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

[revral]

I round all withdrawls up to the nearest dollar and all deposits down to the nearest 100, 50, or 25. Any deposit that is under $25 does not get recorded in my regular register. (I keep 2 registers my regular one which is the one I carry around and another one that stays home and has the real transaction amounts and balance) If I get something on sale/use coupons I round up to the nearest dollar what I would have paid had I not gotten the sale/used a coupon. For example lets say I pay $23.87 for groceries because I had a couple of coupons and some of the things were on sale, however it would have been $28.73 without the sale and coupons. I record it as a $29 transaction in my regular register. I also start my regular register's balance over from zero at the end of each pay period. So if come payday my regular register shows I have $75 left I turn to a new page in my register and start the balance over with the amount of my rounded down paycheck. It's amazing how quickly this adds up.

[tinker_me_happy]

I just opened up an Orange Savings acct. I set it up with just a few dollars and now have $30.00 a week go in automatically. I have direct deposit from my pay so I don't have to cash a check and the money comes out on payday. It has a higher interest rate than a regular savings, and I can get access to it in a couple of days time. (Almost instant access, but not "readily" available helps me keep my hands off).
We do the change thing too. but added to that: I have 3 teens and told them I would "match" up to $50.00 for what ever they save in change themselves.
Also now, instead of buying school lunches EVERYDAY and lunch at work everyday, we take lunch once or twice a week. (Time is worth money too, and sometimes I just don't have the time to make lunches). But this saves about $28.00 a week - which is where I came up with the $30 for the Orange Savings Acct.

Great TIPS all the way around!!

[EeyoreNeedsLoveToo]

Tip for Online Shoppers...before I check out at any online store I do a quick google search for "coupons codes" with the store's name included in the search. (i.e. coupon codes Kohl's about 95% of the time I'm able to come up with a code for either free shipping or a discount. Disneyshopping.com is very good about advertising their coupon codes and having them on their site - but most stores are not. If I can eliminate the cost of shipping (either through a discount or free shipping) I can often save money by shopping online, by not being distracted my other items/etc, using gas, lunch out, and am more likely to find my sizes in the clearance areas since the online stores are "larger"

[Marybeth]

I round up all the aluminum cans, pie plates, foil and take it to be recycled. It all adds up.

[scottjs]

What a great source of ideas!! Thanks all.

[Ginns1]

I've started using ebates.com for everything I buy. A few months ago I got a 42" LCD tv from Circuit City and saved $300 and got free shipping to my home!

[MdCaterer]

I joined an online rewards program and have earned $750 in the last two years with very little effort and every penny of it goes to vacation. We are cruising on the Magic in September and I plan to have about $500 in rewards to take with me. Not bad since I have previously used $400 for our last vacation : )

[Tinc]

I decided that we are no longer going to fast food places. I made a money chart and every time the kids want to stop I tell them lets put it away for Disney instead.

On the one side the first goal is to pay for the kids favorite hotel, POP. So far we have saved $150. We color in red the amount we put in each time. I made $5 marks on the other side. This is a great visual tool for them to see how far we have come. I got the idea from a church that is trying to raise a million dollars for repairs. They started at zero and color in red each month how much they have raised.

I am trying to find fun ways to make lunches dinners for them instead. Today I made Mickey head grilled cheese for lunch and put then on our Mickey plates, for a special treat I put a Disney choclate coin on the plate too.

We are saving for May 2010, but DH and I are crunching numbers to see if we can swing 2009 instead. We went 2007 and 2008. We really want to surprise the kids for May 2009.

[guitardiva]

Originally Posted by tmarie

All of these ideas are great. I can use all the help I can get. One thing I do while I'm saving is convert my money into Disney dollars. I put the Disney dollars away with the tickets and this way it doesn't find it's way back into the bills or clothes or food or.......

Good ideal . It is similar to what I do. I pay my kids their allowance is DDollars when we plan on traveling. They grumble a bit sometimes but then are happy when they have $$ for the trip.

[Kareiiso]

I want to go to WDW in December 2009. That means I need to save, on average, $45 every week from now until then. Currently my budget is not permitting that kind of savings, so I have to be creative.

With Christmas coming quickly for 2008, I'm allocating all of my PT earnings towards that expense for now. However, any tips I receive will go towards the trip. Once January rolls around I can dedicate the payroll dollars to WDW.

I'm also going to work really hard to stash any one dollar bills with that tip money. Since it is sure to be spent if left in plain sight (seems the change jar is forever being tapped), I've opted to hide my little nest egg inside one of the WDW Planning DVD's I have. Every month I'll deposit that cash in either my interest bearing checking acct or my ING acct., both earn about the same rate right now.

(BTW, I marked the case with a "Do Not Trash" sticker, so I won't inevitably throw the thing out, or donate it, taking my hard earned money with it.)

I've been rounding off my checkbook for a few years now. Instead of just letting it sit in my checking acct (this one doesn't earn interest) I will take that savings and transfer it to my ING acct each month. Last month it was $15. Usually I use that extra savings for a pair of shoes, clothes, or something frivilous, but now it's dedicated Disney money.

Another tip I picked up on a forum, is that I will be rounding my payroll check down to the nearest $10 (the cents already go in to "savings" by rounding down explained above) and transferring those dollars to ING too. I've missed out on $161 already this year by not taking advantage of these few dollars each week.

It's only little bits of cash, but hopefully it adds up quickly. I want to accumulate the $200 as soon as possible to reserve a room. I don't want to wait too long to book my stay at Port Orleans Riverside.

[rabelgrils]

This is a great thread. I can't believe that it hasn't been visited in such a long time.

All of the tips are great. I am sure we all do at least one or more. I know that I am already on the band wagon to start and keep with a budget for the upcoming year.

My girls and I are traveling to Disney in March. Our first time back (as a family) since 2004. I also want to take them on a cruise this fall. So, my budgeting/savings needs to get started right away!!

[Ann2]

Originally Posted by EeyoreNeedsLoveToo

Tip for Online Shoppers...before I check out at any online store I do a quick google search for "coupons codes" with the store's name included in the search. (i.e. coupon codes Kohl's about 95% of the time I'm able to come up with a code for either free shipping or a discount. Disneyshopping.com is very good about advertising their coupon codes and having them on their site - but most stores are not. If I can eliminate the cost of shipping (either through a discount or free shipping) I can often save money by shopping online, by not being distracted my other items/etc, using gas, lunch out, and am more likely to find my sizes in the clearance areas since the online stores are "larger"

Yeah, this is great, saved alot over the years. It's super around the holidays! Add this to the upromise or ebates for even more savings. Also you can check out great websites for daily savings at your grocery stores and pharmacies, even get some stuff for free, if you are willing to get to know the links on the sites. Someone mentioned couponmom.com but my favorite is afullcup.com.

[Goofymomof2]

Originally Posted by Ann2

Yeah, this is great, saved alot over the years. It's super around the holidays! Add this to the upromise or ebates for even more savings. Also you can check out great websites for daily savings at your grocery stores and pharmacies, even get some stuff for free, if you are willing to get to know the links on the sites. Someone mentioned couponmom.com but my favorite is afullcup.com.

I too like afullcup.com. I also find a few different ones on couponcabin.com to use both online and in store.

[Bryanaaa]

i didn't see it mention but along the lines of using ebay:

i use half.com to sell my books, dvds, cds, and video games. i sell most of the cds for $0.99, books for between $1-$10 (i sold my college textbooks for about $50), and dvds for a couple of bucks. i've made close to $300 in about 6 months doing it. it's a great way to make money, and clean out my junk at the same time!

[Tinkerboo]

For any Brits that might be reading (I don't know if it operates elsewhere, sorry) Music Magpie ( Selling your music CDs DVDs and games? Sell for cash the best prices paid ) will pay you for CDs, DVDs and video games - I've used it once so far for CDs and received a nice little cheque. They don't pay a huge amount and it varies depending on what you're offering but if you've tried shifting something on eBay and it's not gone, these will take it from you with no fee. They even send you a pre-paid envelope so you don't have to shell out for postage!

I also use Green Metropolis to sell books - you get £3 (or more) for each one, plus the warm fuzzy feeling that you've helped the planet because a book is getting re-used.

And lastly, though you probably already know - Amazon and Play.com both have a 'marketplace' facility where you can sell your old stuff. They take a fee, but it's less (I think) than what eBay would charge you. I sold all four of my Futurama DVD box sets through Play.com for £40-something, when they were being listed on eBay for less than half that!

Happy saving!