So you’ve decided you want to Coupon to Disney? Congratulations! Now that you understand the basic principles of saving, it’s time to start putting the money you save in your fund. This series should teach you how to start a fund, keep track of it and provide you with unique ways to add to it.
How To Start Your Fund
- Evaluate your bank account
- Check to see if your current accounts offer rewards
- Lower your existing billsÂ
- How to set a budget
- What is Found Money
- Break your dollars and save your change
- Cash in that change for free gift cards if you don’t want to roll it
- How to add gift cards to your fund
- How to add cash to your fund with rebates (plus check out my list of rebates)
- Save Birthday/Christmas money
- Sign up for the Disney Chase Visa (if you want)
- Eliminate cable
- Cut down on fuel expenses (Buying gas at Kroger and Giant Eagle)
- Purchase gift cards as you go and check out how to save on Disney gift cards
- Challenge yourself to save $1 a day
- Look for lost change and check the ground
- Count in your bonus paycheck
- Add difference between current check and raise
- Figure out your weekly budget requirements
- Break your goal into categories
- Sacrifice one thing per month
How to Coupon to Disney if you are in debt
Ways to add to your fund
Sell Items
- How to have a yard sale
- Sell with consignment shops
- Sell items on Facebook
- Sell items on Craigslist
- Sell items on Ebay
- Trade in electronics
Earn Online
- Earn Rainforest Cafe, TRex or Yak and Yeti gift cards with My Points
- How to use Swag Bucks to Coupon to Disney
- How to use Amazon to Coupon to Disney
- Where to legitimately earn cash online
More Ways To Save
- Save on Disney gift cards
- Mystery shopping
- Recycling aluminum cans
- Recycle scrap metal
- Add bottle deposits to your fund
- Save quarters for your fund
- Evict pennies from your fund
- How Vikki Adds To Her Fund
- How Chelsea Adds To Her Fund
- How Amber Adds To Her Fund
- How Tanya Adds To Her Fund
- How Kristen Adds To Her Fund
- How C&H Adds To Her Fund
- How Allison Adds To Her Fund
- How Lorie Adds To Her Fund
- Another Way Lorie Adds To Her Fund
- How Kristina Adds To Her Fund
Where To Store Your Fund
Where to keep your fund and more places and even more places
Want to find out how to find even more money in your budget? Be sure to check out all the articles in the your fund series.
Joe says
I came across this site and reviewed how you (and many others) go about saving. I applaud the plan, but feel that there’s a large amount of effort devoted to this throughout the year, but the gain doesn’t seem warranted. I’ll explain…If you took a particular year of savings and subtracted out the items that are “quick hits” (gifts, found change, tax rebates, disney rewards, etc…), that would leave you with about a $1,200 gap over the course of a year that you’d need to fill with more “manual efforts”. It sounds as if you’re “working” the entire year focusing on coupons, coupon sites, multiple stores, rebates and surveys and making sure to track, collect and exchange them as well. I would feel a better plan to fill the gap would be to work for 150 hours PT @ $8/hr. (let’s say in retail around the holidays). Again, I applaud your plan, but I’m offering feedback on a different (and I feel more straightforward and more segmented within a small portion of the entire) solution.
Rachel says
This is awesome!! We go to Disney annually and these tips are great to help save $$ for the trip!!
Thanks!
Melanie says
Thank You So Much! I L-O-V-E this site I have changed one or two things I have always done and started a couple new ones by reading all your great tips. I am super excited we are saving for a new and improved deck for the backyard and then we will start on a trip fund….
Harper says
These are fantastic tips. Within the course of 3 days I’ve read the majority of your “Start Here” section. This is literally the perfect blog for me because I am a Disney fan and a college student who is starting to learn to take control of her finances.
I used your tips to write a budget outline and savings guide for myself. I even outlined my process and talked about your blog on my blog:
http://thriftyharper.blogspot.com/2012/06/preparing-college-budget.html
Seriously, this is a perfect blog. Thank you so much for this!
Robin says
Setting a budget – it’s hard for me. We pay off our bills and are not strapped for money but I find myself spending more than I should on things I don’t really need but can always justify (like early xmas gifts or art’s and crafts for the kids, etc.).
Wagner says
Here’s the thing: you need to be able to handle an emgneercy or unexpected expense if and when it arises. You can do this by having a pile of money in a money market fund (great) or by having availability on a low interest bearing credit card (good). You need to make sure you always fall into one of these catagories or both, preferably. Don’t worry about your student loan debt if you have a low interest rate (below 6%). You might want to go ahead and try to pay your car loan down if you have a high rate (above 6%). I chose 6% because the best savings accounts/money markets are currently earning just over 5%. You’ll be doing better to pay down the debt if your savings rate will be lower than the interest you’re paying. Plus if you pay down the car loan, you will have a huge monthly expense gone, which will free up more income and lower your DTI ratio (which is good in case you want/need to get another loan, like a mortgage, anytime soon).
Heidi K says
Thank you for doing this for all of us.
In order for my family to save we stick to our budget and anything extra goes in the fund as well as whatever we use in coupons. For example if we have 125$for the week in groceries and only spend 75$ and used $20 in coupons, $50 goes in the fund as well as the 20$ we would have spent if we didn’t use coupons.
CandiceMC says
A new follower and I am hooked. We have a family of 6 and my kids have been wanting to go to Disney for some time now. I’m hoping couponing to disney helps us grow a fund so we can go. Thanks for all your hard work!
Pattie G says
I do many different things to save for my Disney Trip! However, I never even thought about eliminating my cable bill and how much money I could save. Thank you for talking about this !
Michelle Reardon says
It sounds silly but the biggest things I have learned is to have a goal and a budget. Now that we have a set trip to save for it is much easier to put off my thoughtless purchases!
Misty says
Thanks for all the info and the time you put into this website :)I am so blessed by all the info that I get on here and hopefully we will get to go to DisneyLand or DisneyWorld this year by couponing to Disney.I just started the cash method for groceries that you do on a weekly basis and I am excited to see what happens..Thank you!
Elizabeth says
Thanks for all the great tips on this site!
s.c. says
thank you!!!
tammy dickinson says
this is very helpful thank you!
Dawn says
Thanks for the great tips!!
Crystal @ Blissful Homemaking says
Thanks for compiling all the posts on this page. I love the new layout by the way! I have very little saved for a Disney fund right now. We might be going to the beach this year instead, so I guess it is “Couponing to the Beach”. ;)
Tina B says
I would just like to say thanks for all the helpful tips on how to save money for a trip. Since finding your blog last month I have saved $108 without even feeling a penny of it. I returned my bottles and cans and put it into the fund, I an extra $5 or $10 into the fund, I put in the $20 my parents sent me randomly in there. The little things like that have made it so I don’t even miss the big chunks I would have been trying to save. We need about $4,000 for a vacation (not sure where we are going yet or when lol) so I don’t see this as being a burden saving for it now. Thanks again!
Liz says
May I suggest Disney World? :)
Dawn Harper says
$4000 for vacation?? Were doing Disney for 1 day, 14 day passes to Sea World/Aquatica/Busch Gardens, Hotel (one being on the beach in St.Petes) for 8 nights and driving there so gas… estimated at $1700. Food and a couple hundred for spending so $2200 max. I use Groupon a lot for cheap meals at nice restaurants and the hotels have fridge and/or kitchen so hitting the store for some of those meals.