My Reader, Debra, wrote me this great story about her Couponing to Disney!
How I Found Couponing to Disney
By Debra Baca
In the summer of 2013, I started planning our family’s next trip to Disneyland. “Again?!” my husband asked incredulously. We had been to Disneyland four times in the past two years. However, two of those trips were only for a day. “How could he be counting those?” I wondered.
He had a valid point since Disneyland trips are expensive even with the one-day trips and shared expenses with extended family. I had been moderately frugal, but I realized that for us to go on a nice long trip of at least three days in the park, I would have to teach myself how to pay for it without breaking the bank. A couple of Google searches later uncovered Couponing to Disney. {Cue angelic music.}
“Learn how to pay for your family’s dreams.” Finally someone who understood me! From there, I signed up for Swagbucks, learned about Disney Movie Rewards, and most importantly, started my budget binder. I even named it: Baca Budget Binder. This was the cornerstone of our family’s transformation. While we didn’t use every component, just going through our finances with a fine-toothed comb, looking for categories to cut the fat, and setting up a virtual envelope system kept everyone accountable.
We opened an online savings account to stash every extra bit of cash, along with whatever we spent on credit cards to sit accruing interest until the payment was due. Now, only 18 months and three trips to Disneyland later, we have a very comfortable cushion in our savings account, and every week, we add more to it.
Not having to worry about finances as much anymore, my husband even suggested we go for a special in-between trip. Next year, we have a trip to Walt Disney World planned. Even though it will cost much more that our Disneyland trips, I’m not worried now that I have the tools to budget, earn money in creative ways, and cut our costs we can have the trip of our dreams!