Swagbucks: Jessica's Story

I am so excited to share Jessica’s story with you all! She is a busy mom just like all of us but still finds time to earn money for her Disney fund.

As a child, I always loved everything Disney, but my parents had 4 children and only one income and going to Disney World was just never an option financially. But I always knew in my heart I would get there one day no matter what . . . . Fast forward about 30 years – I grew up, got married and had 2 children of my own and still had the dream to go to Disney, but didn’t know how to make it a reality. So one day about 5 years ago, I started looking online for ways to go to Disney on a extremely tight budget when I stumbled upon Couponing To Disney’s website. I was floored at how Kristin took all these trips with her “found” money. Along with her tips and suggestions, I scrimped and saved and sold on eBay, cut back anything that I could trim out of my budget, started doing surveys, and lo and behold I earned enough to go in a short amount of time. On our first trip, because of pure inexperience, we opted NOT to stay in a Disney Resort, but at the Best Western @ Downtown Disney. They offered park shuttles, etc., but it missed the “magic” I was looking for, plus it rained and poured the entire week we were there – it was such a bummer. So needless to say our first Disney Trip was not the best, but I was still thrilled I finally made it there at all! The next year, Disney sent me a Free Dining PIN offer during Spring Break in the mail so I convinced my husband we needed a do-over. So I started saving like a mad woman again, and earned the money we needed to go. This time we stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside and I fell in love. What a difference it makes to stay in a Disney Resort! We had the best week ever and ate the most wonderful meals (thanks to the dining plan) that we wouldn’t have otherwise eaten. We loved the boat ride to Downtown Disney from the resort. When the next year rolled around, Disney once again sent me a Free Dining PIN offer for the fall season, so I sweet talked my husband into going again so we could see all of the Christmas decorations. I even talked him into flying instead of the 14 hour drive as a bonus – this was my children’s first plane ride! We stayed at Caribbean Beach this time, they had just remodeled so our room was updated and fresh. It was a huge resort, almost too large for my taste, but we had a good time. We absolutely LOVED Disney at Christmas time!

In February 2016, I received another one of those PIN offers in the mail – I guess Disney has caught on that I am a sucker for those! This time it was for 30% off deluxe room rates, plus free Park Hopper tickets. I told my husband I really wanted to go back again to see all the changes that had been made since our last visit at the end of 2014. So he said he would take me as an anniversary/birthday gift if I saved up the money to pay for it. The only catch this time is he said no kids, just the two of us since we never got to go alone before. He explained to the kids that this was for our 14th anniversary and my 35th birthday and he wanted to do something extra special for me and promised to take them back next year. So I started saving again and looking for the perfect resort for us to stay in – we are going July 16th-21st and this time I chose the Wilderness Lodge Resort (even with all the construction). This is also our first trip there in the summer so I dread the heat we will encounter, but I am super excited about our first stay in a Deluxe Resort right by the Magic Kingdom!!

Here is how our costs break down:

$2,617.04 – 5 nights at Wilderness Lodge with 6 day Park Hopper & Water Park tickets, Plus Dining Plan

$ 582.92 – 2 Round Trip Tickets from Memphis to Orlando with Early Bird Check-In

$ 36.00 – Cost to park our car at Memphis Airport during our trip

$ 90.00 – For Tips, Souvenirs, Extra Expenses, etc.

$3,325.96 – Total Cost of Trip

Breakdown of my earnings:

$35.00 Online Research Study

$210.00 Beginning Balance (funds left over from our 11/2014 trip)

$21.11 Big Crumbs Cash Back

$304.71 Ebates Cash Back

$1.19 Interest earned thru checking account

$254.01 Ebay Sales

$150.00 Pinecone research

$24.50 Kidz Eyez surveys

$38.00 My survey

$91.55 Ibotta rebates

$320.79 Swagbucks

$138.50 SurveySavy

$4.25 Redbull rebate

$114.43 Clothes sold at a consignment sale

$0.40 Mobisave

$472.14 Amazon Chase visa rewards

$13.63 Disney Visa rewards

$50.54 Inbox Dollars Surveys

$27.15 Ipoll

$34.45 I say surveys

$7.00 Survey spot

$6.30 Opinion Outpost

$18.64 Savingstar

$221.50 Chase Freedom cash back rewards

$16.50 Mindfield surveys

$8.60 Top Cash back

$22.27 Leftover Disney gift card from my Nov/2014 WDW trip

$100.00 Rainforest gift cards earned thru Mypoints

$181.86 Cash Jar (Money from odd jobs, loose change, found money, and etc.)

$221.67 Free money from purchasing discounted Disney gift cards thru Targer/Sams/Ebay

$124.06 Free money from purchasing Southwest gift cards thru Sam’s/Citi card reward

$91.81 is all I have left to earn and my trip will be paid for in full and I am sure I will have that within the next week or two.

During the past 4 months, I have done nothing but earn Disney trip money in my free time, I work a 40 hour week job, plus have 2 children to keep up with and a house to maintain. It was not easy, but I got it done! I truly believe you can do anything when you have your mind set to it!

I am so thankful to Kristen and the others that give all their great money saving tips on Couponing to Disney and SavEARS . . . otherwise, my family couldn’t have gone on 4 Disney trips in 5 years all paid for with “found” money. It’s truly wonderful to know we have made our dreams come true and didn’t spend a dime out of mine or my husband’s paychecks!!

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. 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 70 SB (this is exclusive to CouponingtoDisney readers; you only get 30 SB if you don’t use this link and code).

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Swagbucks: Jessica’s Story

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