Thursday's Tip

We've never been big on budgets around our house--at least not in the formal sense. We do track our spending and keep a tight rein on what's coming in and going out financially. We don't have any debt except for the mortgage on our home, and we intend to keep it that way. And so, when vacation time rolls around, we typically pay for it as it comes.

But this year, we decided to do something a little different. For one thing, we were presented with the possibility that there might be more than one Disney vacation in our near future--nothing definite, but a possibility. So we started thinking about where we might get the extra money. Unwilling to delve into our savings, we decided to begin a designated Disney fund. To make it more fun, I decorated a glass vase for our savings. Here's what it looks like:





What is going into our fund? For starters, loose change. You can see that we've already rolled a LOT of coins, all found loose in the bottom of my husband's nightstand. (He hasn't been saving them, per se; he just hates carrying around coins.) We also add any gift cards we receive--American Express, gas cards, or Disney gift cards. Just before our trip, I'll also gather up any unused restaurant gift cards that I've earned through survey companies, and we'll use those to help pay for food as we travel. And although these don't fit into our vase, we are also accruing dollars from our Disney Rewards Visa, and those will be added to the final fund. (We typically use the Disney Rewards gift card to pay for our food inside the Parks--less keeping up with cash and/or credit card receipts.)

We have about 6 weeks left to save. I know we won't save the full cost of the trip by then, but even if we only have to pay half of it from our bank account (we've already paid for tickets and a portion of our resort stay), that will be great! (And that will put us that much closer to saving for our next trip--whenever it will be.) I'm hoping to share with my readers our full cost for this trip, along with the money we saved. Remember, this is my 40th birthday trip, so we're splurging a little. This won't be my signature "Disney on the Cheap" trip, but I think you'll still see how frugal I can be--even when I'm treating myself!

BTW, here's what we have in our vase so far:

• $66.65 from loose change


• $50 American Express gift card


• $55 in Disney gift cards


• $20 in gas gift cards


• approximately $176 in Disney Reward dollars

for a grand total of $367.56--not too shabby considering we just started a few weeks ago. Hoping to hit the $500 mark by our trip.