kristenrice
NOT just an ambulance driver
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2006
Hi Everyone!
Obsessive planner here...I thought it would be cool to have a place to put my budget and progress out there so others could see it, possibly learn a few things, give me a few pointers, and maybe even get inspired.
Right now, my vacation plan is for a 6-night stay in October of 2018 with my 2 daughters who will be 13 and 15 when we travel. DH doesn't want to go so he is staying behind by choice. That's actually a big help for the budget since it saves me the cost of a park ticket, airfare and dog boarding...not to mention food.
Before I get into the nickels and dimes, I'll start with what I am NOT including in my plans. First of all, we have DVC, so our lodging costs are "covered" by our points...for the most part. I made need a few extra points, and if I do, the added cost *will* be added into the budget at that time. Second, I already purchased our park tickets. Long story short, I already have a 13-month Gold AP (for me), (2) 5-day park-hoppers and (2) 7-day park-hoppers, all of which were purchased before Disney instituted the "must activate by" policy. So, I have our tickets for our 2018 and 2019 trips already paid for and in hand. Our 2019 trip is going to be longer so I am saving the 7-day tickets for that trip.
That leaves the budget for this trip...and here it is...
1) Airfare: $1200 We live 10 minutes from the Grand Rapids airport and obviously prefer to fly out of there, but it is SO expensive and the flights are almost never non-stop. We have flown from Flint and Detroit and I am fine with either of those if the price and times are right. Southwest has been our airline of choice in the past because we had so many points from the SWA Visa card, but for this trip, I will have about enough points to cover (1) one-way, so I am not going to rule out Delta as an option. Starting in December, Frontier is coming to GR and they will be (supposedly) offering non-stop service to MCO so that is another possibility. The airfare budget is $400/each, which is high. I intended it to include everything from luggage to seat assignments to EBCI, basically any contingency that we may need, depending on our airline. I also want to make sure that I do not have to limit myself to an 8-hour, 2-stop itinerary, or a flight that comes home at 8am, because they are the cheapest.
2) Food: $1200 I have (3) components to my food budget. The first is the purchase of the Tables in Wonderland Card ($150). This will cover both trips, and in 2019, we are travelling with a party of 8 so it will more than pay for itself. The second food portion is our grocery order ($50) from Amazon Prime Now. This will be mostly things like soda, eggs, cheese, fruit and bread. The rest of the food budget is our dining budget in the parks ($1000). My plan is to earn this entire amount in gift cards from programs like Swagbucks. We like to eat at least one table-service meal each day, with the possible exception of the days we are at Epcot since we will be there during the F&W festival. We are not big eaters and we can definitely fill up on an appetizer and a couple entrees between the three of us. The girls are not into character meals and they don't particularly care for the buffet or AYCE meals either (thank goodness!), but they do enjoy a good steak...so that TIW card will get put to good use.
3) Other Expenses: $600 This is the amount that I will budget to include things like an extra night in a hotel in case we opt to fly out of Detroit and drive over the night before, tickets to the Halloween party if we decide to do that, activities/demos at the Food and Wine Festival, and stuff like that.
My total budget is $3000
Here is what I have available so far...
Disney Gift Cards (*or equivalent): $554.35
*Includes anything that can be converted to a Disney gift card as well as Disney Visa Rewards
Amazon Gift Cards (for the groceries): $25.00
Cash: $512.93
Total Available: $1092.28
Total Still Needed: $1907.72
Here's how I save...
First, $19 every 2 weeks goes into a savings account that is ear-marked for vacations. Second, I attempt to donate plasma twice a week. I get $20 for the first donation and $50 for the second donation. Like a lot of women, my iron level fluctuates so sometimes, I drop below the allowable range and I am not able to donate. That effects my payout for the week. Because of this, I cannot count on my plasma "income" as a reliable source of funding for my Disney vacations so I have a back up. Every April, I receive a longevity bonus from my employer and I usually use that to take a solo trip in October. Since this will be a "family" trip, I was going to use the money on something more "selfish" (like a new ballistic vest for work) but I can certainly put it towards the vacation if we need it.
The best way that I earn money for the trip is by earning FREE gift cards. I save up the free-with-purchase gift cards from Target and convert them into Disney gift cards. We have a Best Buy Visa card that earns rewards on gas and dining and I convert those rewards into Disney gift cards. I actively participate in SwagBucks and earn a LOT of gift cards from there too. In fact, all of the gift cards that I have were all acquired for FREE.
So there it is...all out there in writing...I want to have it there to measure my progress. When I dip into my cash for stuff that I probably don't need, I can see it out there and know that my fellow budget board folks will know that I slipped up...which will make me think twice about those impulsive trips to the casino.
Obsessive planner here...I thought it would be cool to have a place to put my budget and progress out there so others could see it, possibly learn a few things, give me a few pointers, and maybe even get inspired.
Right now, my vacation plan is for a 6-night stay in October of 2018 with my 2 daughters who will be 13 and 15 when we travel. DH doesn't want to go so he is staying behind by choice. That's actually a big help for the budget since it saves me the cost of a park ticket, airfare and dog boarding...not to mention food.
Before I get into the nickels and dimes, I'll start with what I am NOT including in my plans. First of all, we have DVC, so our lodging costs are "covered" by our points...for the most part. I made need a few extra points, and if I do, the added cost *will* be added into the budget at that time. Second, I already purchased our park tickets. Long story short, I already have a 13-month Gold AP (for me), (2) 5-day park-hoppers and (2) 7-day park-hoppers, all of which were purchased before Disney instituted the "must activate by" policy. So, I have our tickets for our 2018 and 2019 trips already paid for and in hand. Our 2019 trip is going to be longer so I am saving the 7-day tickets for that trip.
That leaves the budget for this trip...and here it is...
1) Airfare: $1200 We live 10 minutes from the Grand Rapids airport and obviously prefer to fly out of there, but it is SO expensive and the flights are almost never non-stop. We have flown from Flint and Detroit and I am fine with either of those if the price and times are right. Southwest has been our airline of choice in the past because we had so many points from the SWA Visa card, but for this trip, I will have about enough points to cover (1) one-way, so I am not going to rule out Delta as an option. Starting in December, Frontier is coming to GR and they will be (supposedly) offering non-stop service to MCO so that is another possibility. The airfare budget is $400/each, which is high. I intended it to include everything from luggage to seat assignments to EBCI, basically any contingency that we may need, depending on our airline. I also want to make sure that I do not have to limit myself to an 8-hour, 2-stop itinerary, or a flight that comes home at 8am, because they are the cheapest.
2) Food: $1200 I have (3) components to my food budget. The first is the purchase of the Tables in Wonderland Card ($150). This will cover both trips, and in 2019, we are travelling with a party of 8 so it will more than pay for itself. The second food portion is our grocery order ($50) from Amazon Prime Now. This will be mostly things like soda, eggs, cheese, fruit and bread. The rest of the food budget is our dining budget in the parks ($1000). My plan is to earn this entire amount in gift cards from programs like Swagbucks. We like to eat at least one table-service meal each day, with the possible exception of the days we are at Epcot since we will be there during the F&W festival. We are not big eaters and we can definitely fill up on an appetizer and a couple entrees between the three of us. The girls are not into character meals and they don't particularly care for the buffet or AYCE meals either (thank goodness!), but they do enjoy a good steak...so that TIW card will get put to good use.
3) Other Expenses: $600 This is the amount that I will budget to include things like an extra night in a hotel in case we opt to fly out of Detroit and drive over the night before, tickets to the Halloween party if we decide to do that, activities/demos at the Food and Wine Festival, and stuff like that.
My total budget is $3000
Here is what I have available so far...
Disney Gift Cards (*or equivalent): $554.35
*Includes anything that can be converted to a Disney gift card as well as Disney Visa Rewards
Amazon Gift Cards (for the groceries): $25.00
Cash: $512.93
Total Available: $1092.28
Total Still Needed: $1907.72
Here's how I save...
First, $19 every 2 weeks goes into a savings account that is ear-marked for vacations. Second, I attempt to donate plasma twice a week. I get $20 for the first donation and $50 for the second donation. Like a lot of women, my iron level fluctuates so sometimes, I drop below the allowable range and I am not able to donate. That effects my payout for the week. Because of this, I cannot count on my plasma "income" as a reliable source of funding for my Disney vacations so I have a back up. Every April, I receive a longevity bonus from my employer and I usually use that to take a solo trip in October. Since this will be a "family" trip, I was going to use the money on something more "selfish" (like a new ballistic vest for work) but I can certainly put it towards the vacation if we need it.
The best way that I earn money for the trip is by earning FREE gift cards. I save up the free-with-purchase gift cards from Target and convert them into Disney gift cards. We have a Best Buy Visa card that earns rewards on gas and dining and I convert those rewards into Disney gift cards. I actively participate in SwagBucks and earn a LOT of gift cards from there too. In fact, all of the gift cards that I have were all acquired for FREE.
So there it is...all out there in writing...I want to have it there to measure my progress. When I dip into my cash for stuff that I probably don't need, I can see it out there and know that my fellow budget board folks will know that I slipped up...which will make me think twice about those impulsive trips to the casino.