket. Christmas? The original stocking stuffer. Plus, getting them throughout the year, in small denominations, allow you to budget easily for your trip.

• This last one I personally have not done, but know people who have: “Vacation Club” accounts at your local bank. This is a variation on the old Christmas Clubs where you deposit a small amount each week and at the end of the year you have quite a little nest egg. You can do this for vacations too, and the nice thing about this is, “out of sight, out of mind”.

So, find your piggy bank and start saving! A little bit every day or so, and you may be surprised how much it adds up to by the time you leave!