Here’s a recap of everything that has been deposited into the fund:
Surveys
- $5 from Neilsen Homescan Panel
- $30 from Mindfield
- $12 from Survey Savvy
- $32.50 from Opinion Outpost
- $10 from Ispos I-Say
- $10 from Ispos I-Say
- $17.25 from Survey Savvy
- $10 from Ispos I-Say
- $24.02 from Sunshine Rewards
- $10 gift card from Checkpoints
- $25 from Surveyhead
- $20 from My Survey
Total: $205.77
Found Money
(this is unexpected money we weren’t expecting/wasn’t written into our budget)
- $15 from my Birthday
- $17 in mileage from hubby’s work
- $6.11 found in a purse
- $10 for stuff I paid for with Swag Bucks (reimbursed by my nephew)
- $37 for a refund from a doctor’s visit in 2009 (very unexpected!)
- $40 reimbursement for doctor co-pays
- $5 from an amazing anonymous reader who snuck it in a sympathy card to cheer me up! Thank you!
- $25 gift card from another AMAZING reader who snuck it into a Christmas Card. Thank you!
- $6 in $2 bills
- $50 for my friend’s buying a car from the same dealership we used last year (they sent us a check)
- $85.04 – Right after I lost the baby last year, I decided to redo my kids bedrooms. I had hubby pick up 8 packages of border paper (4 for each room) at Walmart and then I stuck them in a closet and forgot about them until last week. Luckily I keep all of my receipts, so I returned them to Walmart and received cash back that I am depositing into the fund because it is “found money“.
- $25 – One of my neighbors had to go out of town and asked us to take care of their pets for them.
- $259.51 from having a yard sale
- $10 gift card for transferring a prescription
- $30 reimbursement for a doctor co-pay
- $63.24 payment for hubby’s court appearance this week (he was called to testify)
- $19.89 payment for mileage for a company meeting today
- $30 unexpected gift for my husband for Father’s Day from his co-workers
- $156 refund on deposit we paid to establish power at my Mother in Law’s apartment in June 2010. I didn’t expect the deposit back with interest. I assumed they would keep it until she moved. That was a VERY nice surprise!
- $348 refund from the IRS. We have to pay the IRS each year, so it was completely unexpected to receive a $348 refund 4.5 months after tax day. You should of heard me scream for joy after I read the letter (I’ll admit I was nervous to see a letter from the IRS).
- $17 from selling metal
Total: $1254.79
Rebates
- $22.50 in miscellaneous rebates
- $15 from SC Johnson
- $9.99 from Schick
- $31.32 from Staples
- $37.33 from Ebates
- $21.98 from Staples
- $1 – From Miller High Life
- $11 for signing up for Online Bill Payment
- $20.39 in cash back from Shop at Home
- $30 NBPR Rebate
- $20 NBPR Rebate
- $9.68 from Staples
- $10 from Rite Aid
- $29 in various NBPR Rebates
- $9 in rebate checks
- $10 NBPR Rebates
- $10.47 NBPR Rebates
- $9.99 rebate from the Olay gift packs (I paid for this with $10 from the Christmas budget, so when the check came I decided to put it in the Disney fund instead of the Christmas budget)
- $10 NBPR Rebates
- $21 NBPR Rebates
Total: $339.65
Gift Cards
(I take the value of the gift card out of my cash budget and put the cash in the Disney fund and spend the gift card. So if I got a $10 gift card to McDonalds, I would take $10 in cash out of the food budget and put that in the Disney fund and spend the $10 gift card at McDonalds.)
- $10 to McDonalds
- $50 Walmart giftcard (belated Christmas present; will use to pay for sunscreen, snacks, etc)
- $53.44 left on a gift card from our January 2011 trip
- $200 Disney Giftcard for opening a Disney Visa in my husband’s name (I have absolutely no idea how we got this, but they sent us a total of 4 offers before we applied for Jason’s card. I also have one in my name.)
- $8 gift card to the movies
- $50 – Walmart gift cards the kids received for their birthday. They both wanted to save it for souvenirs at Disney World. I spent $50 at Walmart on groceries and took the $50 in cash out of the budget and added it to the fund.
- $5 – Earned a Target gift card during a sale week. I spent $5 at Target a few weeks after the sale and took $5 in cash out of the budget and added it to the fund.
- $20 – Referred 4 friends to Plum District and earned a $20 Target gift card. I spent $20 at Target on groceries and took the $20 in cash out of the budget and added it to the fund.
- $20 – Earned 2 $10 BP gift cards. Since they expire before the trip, I took $20 out of the gas budget and added it to the fund and spent the gift cards.
- $10 – Earned a $10 Red Robin gift card from Pampers. I am giving the card as a year end gift. I took $10 out of the budget and added it to the fund.
- $50 Disney gift card (I got a $50 Visa debit card in the mail for winning some contest that I forgot I had entered. So I used it to buy a $50 Disney gift card at Walgreens.)
- $20 Target gift card
- $10 gas gift card I earned at CVS
- $100 in Disney gift cards (Winn Dixie had a sale where you paid $250 for a $300 gift card. Both me and my husband got one, so we made a $100 profit)
- $26.46 from selling a gift card on Plastic Jungle
- $30 from the gas budget. Publix had $50 Shell gift cards on sale for $40. I went to Publix 3 times that week and bought 3 cards. Since I paid $120 for $150 worth of gas, I took the $30 difference out of the gas budget and deposited it into the fund.
- $10 in Kellogg’s Gas Gift Cards (took $10 in cash out of the gas budget)
- $25 Disney gift card for listening to a DVC sales pitch on the internet (no clue how I got this, might be the DVC DVD I requested a while back. They emailed me the offer and I listened to the pitch on the phone)
- $10 gift card from Publix (rebate offer; took $10 cash out of the grocery fund and put it in the Disney fund and spent the gift card)
- $10 gift card to Winn Dixie (from this expired deal; took $10 out of the grocery fund)
- $10 Visa gift cards (took $10 out of the gas budget and spent the cards)
- $50 from the gas budget (I earned $50 in gas gift cards from CVS’s CoverGirl deal (I paid for it with a gift card that I had earned from SwagBucks and I took the $50 out of the gas budget and put it in the Disney fund. I used the gas gift cards to fill up my van.)
Total: $777.90
Spare Change and Money Left in the Budget
- $15.76
- $18.78
- $8.62
- $44.60
- $15.33
- $5.89
- $8.57
- $20 – cash left from the grocery budget
- $5.99
- $4.07
- $5.86
- $27.28
- $23.50
- $9.78
- $19.68
- $5.13
- $10 in cash (leftover from my weekly grocery budget)
- $2.12 in spare change
Total: $250.96
Disney Visa Rewards
- $75 – Disney Visa Rewards for purchases made between April 20th and June 23rd. (We charge EVERYTHING we possibly can on the credit card and pay it off every month. We now pay Mother In Law’s bills for her as well (she pays us back), so hers also get charged on the card.)
- $33
- $55 – My nephew had to have braces. My mother in law gave me the cash and I charge the braces on the Disney Rewards Visa Card. We earned $55 for Disney and then I paid the balance off before interest could be charged.
Total: $163
And the Final Deposit…
- $33.23 – Forgot to add $33.23 from where we lowered our cable bill on this post
- $0.43 – messed up my math
- $287 in Disney Visa Rewards card (we charge every bill possible on our card plus a couple times we have charged some bigger purchases)
- $150 from my grocery budget for the week of November 4th to November 11th (we still have to eat at Disney World right?)
- $50 from my gas budget for November 4th to November 11th (7 days of no driving = found money!)
I need $3106.36 for our Disney World budget. Our grand total is………….
Hi. This is my first time on this site. I am so excited about it. You sound incredibly organized (something I’m still working towards;). I hope you and your family had an amazing time and I am hoping to be able to follow in your footsteps in 2012!
This is so awesome! So, those survey websites really do pay? And another question, how long did it take you and your family to save this? We are starting to save for November of next year!
I’m curious how your break down was now that the trip is over. Were you happy with the categories?
WOW im so happy for you and your family for smashing your budget. Hope you are having an amazing time! Cant wait to see some pictures :)
All I have to say is WOW! Great Job!
This is such an inspiration to me that little amounts here and there can add up to so much. I’m ready to start saving for our next trip!
CONGRATS!!! That is awesome. My son and I were sitting here looking through on how you saved and I said I would never be able to do that because I am always broke and can never save a gift card or money…lol I admire you that you can take money from your food money in place of gift cards..etc Way to go you and the family deserve to go to Disney!!! Just think of me :) LOL Have a great time and safe trip back home!!!
Love it! Have fun!!!
CONGRATS!!!!
Awsome job! I am so happy to see you go!
Congratulations I hope you and your family have a wonderful time. You are truly amazing. I hope I can take a page out of your book and start to save like you. Thanks again for all your hard work on the website. A true fan.
This is SO AWESOME!!!! I keep finding ways to add to my fund! :-) Wish we had NBPR rebates here…
CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU FOR BEING SUCH A SUPER SMART SAVER AND PASSING ALONG YOUR AWESOME TIPS! HAVE A MAGICAL TRIP! CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR ALL ABOUT IT!!
Awesome! Very inspirational. My hubby and I just saved our first $1000 towards our farm. Everytime I see your savings break down I get new ideas so thank you soo much for this! :)
Wow~ I am so inspired. I already blogged about my new resolve for next year. But I am starting small and I am going to try and earn all my Christmas budget this way. Have a wonderful time!
Have awesome time! I wish I was a good as you! We’re going in February can’t wait to hear about your trip.
Fantastic!!! Wow, I need to be more disciplined!
BTW – where did you get the picture with Woody and Buzz?
Pixar place at Hollywood studios.
Glad you added in next week’s grocery and gas budget… was hoping you’d remember to do that. Thanks for the breakdown. It’s amazing how so many “little” amounts of money can add up in such a big way. Have a wonderful week!
That is great I hope you have an awesome trip! CONGRATS!! We’re going in September next year and taking my best friend it’ll be his first time so we are saving money to have an awesome trip!!
Amazing! We got the $200 disney gift card as well. We go to WDW next month and I am already thinking about how I can save for our next trip. I also need to gather up all my piles of loose change around this house and get them into my Disney account.
Amazing! Congratulations on such a great budget! Hope you have a great time in Disney!!!
U r a gr8 planner n have a gr8 foresight.
Wish u start your own travel firm catering just to Disney travel..n give all the tips n tricks. We went to disney in May without plannin very well n ended up paying too much money. Want to do disney again …
U r really very inspiring n very true in sharing all your tips. Hats off to u.
That is wonderful! Have fun on your trip and thank you for the inspiration! :)
I know I don’t have to say this because I know you will, but I hope you guys have a great time! I hope your lines are short and I hope your mother in law and nephew have an awesome first trip! Can’t wait til our trip in Feb!
Congratulations on your diligent savings! You deserve to have an awesome trip to Disney World!!
Seeing all the little numbers add up to such a grand total is awe-inspiring! It makes me feel I can accomplish financial goals also!
Awesome and inspirational!!
Makes me so totally want to do a better job of tracking my savings and setting them aside. Thanks for the motivation and enjoy your well-earned vacation!
That is truly amazing. I am going to have to show my husband this!
I loved that Disney Visa $200 offer. We had one in my husband’s name but I opened one in my name for the $200 card. My Mom also received the offer in the mail and opened one in her name and gave me the $200 card. :-) Really helped the Disney fund!
OK I want to do this next yr, please explain a few things to me if you dont mind :)… where do you keep this money? In a savings account or in your home, Im scared if i have access to it I will spend it :/ and how long did it take you to save this amount? 1 yr?
In a separate savings account at the bank. :) Started saving June 1st, 2010.
Kristen, that’s 405.94 EXTRA!!! what do you do with your extra money? Do you take it with you and use it as extra money (for impulse type buys) OR do you start your next fund with it? Just wondering. :) (And congratulations on your fund!)
I’m taking it with me and I hope to bring a lot of it back!
You are well disciplined and awesome. Have a wonderful trip!
Incredible! Absolutely incredible! Its things like this that make me wish I was better at budgeting my money but I am confident that it will happen! (hopefully sooner rather than later)
Thanks for the inspiration!! Have a great time in Disney!!
Excellent job! Seeing all of it broken down has really inspired me!! :)
Congratulations! You are awesome! Have fun!
So incredibly impressed with you!