elaine amj
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2012
Yeah you have to be really careful, especially planning Disney trips as who knows how much it will cost in the future. Travel and entertainment are my biggest expenses every year so I have a different account for each (just a regular savings account) and deposit into them monthly. I like to travel offseason (I no longer do Disney) so I plan for when hotel rates will be cheaper and I grab ones that have fridge/microwaves which helps curb dining out.
We also definitely credit card hack a fair bit
We've always traveled a lot and with credit card hacking, felt pretty good about our $6k/yr vacation budget. Unfortunately, DH has a newfound love for eating out and I'm discovering he equates vacations with endless eating out. And since he's been spoiled by so many Disney vacations with free dining, he particularly equates Disney trips with TS places. Not too bad for our usual 10-12 day trips once every 2-3 years (interspersed with short weekend trips in off-years). But now that I would like to go for 2-3 weeks a time - the price jump is quite significant.
I think I have been in a bit of a shock at how much tenting it at FW could cost - even without purchasing tickets (we still have our non-expiring passes) and getting free flights. Free dining at values have really spoilt us in terms of what a Disney vacay should cost.
Anyway, I definitely want to stick to our travel budget (heavily supplemented by credit card hacking) this year so time to pull out more ninja travel deal hunting tricks. And convince DH a great time can be had while cooking most of our meals