Are you tired of surviving from paycheck to paycheck?
Do you want to learn how to stretch your dollars and learn how to pay for things you thought were out of your reach, like a trip to Disney?
It is time to break out of survival mode and grow your savings! These saving principles can be used to achieve any financial goal you set.
Would you like to…
- take a vacation to a dream location?
- visit a family member you haven’t seen in years?
- pay for your child’s after school activity?
- pay for new furniture, a television, a boat.
My Story
For the first few years of our marriage, my husband and I didn’t know how to manage money. When we received our paychecks, we would determine which bills got paid that week. We didn’t have a monthly budget. We didn’t have a limit on how much we spent at the grocery store. We bought what we could and figured we would never be able to afford a family vacation, our own home, or be able to survive without using our credit card every month.
In 2008, my New Year’s Resolution was to learn how to coupon. I figured it would be like all New Year Resolutions and I would only stick with it for a month or two. By the end of January, I had a 1 year supply of toilet paper and laundry detergent. I was hooked! By mid 2009, we had enough extra money in the budget to take our first trip to Disney World.
Our first trip was amazing! My kids got to meet their favorite characters for the first time, my daughter even danced with Prince Charming on her birthday. And I remember lying in the bed in the Disney Resort and being so thankful that I had started couponing 18 months before. It had freed up so much money in the budget that we didn’t have to put that trip on a credit card. When we returned from Disney World, we knew we wanted to go again. And that’s when I came up with the plan to Coupon to Disney.
I started my blog, CouponingtoDisney.com, in June 2009 to document our progress. It took some time to work out the kinks but by the next May (2010), we had saved $3,223.32! That was almost $1300 more than we had hoped to save for the trip!
Being able to vacation without having to take any money from our monthly budget or charging it on a credit card is the most rewarding feeling. It’s almost like vacationing for FREE because it is money you would have spent if you weren’t couponing to Disney.
And because we coupon for the vacations, we are able to use our monthly budget to pay for other things. We are 100% debt free (except for our mortgage), have a fully funded emergency fund and have set aside money for retirement and our kids college. Couponing to Disney changed our lives and it has the ability to change yours…
I’m going to walk you through how you can change your family’s life in five steps (one per day for the next five days). Hopefully at the end, you will feel a weight lift off your shoulders.
Having a budget is great, but working towards a financial goal is what keeps you motivated to stick with it!
Before you even start working on your budget and changing your family’s financial life, you need to evaluate the expenses you have each month.
Check Your Bank Account
When was the last time you looked into the benefits and fees associated with your bank account? If you haven’t done it in the past month, I urge you to do it today.
Go to your bank’s website and read through the information they have posted about your account. Check your latest statements to see if they have started charging you fees for using your debit card or writing too many checks.
Call the bank and ask them if your debit card offers any rewards for using it as either a debit or a credit card. My friend recently discovered that her bank offers rewards for her debit card and she had racked up enough points to get a $100 gift card to Lowe’s. She never would have known that she had earned that reward if she hasn’t taken the time to check.
Also look around at banks in your area and what they offer. I know moving bank accounts can be scary, but if you are paying $12 a month for your account and a competing bank is offering the same benefits for FREE plus $50 to switch, wouldn’t it be worth taking the time to do it?
Negotiate Your Utility Bills
Call each utility about your bill and ask if you can reduce the amount you are paying. Don’t just assume you won’t be able to!
When you call the cable company, I’ve found I have better luck at reducing the bill if I talk with the cancellation department. Be sure to eliminate any channels you don’t need!
Can your family live without cable? If you can, cut out the bill. Think of how much you pay for it each month and multiply it by 12! You could put every dime of that towards your Disney vacation.
Call the cell company and see if you are eligible for any additional discounts. We get 15% off our bill because our cell company (AT&T) has an agreement with my husband’s employer. I wouldn’t have known about the discount if I hadn’t called. And, when they changed the discount from 10% to 15%, they didn’t tell us or automatically apply it to the bill until I called.
Shop your auto insurance policy around with a few trusted companies. One might just offer you a better rate for the same coverage! Make sure you Google for reviews of the new company and even your current company before you make this switch.
Other Monthly Bills
Are you paying for something you don’t need or use? When was the last time you went to the gym or actually watched Netflix? Did your daughter quit an after school sport and you forgot to stop the payments from automatically billing to your card? Go through each expense that is being billed to you each month and evaluate if it is needed or not. Call them and ask if the amount can be lowered! All they can do is say no. They won’t increase your bill because you asked.
Saving for Disney
Take the amount you were paying for the bill and subtract the new amount from it. Put that difference in your Disney Fund! For example, if you were paying $150 for your cell phone and you lowered it to $125, put $25 a month into your Disney Fund.
The average American family (2 parents and 2 kids) spends $893.10 a month on groceries. That’s almost $11,000 a year for food and that works out to $55.81 per person per week. If you are currently spending like the typical American family and you lower your food expenses, you might just find the entire amount you need for your Disney vacation in your grocery budget!
The idea of setting a grocery budget can be extremely overwhelming. It’s very important that you take a deep breath and set a realistic goal.
There are 2 different ways to set your grocery budget:
Option #1: Use the Weekly Grocery Allowance Worksheet from the Saving for Disney Course
One of the many helpful worksheets in the Saving for Disney Course is the Weekly Grocery Allowance Worksheet. I’ve made that worksheet available to you! You can download your copy at this link. You can use it today to determine your grocery budget by following the steps below:
Your grocery budget, which we will refer to as grocery allowance from here on out, should include everything you can buy at a typical grocery store; including health and beauty items (but not prescriptions), household cleaners, paper products, baby supplies, pet food, etc.
The very first step to figuring out your grocery allowance is to know how much you have spent in the past few months on food. To find this out you will need to review your bank and credit card statements for the past 3 months. Go through and highlight all the expenses you have at both grocery stores and restaurants. Use a green highlighter for groceries and a pink highlighter for restaurants. Try to remember how much you spent in cash and add that amount into the final total.
Add the totals for each month to the Weekly Grocery Allowance Worksheet.
When you dine out you don’t have to purchase groceries to provide that meal. In order to get a realistic figure for groceries, you need to take the number of entrees you purchased at restaurants in the past 3 months and multiple it by $2.50 per person. Fill out the first field beneath the Restaurant Spending box on the Weekly Grocery Allowance Worksheet.
Next add up the amount you spent on groceries for the past 3 months. Insert that amount on the Weekly Grocery Allowance Worksheet. You can then divide the total amount spent over 3 months by 12 to get your new Grocery Budget.
In the Saving for Disney course I teach you everything I know about lowering your grocery bill. The ultimate goal is to spend less than what you are currently spending on groceries. Please don’t feel anxious about your grocery bill. You will be amazed at just how low you can get it when you start applying all of my advice to each week’s grocery run.
Dining Out Allowance
The second half of the Weekly Grocery Allowance Worksheet helps you to determine your Dining Out allowance.
By this point, you have already figured out how much you have spent on dining out in the past 3 months. Are you like the average American family? A family with 2 adults and 2 children spend $225 a month eating out. That money could be put towards a Disney vacation instead!
To set your weekly Dining Out Allowance, you need to budget at the maximum one fast food and one sit down meal for your entire family. Use the form on the lower half of the Weekly Grocery Allowance Worksheet to set this budget.
Option #2: Use What You Spent In The Past 4 Weeks
What you spent in the past month is a great starting figure. I want you to divide that number by 4 and that is your new weekly grocery budget. If that figure seems incredibly overwhelming, you can go ahead and reduce it by 10%. If you reduce it too much, you are setting yourself up to fail. While you are learning to coupon, you need some wiggle room!
Pay for Disney with your Grocery Allowance
Be sure to pick the date that your grocery budget will reset. Mine resets every Tuesday because our sales run Wednesday to Tuesday. Yours might reset on your weekly pay date.
Go to the bank and withdraw your Grocery Allowance in cash. Place it in an envelope or unique place in your purse or wallet. Use this cash to purchase all of your groceries for the week. Utilize coupons and sales to try to get your out of pocket as low as possible. Make sure you break your dollars and save all the change you receive. At the end of the week, put any dollar bills and change you have into your Disney Fund.
It doesn’t matter if you make $2,000 a month or $20,000 a month, everyone needs a budget.
A budget tells your money where to go before you have it in your hands. A budget lets you know how much you have to spend and keeps you on track toward your financial goals. A budget reduces the stress in your life caused by money, because you have taken the time to tell your money how to work for you.
I go into depth on how to create a realistic, livable budget in the Saving for Disney course. It includes 33 Budget Printables as well as a 50 page eBook to help you get your expenses under control. If you decide to purchase today, make sure you use the code ARIEL to save 33% off the course.
For this email series, I am including a brief overview that you can start utilizing today.
Step 1
Gather up your bank and credit card statements for the past 3 months and go through and highlight all of your expenses that you paid. Make sure you highlight all your bills (the mortgage, water, electricity, gas, cable, cell, phone, etc) plus all the other expenses like Netflix or Hulu, gym membership, trash, after school activities, debt payments, etc.
Step 2
Take a piece of paper or a notebook and write down every single bill you have, the date the bill is due and the amount of the bill (don’t forget to write the new amounts if you followed step 1 and lowered your bills). It is best to put the list in order by due date (bills due on the 1st down to bills due on the 30th). For bills that fluctuate like power or water, write down the average amount you would expect to pay. Hopefully the bill will be less than you figured and you can put the difference in your fund!
Step 3
Write down the bare minimum you must have for the following items (if you aren’t sure, look at how much you have spent over the past 3 months and average it out):
- Groceries and Eating Out
- Gas
- Misc Expenses (like haircuts, oil changes, prescription, clothing, entertainment, home repairs, etc)
Step 4
Write down all your paychecks, the date you get paid and the estimated amount for the next 3 months. If you aren’t on salary, write down the average amount of your paycheck. Just be sure you don’t overestimate!
Step 5
On a new piece of notebook paper, start writing down your pay dates for the next 3 months and the amounts in columns. It should look something like this (the example is someone who gets paid every 2 weeks and makes $1,000 per paycheck):
June 1st
Mr. Darling’s Paycheck: $1000
(skip at least 10 lines)
June 15th
Mr. Darling’s Paycheck – $1,000
(skip at least 10 lines)
Continue until you have written down all the pay dates for the next 3 months.
Step 6
Start with the amount you need for groceries and gas and write it under each paycheck.
June 1st
Mr. Darling’s Paycheck: $1000
Groceries for 2 weeks: $225 ($775 left)
Gas for 2 weeks: $75 ($700 left)
June 15th
Mr. Darling’sPaycheck – $1,000
Groceries for 2 weeks: $225 ($775 left)
Gas for 2 weeks: $75 ($700 left)
Step 7
Start with bill #1 on your list and write it under the paycheck that you will use to pay it. Write the amount of the paycheck that is left after paying the bill next to it.
June 1st
Mr. Darling’s Paycheck: $1000
Groceries for 2 weeks: $225 ($775 left)
Gas for 2 weeks: $75 ($700 left)
Rent Payment: $400 ($300 left)
Water Bill: $50 ($250 left)
Cary Payment: $175 ($75 left)
June 15th
Mr. Darling’sPaycheck – $1,000
Groceries for 2 weeks: $225 ($775 left)
Gas for 2 weeks: $75 ($700 left)
Insurance: $100 ($600 left)
Power Bill: $150 ($450 left)
Phone Bill: $75 ($375 left)
Continue to do this for all your bills for the next 3 months. You are going to feel great once you have this finished and you know how much money is left after bills!
Step 8
If you are working on paying off your debt or building up your savings, don’t forget to include that in your budget too! We roll whatever is left out of each paycheck budget into our savings account after we pay all our bills.
Step 9
Stick to your budget! That is the most important part about making a monthly budget.
Today is the most exciting day of the series. You get to start your Disney Fund.
If you have tried to set a budget before and failed, I’ll tell you why… You have got to set a financial goal (like a Disney vacation!). If you don’t have a goal, something fun you are working towards, you won’t be motivated to stick with your budget and will instead find yourself spending freely. Before you know it, you will be right back to only surviving instead of actually thriving.
Decide where you want to keep the fund for your goal. I suggest a separate bank account where the money is not easily accessible (meaning not in your checking account or an account that you can easily transfer money from) so you aren’t tempted to spend it.
You also need to design a jar to keep your change in until you can deposit it. Many readers decorate pickle jars, cheese ball containers, etc with signs and stickers that represent their goal.
Creative Ways To Pay For Disney
I do not advise you to set a line item in your budget for your goal (i.e. You won’t take $50 per paycheck to put in your fund), instead you will learn the creative ways that you use to add to your fund.
1. Use the envelope system to manage your money. To do this, you will get your weekly allowance (grocery, dining out and miscellaneous) out in cash from the bank each week. You’ll take the cash and put it in envelopes that are labeled with categories for spending.
Once you spend all the money in that envelope, you don’t spend anything else in that category. When it’s gone, it’s gone! But when you have money left, you put that money into your fund because you would have spent it if you weren’t couponing.
Example: Mrs. Darling gets $175 a week out of the bank in cash. She gets it in small bills (ie: a few 20s, 10s, 5s and 1s). She takes it home and divides it into envelopes as follows:
- $100 goes into the envelope labeled groceries
- $30 goes into the envelope labeled out to eat
- $25 goes into the envelope labeled misc
- $10 goes into Cindy’s fun money (to spend on anything she wants; this money she rolls over from week to week and does not put into the fund)
- $10 goes into her husband’s fun money (to spend on anything he wants; this money he rolls over from week to week and does not put into the fund)
If she spends $82 at the grocery store that week, she puts the $18 difference into the fund. If she doesn’t go out to eat, she puts the $30 into the fund. If they don’t have any misc expenses that week, she puts the $25 into the fund.
Sometimes she has to roll the leftovers from week #1 to week #2 (and that’s fine to do to), but at the end of week #2, she always puts what is left into the fund.
*Note: You would do the same thing for the gas budget, but I do not take that out of the bank. I don’t want to walk into a gas station to have to pay for my gas. Just keep track of it separately and deposit the difference into your fund.
2. Save your change. Because you are following the envelope system and getting cash out of the bank each week, I suggest you break your dollars and save your change! You won’t believe how quickly the change adds up.
When I go to pay for any purchase at the register, I pay only with bills. Even if my total is $4.01, I still break a bill instead of giving them a penny. At the end of the week, I count all the loose change and deposit that amount into the Disney fund.
3. Save all your found money. It is time to start saving your found money. This is the money you literally find or were not expecting…
- a quarter on the ground or a dollar in the dryer
- a refund check,a gift, etc
- a discount you were given when you expected to pay full price (the difference goes into the fund).
- the difference between what you budgeted for and what you actually paid
- money you intended to spend and resisted (If you were headed out the door to spend $3 on a coffee and resisted at the last minute, you could put that $3 in the fund because it would of been spent!)
- money you received for returning an item you bought with the previous week’s budget
4. Deposit gift cards you earn into the fund.
Let’s say I have a $10 Walmart gift card that I earned for FREE. When the gift card arrives in the mail, I take $10 from my grocery budget envelope and replace it with the $10 Walmart gift card. I then take the cash and put it in my fund.
Or let’s say I got a $10 Visa gift card via rebate. When the gift card arrives, I take $10 out of my miscellaneous budget envelope and replace it with the $10 Visa gift card. I then take the $10 in cash and put it in my fund.
If it was a gas gift card, I would factor the gift card into my gas budget and have $10 for my fund. And so on and so forth.
If I get a Disney gift card, I just put that gift card in the fund. Since Disney takes gift cards everywhere credit cards are accepted, I can just use it at Disney in place of cash.
5. Come up with other creative ways you can add to your fund. You will be amazed at how your start to recognize opportunities to save and add money to your fund once you start trying. I’m constantly inspired and learning from people just like you who are committed to growing their fund!
Here are just a few ideas:
- Have a yard sale. Not only do you get rid of clutter, but you also make cash for Disney.
- Turn in soda cans and other metals for cash at your local scrap yard (if your state doesn’t have recycling at the grocery stores for beverages).
- Put your kid’s outgrown clothes in a consignment sale.
- Babysit/pet sit for a neighbor.
- Browse the internet for creative money saving tips. I especially love Pinterest for this!
I’ve been teaching others how to pay for their Disney vacations since mid-2009. I’ve learned of a number of excellent and legitimate ways to earn cash for your Disney fund. I only promote those that I have personally vetted.
I recommend you sign up with no more than 1-2 per day and make sure you spend time learning how they each operate.
If you find any to be confusing, don’t hesitate to ask in SavEars! The group is a very valuable resource to use as you Save for Disney.
Step #1
Many of the SavEars have utilized Swagbucks to pay for their trips. If you haven’t already, make sure you Sign Up For the FREE 7-Day Starting With Swagbucks Email Course.
Step #2
Get paid for grocery shopping with Ibotta! You’ll earn cash back on items you are already purchasing at the grocery store.Learn more and create your account right now!
Step #3
Start earning cash back for your online purchases by utilizing Swagbucks, Rakuten and TopCashBack (I choose the one that offers the highest % back when I shop through specific merchants.
Step #4
Companies are eager to hear what their consumers think of their products. To find out your opinion they often employ the help of a survey company. These companies facilitate the surveys and reward you in cash for offering your opinion.
Not all survey companies are honest. I have personally vetted every survey company that I recommend. Check out this current list of survey companies that I recommend.
Want to keep going?
Everything you have learned in this 5 Days To Start Saving For Disney Now! course (and soooo much more) is also available in the full version of the Saving for Disney course. You can save 33% off the course today when you enter the code ARIEL at checkout. Click here to find out how it can help you get to Disney.
It can seem like you will never be able to finance your vacation. When you are looking at the hefty price tag, it can feel like it will never be within your reach. But I am here to tell you that it can and it will be! You’ve just got to stay focused and work hard to reach your goals.
Over the past 8 years, I have had thousands of readers successfully save for a Disney vacation. Here are just a few of my favorite stories.
Tina’s Story
I’m so excited to share my story with you! I can’t thank you enough for creating your blog and in turn the Savears group and the Saving for Disney course. It motivates me seeing other members stories on how they saved their way to Disney. I started using all the savings apps and Swagbucks last spring in order to make spending money for our Disney cruise last year. I had such great results I decided to shoot for paying the whole trip this year only using the savings apps and earning sites.
We are staying at the Beach Club for 9 days/8 nights next month. Total package with tickets and hoppers for 5 Disney “adults”came to $6032. I started saving right after Christmas 2015. My biggest earner is Swagbucks. I start running the apps and videos at 5:30am. I work from home so I am in the site practically all day. I check for surveys throughout the day. I’ve been lucky and gotten accepted into a few high paying surveys. My highest was for $250! Along with Swagbucks I also use Shopkick, Field Agent, Mobisave, SavingStar, Ibotta, Checkout 51, Spare5, Ebates, Top Cash Back and PineCone Research. It was not easy, but every time I felt discouraged I’d go to the group and saw others success. It motivated me when I needed it most and now I can’t wait to relax and enjoy my well earned Disney Trip. Thank you again!
Amber’s Story
When you want to go to Disney World but your budget doesn’t allow it what do you do? Kristin’s blog and Facebook group made it possible! I jumped right in knowing that we had a set date in mind to be able to meet our friend’s who had already booked their trip for April of 2017.
I found Kristin’s Facebook group in September 2016. I saw others posting about what they had saved and how. I had used Swagbucks before, but there were so many earning apps I learned about. As I learned how to use them I got my husband to start using them as well. Some of the apps were faster earners than others.
Cricket rewards was the fastest for us until they changed some things in 2017. They offer a half off gift card on the 15th of each month. It used to be unlimited so we were able to max out our points on that day. Now they only allow up to three half off cards during that special. These earning apps are constantly changing as they become more popular.
I am a SAHM and my husband often travels for work. I spend all available kid free time earning towards our goal. My husband was able to do other apps easily with his time off when he was out of town. We cashed in for Target, Walmart or PayPal and turned them into Disney gift cards. Each gift card we brought home I entered into our Disney Vacation Account that is free to set up.
About 80% of our trip was paid for by earning gift cards. That includes six nights at Pop Century with dining plan. One quick service meal and one table service meal. We have all character meals booked to get the most out of the dining plan. It will also save time meeting characters with our toddler.
We also bought the Memory Maker that I will never go without it when going to WDW. Our Southwest flights were covered with earned travel points and gift cards. One of the unlimited, half off cards from Cricket was for Gamestop. I found out Gamestop sold other gift cards including Southwest.
Sometimes you have to get creative to max out earned points on an app and be able to put it towards your Disney goal. As we get closer to our trip there are always additional items that need to be purchased. The Crowdtap app only earns Amazon credit. We used that to purchase things like stroller accessories. We even have $425 saved for spending on our trip. All in free gift cards!
Here are our current totals since September 2016.
Swagbucks $600.00
Cricket/Mplus Apps $1020.00
Ibotta $45.56
Shopkicks $110.00
Field Agent $177.50
Mobee $359.25
Isecretshop $344.25
Mobisave $1.20
Crowdtap $80.00
Online focus groups $105.00
Target diaper purchase promos $80.00
Disney Visa bonus $200.00
Disney Vacation Account bonus $20.00
Gifts $275.00
Total of $3,417.76
Thank you to Kristin and all of her followers for teaching us so many new ways to save!
~Amber B.
Kristen’s Story
What I draw the most from the Couponing to Disney Blog is inspiration- not just for myself, but for others. I can’t tell you the number of times I have started a conversation with a non-couponer by saying something like “Oh, you don’t think the coupons are that helpful? I read this lady’s blog called “Couponing to Disney”… she pays for her family’s vacation to Disney World every year through coupons. She does store coupon matchups, freebie alerts, money saving ideas and all kinds of things- she even does Disney World training on how to make the most of your trips there!”
The dream of couponing to a family vacation has hooked several friends and turned them in to full time couponers, folks I can bond with over our latest and greatest deals. Couponing to Disney helps me keep my own goals.
Last year, my husband and I “Couponed to Disney” for our own vacation, marking our 5-year anniversary. This year I am “Couponing to San Diego (and a quick stop at Disneyland OF COURSE)”. This wouldn’t be possible without the hours you spend sharing your freebies, money saving tips and of course, the coupon matchups to the stores. Couponing to Disney makes it so easy to shop and to save. When you post how much you have saved to date for your trips, it makes me feel great- you don’t save $5,000 in one fell swoop- some days it’s pennies, some days it dollars. Your trip update posts remind me that every little bit, no matter how small, helps me acheive my financial goals, so I don’t end up discouraged when I “only” save a few dollars here and there. Pennies make dollars and “Found money” really makes dreams come true. – Kristen
Georgia’s Story
Not only am I spending less, I am also a smarter consumer. With those “smarts” I started adding to a fund. This year, my family of four (2 adults and 2 children; one under 3), were able to buy Annual Passes to Disneyland! While we have taken our girls for their birthdays before, this was the first time we went to Disneyland and could actually soak it all in and not feel like we had to cram a million things into one day. Our girls were super excited to learn that now we can go to Disneyland anytime we want. We were able to buy our passes, one Premium, and two Deluxe passes, with cash that we had saved! And of course, we continued our savings, by bringing lunch into the park with us and using some of the continued Disney tips from CouponingtoDisney.com! – Georgia
Jennifer’s Story
Well I did it! I managed to pay off about 95% of my Disney trip with just Swagbucks/Louder Rewards/Ebates/Topcashback/ and a couple other rewards apps! I started in November of 2015- my trip was $3141.04 (9 nights/10 days at Pop with free quick service dining that I upgraded to regular dining and 7 day park hoppers) and I have earned $3,210 as of June 15th, 2016. ( I spent about $200 out of pocket, doing a couple deals from Swagbucks that were money makers, and then I bought a couple gift cards from Target through Groupon when they had their sale.)
I do mostly Surveys and Discover offers .. I ONLY spend my personal money IF the offer is a $5 or more money maker (IE Shave club has an offer to sign up, you pay $3 but you get back 1000 SBs so I made $7 by spending $3)! Don’t get discouraged if you don’t qualify for a lot of surveys at first- they will come!!!
Do you want to be a success story?
Everything you have learned in this 5 Days To Start Saving For Disney Now! course (and soooo much more) is also available in the full version of the Saving for Disney course. You can save 33% off the course today when you enter the code ARIEL at checkout. Click here to find out how it can help you get to Disney.