~How We Saved For Disney World!~

Today I'm finishing up the Disney World series! Many of you have asked exactly how I saved that chunk of money in just a few months. Here are a few ways that we got creative:

*JBF Sales-I am a faithful JBF consignor. In attempt to maximize my earnings, I consigned at the JBF Dallas (dallas.jbfsale.com/) and JBF Plano (plano.jbfsale.com/) in the fall. I recommend not only consigning your items, but also shopping the JBF sales. They have some pretty AMAZING deals!

*Ebay-sold several hundred dollars worth of clothing & shoes on Ebay!

*Cashback Bonus-we applied the Cashback Bonus from our Discover Card to the fund! I do not advise you to go out and start using a credit card. As I've explained here before, we have NEVER not paid it off at the end of the month. We are the very tiny percentage of people who actually do that.

*Family Members-we told family members our plan and asked if they would want to contribute $$ rather than only giving gifts for Christmas. My daughter had a birthday and put that money into the fund also.

*Garage Sales-we hosted 1 garage sale and then hauled our stuff to another neighborhood garage sale. Typically, I make at least $100 at every garage sale.

*Consignment Store-Sold clothing & shoes to a consignment store that pays you up front.

*Bank-we had an old bank account with a few hundred in it and we closed it out and applied it to the fund.

*Sold things-if you are crafty, get creative! I make several things and sell them for extra money.

*Returns-anytime I saw anything around the house that needed to be returned, I put that money into the fund.

*Extra money-anytime we would find extra cash or have an extra few dollars, it went into the fund!

*No Dining Out! We cut our $100 monthly dining out budget down to about $10 during these months of savings. That money was applied to the fund!

*Lived on less-I ONLY bought what we needed and what was on my list during that time. It was very important that I didn't go over my grocery budget at all during those months!

*Used stock-Instead of worrying about getting the next great deal, I focused on using the stock we had on hand. Staying away from the Drug Store deals saved me money. Even though there were good deals, I didn't need to go and spend money each week. I made sure that I only went for FREE or items that would make me a profit.

*Write it down-I mention this all the time on this blog about writing everything down. Every dollar we saved was written down on a sheet that was posted on the pantry door. We looked at it everyday. It was a great experience to share with our 5 year old. She loved saving money and going to Disney World (of course)!

I encourage you to dream big! My husband and I want experiences, more than we want "things". Set goals, put them on paper and work together towards them. Get creative and watch it pay off!

Hope you all have enjoyed this series!

Wednesday Blessings~
SHO

~Disney Tip-Food & Beverage!~

Did you know that you can bring your own food & beverages into all the Disney parks? This is wonderful! Truly wonderful! The waters were $2.50 each and the snacks & meals were expensive. We only ate dinner at the park once and were not impressed with it. I was very glad we didn't waste any additional money on food that wasn't that tasty!


We took a soft-sided cooler (it folded up well in our luggage) and packed our sodas & water in the bottom with the ice first. We pre-made our sandwiches at the hotel and then also packed all our snacks (crackers, granola bars, etc). We ate lunch everyday from our cooler. We never had to buy a drink at any park either. They have water fountains where you can refill the water bottles. The water isn't great, however it was FREE!


We saved HUNDREDS by bringing our own lunch, snacks, fruit & drinks into the parks.
The thing that truly amazed us was that we were there for 1 week and only saw about 4 other families bring their own food, snacks or drinks into the parks. We were there at a busy time with THOUSANDS of families and they were all just shelling out money for things that would have been so easy to put in a backpack or stroller and bring with them.



What about a dining plan?
For us, it was much cheaper to do it this way. We could have added a meal plan to our resort package, but I'm so glad we didn't!

Happy Monday!

SHO

~Disney Tip-How will you roll?~

Here is another money saving Disney tip:

Bring your own stroller! The stroller rental prices were $15 for a single & $31 for a double per day at each park. If you have 2 children and were at the parks for 6 days that would be $186 just in stroller rental fees!

Do you really need a stroller?
YES! Unless you have an older child, I would HIGHLY recommend you using a stroller (even if you typically don't). I don't know any child under 6 that can walk for 12 hours and not get severely cranky. It was nice for my daughter to be able to stroll in between rides. Plus, it was really nice to be able to store our stuff in the stroller.

What if you fly?
You can check your stroller at the gate and it doesn't count as a carry-on. We didn't check any luggage for our trip and simply carried the stroller to the gate. They will stow it under the plane for you for FREE :)

More Disney tips to come....

Wednesday Blessings~
SHO

~Disney Tip- Fly vs. Drive?~

This tip may shock some of you...Consider Flying! If you have 2 or less children, it is likely that you will spend more on gas, hotels (on the way) and food just getting there rather than flying. There are usually some good airfare deals to Orlando from Dallas. Don't forget the time you would spend driving. For the same price or possibly cheaper, flying is the way to go. You are not tired from traveling when you arrive. Plus, it is super convenient to not have a car in Orlando.

WHAT? Did I just say it is "super convenient to not have a car in Orlando"?
Yes! It seems like everywhere we went, they charged for parking. Our resort (inside the Downtown Disney area) charged $8 per day for parking. The Disney parks charge $14 per day to park. For a family that stays 6 days it would cost $132 just in parking!

If you stay at a resort inside Disney and use their bus transportation to and from the parks it is FREE! Plus, they drop you off at a convenient location near the entrance. I highly recommend this! It is worth paying a little more for a resort inside the Disney area to be able to use the Disney buses (they run every 30 minutes).

How did we get from the airport to the resort?
Our particular resort did not offer transportation to & from the airport. However, some Disney resorts have a bus for airport transportation. This actually worked out to our favor anyway. I called around to a few shuttle companies to find the best deal. We ended up getting a town car service that provided a booster seat (free of charge) and also one stop off at Publix for a 20 minute grocery run. This was perfect for us so that we could get our food for the week on the way to the resort!

There are many things to consider if you are contemplating flying v. driving. Parking fees, wear & tear on your vehicle, gas, hotel, food & snacks, etc. Last year I had one friend with 2 children (family of 4) that flew and got a great price for airfare (around $200 per person). I also had a friend who drove with her family of 4. The friend who drove ended up spending more than the friend who flew! Plus, the friend who flew had more "vacation time" to spend in Florida.

Please remember that this is all based off being located in Dallas.

More Disney tips to come...

Happy Monday!
SHO

~Our Disney World Plan~

We decided back in August that we would take a trip rather than exchanging gifts this Christmas. We have all been excited for months about our trip to Disney World! I have been getting very creative with ways to save for this trip. My goal was to not use any of our savings money, but to 100% pay for this vacation with the extra money that I've been earning. I was inspired to do this by my friend, Christy, that I wrote about HERE. That was a CHALLENGE! Whew!

What I've learned through it all?
If you want something bad enough, write it down! I posted a Disney World Savings Fund sheet on my pantry door for us to look at everyday. I put down every dollar (even cent) that we save. On that same sheet I wrote the breakdown of exactly how much everything would cost. Of course, the food category was not exact. However, we had a very close idea of what it would cost.

This process did not seem like such a huge leap by writing it all down. It has been wonderful to see my daughter bring me pennies that she has found. She has loved contributing to the fund. That was my goal! I wanted her to feel like she was part of us getting there too. I believe that she will have a great appreciation for something that she knows that we worked together as a family for. Yes, I realize she is young. However, this is a great lesson at any age.

It is never too early to start teaching your children the value of money and teamwork...Two things that they will need great knowledge of the rest of their lives.

In this series I will be writing about ways that I saved the money for Disney World and how we saved money once we were there. Literally, we saved HUNDREDS by doing a few simple things!

Wednesday Blessings~
SHO

~Happy New Year!~

I'm back! Hope everyone had a wonderful CHRISTmas and enjoyed the holiday with your family. We spent a week in Florida at Disney World. It was wonderful! The weather was simply perfect. Not sure we will want to go there anytime other than December now!

Starting in January, I will be writing a series of posts about how I saved 100% of the money we used to pay for the trip in just 4 months. The series will also include tips to save you money once you get there. We saved HUNDREDS by doing a few simple things!


I hope that you close out 2011 on a high note and I pray blessings and God's provision for you and your family. It is by Him and through Him that we have everything. To Him be all glory, honor and praise.

Happy New Year!

SHO