How to pay for a Disney vacation in 8 easy steps!

If you're like me, you want to go to Disney every year, but the cost can be prohibitive. It's tough to spend $3-5 thousand dollars all at once for a 5-7 day vacation, but that seems to be what it takes to do Disney right. Here are some budget and savings tips to help you get back to Mickey before you know it. If your Mouse addiction isn't as bad as mine is, you can even do this for 2 years and just try to put aside half as much or contribute every other month.

Here are 8 helpful savings tips:

1. $10/week into a cash jar.
   $40 in a month isn't going to break my budget - actually, no one will even notice.  So every week, I get $10 and put it in a blue mason jar in my closet.  Every now and then, I add more when I can, but at $10/week you will find $520 in that jar at the end of a year and that didn't hurt one bit!
2. Disney Gift Cards/Cash for special occasions
   At every birthday or holiday, there is inevitably one grandparent or relative who sends money.  This is the perfect opportunity to tell your kids that Grandpa and Grandma are contributing to their Disney jars.  Yes, my kids share my addiction and have Disney piggy banks of their own.  I regularly "clean them out" and place the money in an envelope in my closet as well, so that it doesn't get lost around the house. $40/kid per year = all of their souvenir cash.  For me, this is $200 since I have 5 daughters.
3. Loose Change Jar
   Whenever I have change, I put it into a jar in my cupboard.  As it slowly accumulates, I use the January-June money as Disney cash and the July-December money for Christmas stockings.  The six-month total for me averages about $75, and is never noticed by my budget.
4. Disney Vacation Account
   In an effort to make saving easy - and because Disney really wants your money - they have now created flex saving accounts.  You can use an automatic deduction where $100 is taken out directly from your paycheck once a month, or you can do more or less - whatever fits your budget.  I like the $100 - it's just enough that it makes a considerable savings, but not enough to stress my family's budget.  My annual total: $1200
   https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/
5. Income Tax Return deduction
   My husband and I have a standing agreement that $500-$1000 of our income tax return money goes to a summer vacation.  Sometimes we've hit Detroit, Pigeon Forge, Manhattan, or DC, but at least half of the time this is good old WDW. For me it averages out to: $750
6. Bi-annual Neighborhood Yard Sale
   I live in a rather large neighborhood and we are limited to 2 yard sales per year - which is not at all bad - cause some people really overdo it!  I have a corner in my basement where old clothes, stuffed animals, baby gear, furniture, and miscellaneous items that I plan to try to sell hang out.  And then my kids buy doughnuts and water bottles to sell to help, too.  They're pretty cute, so their profit margin is usually great.  I make about $75-100 each time I participate which ends up being $150-200 per year.
7. Take on an odd job that pays wellMy husband coaches tennis twice a week @ a rate of $30/hour.  He makes about $2k/year doing this and I take 25% of it and squirrel it away for vacation.  The other 75% helps to pay for my kids' athletic activities (of which there are SO many).  Maybe you could tutor once a week or babysit once or twice a month - anything that will just help create extra cash...  But for me, that ends up contributing about $40/month which is $500 each year.
8. Plan your trip around a great discount
   As a certified Disney travel consultant, I know when all the best deals are.  If you want to find out when the cheapest time to go is, shoot me an e-mail: Emily@Wishdrawals.com - some deals will save you TONS - like free dining.  Others, like a 30% discount on your room will still save you a considerable amount of money.  Planning your trip at a time when you can save without spending is a 100% victory!  Disney has historically done free dining in September and we have Fall Break for a week each September, so... yeah, that's a great time to go! Free dining can save you hundreds of dollars and never has to come out of any part of your budget! For my larger family, our savings on free dining came to $871!

So how much did we end up with after these 8 steps?  These 12 months brought us a total of: $4,316!

Maybe all 8 of these ideas won't work for you - everyone's budget is different - but use as many of the tips as you can and squirrel away that extra cash and you'll be singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" before you know it.  Feel free to post any other ideas of fun ways to save money for a vacation in the comment section!

Want to save even more? Contact me: Emily@Wishdrawals.com and I'll find every discount and best price available to you for FREE!