Kristin is proving that what I teach in my Saving for Disney E-Book Series works!
“I had already decided I wanted to go back to Disney after our first trip there in 2014. I found Kristin’s Couponing to Disney website in December 2014. At the point I started saving, I had a goal of $3500 for our family of 5 to go. I was planning on using SOG and Military Salute Tickets. So the first thing I did was used her Budget Binder. We had a basic budget but were very loose with it so if we didn’t stick to it no big deal. I got very strict with it and any extra left over money that was allotted someplace and wasn’t spent became our Disney Fund with a big boost in the summer without the cost of heating propane. I knew we would have extra income around tax time, plus we had a work bonus we knew would be coming that would be put directly into savings for extra expenses throughout the year such as house insurance, car registrations, car repairs, birthday’s & Christmas, school expenses, etc. That was a huge relief to know that all big upcoming expenses were all saved for and not worrying about how to pay them off when the bills came in.
In the middle of saving, I thought we would have to cancel our trip as my husband ended up getting out of the National Guard which took away part of our income plus extra expenses due to having to change our health insurance and we lost the cheap military tickets. Thankfully I just worked harder and was able to meet my minimum savings goal plus I was able to save extra to add on the memory maker and another day at the parks. I have also been able to save enough for tips for the dining plan, our spending money for the entire trip and even a hotel to stay in the night before we leave so we didn’t have to leave at 2:30 in the morning.
Here is how I made it happen. I also started couponing which I had never done. I followed the deals she had and only bought what I would use and look for my own deals for things I would need. I slowing started stockpiling things we are always using when I found a good deal. I also joined her savings group on Facebook which is amazing as it shows you deals other are getting and encouragement when you need it. I kept an excel spread sheet to track my saving. My first month, I was able to save around $280. Some months were lower and my high month I was able to $432. I used phone saving apps such at Ibotta ($61), Snap ($13.40), Checkout 51 ($73.50), SavingStar ($27.31) MobiSave ($41) Walmart’s Saving Catcher ($84.75), plus online companies such as topcashback, ebates, and shopathome.
I was already a member of Swagbucks from 2012 but in 3 years I had only cashed out a total of $40. The Savear’s face book group really helped me step up my game and in less than 9 months I have earned $595 in gift cards and paypal. I learned lots of ways to help earn the SBs. I started using the mobile apps and started doing a lot more surveys. I even got into one survey that payed out a $50 gift card from an in home study. I also got into some focus groups that paid out extra to amazons. I started doing the NCraves and other earning methods recommended from the Savear Group. I also joined inboxdollars. A much slower earning but cashed out for the first time $27! I also saw people posting about raise a place to buy discounted giftcards. Swagbucks even had Raise as a Shop & Earn store so I would earn even more Swagbucks from all my raise purchases.
I have saved a total of $424 using it buy Target GC’s which I would take to the website and buy Disney Gift Card with my red card on my account for an extra 5% off. So of the $4,000 gift cards we bought we saved another $200 dollars. Sometimes each saving seems so small at the time and sometimes it doesn’t even feel worth it but when you can look at the big picture every little savings count. For our flights we had a southwest credit card with points that was able to cover 7 one way tickets which left me only buy 3 for around $330 to fly from NH to Orlando where last year I paid $1190. It pays to stalk there website and watch for deals. We also have a Disney Credit Card which we have over $300 since December. I charge everything to it including our house insurance, cell phone bills, car insurance etc. I always make sure to pay it off in full or it would negate the rewards. I have already earned another $645 from Swagbucks for my trip this fall!”
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 love teaching about 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 70 SB (this is exclusive to CouponingtoDisney readers; you only get 30 SB if you don’t use this link and code).