How have you saved for DW?

[Rustysmom]

I do the GPT sites. I made enough over the past year to pay for the trip and Christmas gifts.

 

[Leleluvsdis]

what are GPT sites?

 

[Disneytwinz]

My goal was to save $20 out of each of my paychecks per week since we decided to go back in May. I doubled that amount so far. Yeah! Dh gets alot of OT in the winter so that goes toward Disney. Plus we have a few huge yard sales during the warmer months.

 

[Renee1061]

I also take any change and $1 bills that I get and put those away as soon as I get them.

That's how we save up spending money.

 

[Tinks1984]

We booked in January this year and each month since me and DBF have been taking trips to the travel agents each month after pay-day to pay off £100 each. With a little help from my Mother and Father, we've not got much further to go now!

We've also got a Tinks money box for £1 coins and then a x-large Bells Whiskey bottle in which we've been throwing our change. We're counting this just before we leave and changing it all in for dollars With the size of the bottle, I'm hoping to have a couple of hundred pounds in there, which will be nice

 

[mx3man123]

We eat nothing but crackers and drink nothing but water.......kidding. We have empty miniature beer keg we through our loonie and toonies in. It adds up quick.

 

[bab31]

We have a plasma donation site in our area. I donated plasma and saved alot of dollars by doing that. They pay you for your donation and you can donate up to twice weekly. Too bad on one of my arms you cannot find the vein. So mostly I donated weekly sometimes twice depending on my schedule and bruising( you cannot donnate if you have a bruise)

 

[stitchlover]

So I've been reading this thread off and on all day...

DH comes home from work this evening, comes back out to the living room and says "Where is all my loose change?"

I say "Oh I've started a loose change bucket!"

DH "What for?"

Me: "To buy pins when we get to WDW!"

DH thinks I'm losing my mind!

 

[KatMark]

My husband loves to ump kids baseball games. After getting two pay cuts at work within a year (and having two kids in college...that really hurt!), he umped over 75 games this summer (high school freshman, little kids, tournaments)...I hardly saw him this summer. But he made over $2500 doing it and thus he is taking me to Disney for my 50th.

 

[tweedlemom]

We are going in Sept '08, so this past Feb. I started buying $25 in Disney Dollars each month at the Disney Store. (My husband has no idea!) Come Father's Day '08 I shall hand him over an envelope filled with at least $425 Disney Dollars to be used for meals and souvenirs! I know he'll be thrilled!

 

[DreamDelta]

When I went to WDW this summer in June I picked up a popcorn bucket that we use to save change. I've even involved my son in saving. When he spends some of his allowance he puts the change in the bucket. He's even been checking our couches for change! We're really into it!

I also opened up a vacation club account and I put away about $100 a month. Every penny counts!

 

[MsPlutoNJ]

First of all... KatMark...Your husband is the sweetest.

Well...as of the end of September, for the first time ever, I will be out of credit card debt. Only took me four years without credit cards to do. I've been paying off my WDW vacation since February, a little here a little there. Only $135 left to pay on that, let's go end of August. I've been paying into my Christmas club accounts (one of which will go towards my WDW vacation so I have a little extra spending cash) so when I get back I have Christmas paid off. I got a very cheap plane ticket because I'm flying off season. Woo Hoo! I'm working OT like a woman on a mission. (Including tomorrow and Sunday). I also have a little coffee mug on my dresser. Whenever I have too much money in my wallet, I take some out and put it in the coffee mug. (If it's in my wallet, I will spend it). As long as I don't "really" need it, I put it back into my vacation account. And the coins do add up. I had a little container and it added up to $16.00 and it was mostly pennies.

My helpful hint...go to Commerce Bank or somewhere that does not charge you to count your change. The last thing you want is to pay someone $.07 on every $1.00.

 

[aidansmommy]

I'm a dog groomer, so I keep my tips for disney....so far dh has no idea! We'll be there for his birthday so I'm sooooo exited to have some extra cash!

 

[katiemomoftwo]

I'm just home from doing a rummage sale. So far I've made about $300. I'm open again tomorrow and I've still got plenty of stuff to sell. The kids were really good about sorting through their toys. They were with me all day and didn't cry when toys were sold. Whatever I make is for Disney!!!
Katie

 

[luvthemouse71]

We have a plasma donation site in our area. I donated plasma and saved alot of dollars by doing that. They pay you for your donation and you can donate up to twice weekly. Too bad on one of my arms you cannot find the vein. So mostly I donated weekly sometimes twice depending on my schedule and bruising( you cannot donnate if you have a bruise)

LOL, I tried donating plasma once-I got very sick. My blood pressure dropped and once I finally got up, I fainted twice. I spent HOURS there and they asked me nicely to please not come back!! So I just put my extra change in a jar.

 

[DizneyNutz]

We have a Disney Rewards Visa card. We have started using it for paying our monthly bills and grocery. The only thing is you NEED to be sure that you set aside the money for paying these things. That way when you pay them on the Visa you automatically have the money you would have used to pay the bill and pay back the Visa. This way you earn a dollar on every one hundred dollars you spend. For instance, we just put new tires on DW's car. We would have to do this regardless, so we put it on the Visa and payed it back immediately, but got 5.40 as rewards because we used the card. We pay our yearly taxes using it and have started buying our groceries using it. Any big purchase works to your advantage, as long as you set aside the money to put it back on the card you are safe. It is money you would spend anyway, so why not get something in return. We are often able to pay for several meals using our rewards dollars, but you NEED to be strict in paying off the the charge as you make it. In other words something you would have paid for anyway!! We do not use it for something that we would have not paid cash for, so it doesn't come back to hurt us. It is very disciplined but it works out for us.

 

[missymouse]

First like others I do the change jar

Second I opened a Disney Rewards Card

Third I discovered the reward sites where I can get money for playing games, reading e-mails, taking surveys, shopping, and doing offers. Most of the offers I do are freebies where you give them a e-mail. I opened a free e-mail just for these sites sometimes it is just pennies a day but since July 2006 I have earned enough for almost $1000 of Disney Gift cards, $75 of Rainforest Cafe Gift Cards, and have about $200 more ready to cash out. There are two sites that I use primarily (SR and QR) and then I do another one just reading e-mails and occassionally online shopping at JC Penneys and Target. If anyone would like more information I would be happy to tell you more about them.

 

[Doc CW]

We take any change we have and put it in a giant water jug thing and we arent even a fourth full but have saved about $400 so thats a pretty good step.

 

[momtomari]

i have been using the change in the jar

i just got back from a mini vacation today to some places in northeast ohio and will not begin replenishing the money i used back into the change jar

can't wait until we go in december. its going to be a 4 generation trip

amanda

 

[M 'n C]

We have a change jar that we put all spare change into. We also save a bit of each paycheck and put into our vacation account at ING. Lastly, I do a few different reward programs online and have earned quite a bit towards our trip that way. I figure if I'm already shopping online I might as well earn a small % back. Check out the rewards board for more info on Reward Sites/GPT or send some disser's pm's about them.