Some of my money saving tips and advice that's worked for me About This Page:

[DISNEYGOOF]

<font color="blue">Thanks for all the great ideas, you guys have inspired me </font> <font color="red">Lynn, that's so great that your kids have the will power to save all that $$(Disney is a great motivator I know ) </font> <font color="purple">Thanks again! </font>

[Caldercup]

If you want to save money by avoiding eating at fast food restaurants, go rent Super Size Me at your video store. You'll never want to eat fast food again!!

Erp... I still feel a little sick to my tummy!
Eileen

[waycoolmom]

We also have a large bank where we keep our spare change. It's a big "bottle" that was filled with popcorn at one time. We call it the "Disney Fund" and every bit of change goes in it. We won't use it for this Disney trip because it's a big surprise for our kids and if the "Disney Fund" is empty, the secret will be out. We will be using it for next year's trip. I think I'm going to start holding back $20 every week starting in January. That's a great idea!!

[lulubelle]

Well, sorry for the pun, but I must add my two cents in here!
My father always told me that a penny saved is a penny earned. And so, obeying by that rule, I am a big bargain shopper, even for our vacations. By booking our flight and accomodations seperately, I saved a bunch. And I got on here and found out about buying tickets a little less at hotwiresavings club. And what I save on my gift certificates I plan on getting for people for Christmas to make my shopping much less stressful this year, will be spent at Disney.
Also, don't forget if you don't want to do a yard sale, if you can find a good consignment shop nearby, that is in many cases much less hassle and many times you can get more for your items even if you do have to share the profit. I drop my items off at a store close to my work. I just took many items and am going through more so when I go to see what I have sold at the beginning of Dec. I hope it will be a nice surprise! I plan on rolling all of this change around here. And in fact, I think I will let the kids help and let them earn some of the coin rolls for Disney Dollars!
I agree about vacations and spending time together as a family are so important. Some people would not agree, but when that new car finally breaks down and you need another one, those memories will remain in the minds of all of us forever.

[disneyholic]

My kids and I save for the Press a Penny machines by putting quarters and pennies into Mini M&amp;M tubes. When they get a "treat" it is usually the tubes. They enjoy stacking the coins they find in Dad's truck (don't tell him) in their tubes in order so when we find a machine we aren't digging for our money!

[WDWJim081963]

Hi,

Just today during the snowstorm I got an old cookie jar, gathered all the spare change (including the gold dollar coins used at the Port Authority Transit Corporation [PATCO]ticket machines), put it in the jar, and found that I had $19.38 in change lying around the house. I will use this change jar to pay for at least spending money for vacations.

Jim

[kathy320]

I did this for our last trip and it is pretty amazing how much change u can accumulate!!!

[rieandmatt]

Thanks for the tips!!!

[SHEANA1226]

I have an online savings account that earns 2.35% interest and for every referral I send I get a referral fee of $10.00 and the person I refer gets a bonus of $10.00 too. I have had the account for over a year and had no problems. I also round up and charge my self $1.00 for every check I write, for example if I write a check for $8.86 I roud it up to $9.00 and add $1.00 for writing a check and enter $10.00.

[jude411]

I am going to hit E-bay. I have been meaning to sell my daughters flower girl dress that she wore to my brothers wedding and will never wear again, way too fancy. Some great tips here.

[CheerDisney]

When I was growing up and we went to Disney, we were responsible for saving our own spending money. We rolled change, and saved Birthday and Christmas money. It was nice for our parents because they didn´t have to worry about us bugging them for things in the parks since we each had our own spending money.

[BethC]

What great ideas! Thanks for all the tips. I need to start this for maybe a next year trip at Christmas time.

[drayke]

I openned a high interest online savings account. These accounts typically are linked to your existing bank account so you can transfer funds back or forth. The catch is the money won't be instantly available so if you want to tuck funds somewhere that takes effort to make available (preventing impulse use) this is a great way, and you earn interest higher than a traditional bank. Mine is set up with scheduled transfers into the savings account every couple weeks so by the time our trip rolls around in March 06, we'll have a good nest egg to use for walk around cash.

And here's a bonus - some internet banks will give you a cash incentive to open an account or if you refer someone that opens an account, they receive a cash incentive and you receive one also. (Nominal amounts from $10 -$50).

You can find out more by doing a google search for money magazine's online story "Why aren't you banking online yet? - Oct. 3, 2005".

Drayke
jamiefraiser@yahoo.com

[Philly]

[ QUOTE ]
2. Get a "change jar/bottle". Each day or week, we would all place left over pennies, dimes and nickels (sometimes dollar bills) in a large container or bottle. Every month I would empty it and roll the coins. You would be surprised how fast these turn into dollars! So far those saved coins has enabled me to put aside tip money for mousekeeping and bellman services and to pay for my refillable mugs and e-ride tickets!

[/ QUOTE ]

This works so well for me. I never, well try to never spend any change. At the end on the day, i put my change in a cigar box thats on me dresser, when that gets full i move it to a 5 gallon water bottle. After 12 years of dong this the jug is half full. My guess is there is about 3-4k in it. that money is going to pay for our next vacaton.

[Nonna]

<font color="purple">
We can't afford to go too often so we started saving as soon as we got back from our first trip (1st trip in 2001 - 2nd trip coming up). We also use the D Visa and have a reward card worth about $450 (will add to it before the planned trip) and we will use it for meals and souvenirs. </font> [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]