This is a guest post courtesy of my amazing reader Amy who is couponing to Disney too. Be sure to read her story!
I love Disney World. Even at nearly 27, I love Disney World. I love how Disney has thought of every detail. I love how it just feels magical. I love the vision of seeing my girls see Cinderella Castle for the first time. I want to bring my girls (2.5 years and 1 year) to Disney for the vacation of a lifetime, but how do you do that when there isn’t any extra money to go around?
I started following Couponing to Disney in September of 2009 because it combined my couponing habit and my love of Disney. I was kind of skeptical that Kristin could save enough money in one year to fund a trip to Disney and not take any out of their paychecks (sorry Kristin!). If she did do it, I would be totally amazed! Sure enough, it seemed back in December that she and her family were well on their way to getting to Disney, so I decided on a little challenge of my own.
I decided that I would save any extra money that did not come from my husband’s paycheck for a trip to Disney. Saving the extra money wouldn’t hurt us financially because we weren’t expecting it anyways. I started saving on December 1, 2014 with the hopes of saving $3000 by December 31, 2015. I planned on going to Disney in August of 2016.
Some sources of extra money include turning in cans for deposits, saving change, interest on our checking account, online surveys, Swagbucks, selling on eBay, Craig’s List, and half.com, and using the money saving apps whenever possible. I am also having a yard sale in early June, and all the proceeds are going to Disney.
It may not sound like a lot, but it adds up quickly. For example, every month I get a $0.10 credit for every time I used my debit card (maximum of $5.00). I always max it out because I use my debit card everywhere. So at the end of the year, I’ll have saved $60 just from that credit. Using Swagbucks, I earn enough SB to get $25 Target gift card every 3 weeks, which earns me about $400 a year. Right there, I have $400.00!
I put all the Mickey Money in a separate money market fund that earns 1% interest (more free money). I don’t have easy access to the money, so there is no temptation to spend it. Plus I am so focused on going to Disney that I don’t want to spend it. I make deposits at least every week, and it is so encouraging to see the number grow and grow.
So what’s the grand total? When this was written, the Mickey Money account had $1428.36 in it with $22.50 in my Ibotta account, for a total of $1450.86! That is 48% of my goal of $3000!
If your not a member of the my Facebook group Saving for Disney with C2D (The SavEars) go join its FREE and we help each other out. You don’t have to be saving for Disney to join its a way for all of us to connect and get to know other like minded individuals. My SavEars are going to be all over this challenge and if you are new to Swagbucks they will be more then happy to help you along and answer any questions you may have!
New to Swagbucks? Swagbucks is a way to earn points by doing surveys, watching videos, and discovering new things. All these points, called SB, can be redeemed for gift cards from hundreds of major retailers including Target, Walmart, and you can also redeem your points for Paypal!
If you haven’t joined Swagbucks yet, you can join through this link. Be sure to enter the code DISNEY70 to get started with 100 SB (this is exclusive to CouponingtoDisney readers; you only get 30 SB if you don’t use this link and code).