This Success Story comes from my Reader, Suzanne!
I have had a lifelong love for Disney, I think it started when I won a Walt Disney World lunchbox back in first grade in a coloring contest! We have visited Disney every year since 2005 with our children, and sometimes 2x a year. Flying from Buffalo NY is not always ideal, but I hate wasting vacation time in a car, so we always opt to fly.
A few years ago, I found Kristin’s blog, Couponing to Disney and have adopted some of her strategies to save “Mickey Money” for our trips. I really don’t budget the way Kristin does, but I have used some of her strategies to save for vacation extras. I use the Mickey Money for the trip extras – like the Pirates fireworks cruise, or the Wishes dessert party – things I normally wouldn’t spend money on. I have a separate savings account for Mickey Money that I link to my bank account and transfer the amount in each time I have a new deposit.
Here are the best savings tips I have received from her that has given me great success in saving up Mickey Money each year. What I love best about all of these is that I really don’t have to do much work at all to ‘cash in’ on these saving opportunities, they really don’t take much time at all for me to save a significant amount.
IBOTTA – There is always something each shopping trip that I need to purchase that is on the Ibotta promotion, I especially love the generic promotions – any milk, any bread, etc. Not to mention the Regal movie promos. I have received almost $200 back since using Ibotta. I usually wait until I have $20 to cash out to Paypal, whcihi I then transfer to my back account. Here is a tip – get as many Facebook friends linked to your Ibbotta account- they also offer great teamwork bonuses each month.
EBATES – I do not really like shopping, and prefer to do it online. Kristin posted about ebates once and I signed up immediately. Why wouldn’t I want cash back on things I am already buying? Since signing up in late 2012, I have received $253.78 in cash back.
NBPR – No beer purchase required rebates. These are rebates offered by the beer companies that often grant cash back for a specific grocery purchase along with a beer purchase. You simply submit your receipt with the food item and beer UPC for a rebate check. The beauty for these for me is that in NYS, a beer purchase is not required. So typically with an $80 grocery purchase, a NBRP rebate will pay back $15. Some are specific – must by fresh fruits and vegetables, or must by a certain dollar amount of chicken or beef.
I also do the 52-week challenge, where each week of the year you save $, week 1 = $1, week 2 = $2, etc. deposit.
These are the main methods I use to save. Each year, I typically manage to save about $2000 which I use for airfare (which oftenis killer) and tours and bonus excursions at Disney. I hope you all find similar success.