Been trying........

[MaryAnne70]

For TONS of ideas on how to save (as well as invest) money, try the discussion boards on The Motley Fool. Under the "Managing Your Finances" boards, my favorite is the Live Below Your Means (LBYM) board. I've been amazed at all of the ideas I've gotten on how to live more frugally.

Mary Anne

 

[violet13]

We are soon to be a family of 6 and I am also a stay at home Mom, with husband earning approx $28,000 a year. I love this Budget Board because we are a REAL frugal bunch, we've never lacked, even when my husband just a few years ago only made $20,000 a year. "Saving money" must become a way of life, I feel. If you are able to take advantage of a Credit Union deducting lets say $25 a week or more out of your husband's pay- I'd say this is the way to go, the $$ will never slip thru your hands and you won't be tempted to take it out of a jar somewhere. You will "learn" to live within these means- to make your dream of Disney a reality. Some use their Tax returns. It is true- once you get started saving $$$, it gets easier and easier seeing it grow. But it takes discipline and doing without- and this is NOT easy at first if you are used to buying what you want when you want. For us, we only buy food on sale with coupons, we only order water for drinks when eating out- which is not often- and must have a coupon for that also, we choose to own old cars, we do rebates regardless of what brand something is- after all it's fun trying new things. No matter what we decide to buy, we wait till it goes on sale or buy it used. Now we're planning our trip to Disney, we found a few hotels for a family of 5 in the price ranges of $30 to $40 in the off season, and less than 10 miles to Disney, they all have pools, some have free shuttles to Disney, free fridge in your room, we still aren't sure which we will choose, but searching for the best deal is great fun! This "board" comes in handy to hear the opionions of those who have stayed at these hotels off site. We realize these places will be plain- but their prices help us afford the trip. After all we only plan on sleeping there. It's all in your lifestyle and what you are willing to "give up" to acheive a dream... I know for us...we'll be buying all our souveneres at the closest Walmart, probably be eating at the closest Ponderosa with coupons in hand.. Best of luck in saving..

 

[PrincessPoppy]

Gather up any old knick-knacks, old nice clothes (especially kids clothes), old collectibles sitting in a box, dishes, toys, ANYTHING, and list them on eBay. You would be amazed at what people buy, and the listing fees are very small, about 50 cents to $1, depending on what you set as the minimum bid. List lots of items at dirt-cheap prices and you will make money.

 

[faith]

Whatever else you do take your own snacks! This will save a lot of money.Park prices are outrageous. Maybe family can give the kids money in lieu of birthday gifts, etc.This could be their spending money.
You'll get a world of info on the trip planning board, community board, Disney tipboard,etc. Have fun planning!

 

[friskylady]

CLOTHING!
when my children were small and we lived on my husband's modest salary I bought their clothes at yard sales as much as possible. Then I sold their clothes at my own sales. it really saved us $$$$ and the kids didn't care! (wish it were true now for my 15 yr old daughter!)

Food

Learn to use beans. This might seem icky to some. But a pot of bean soup costs only about $2 to make and can last 2 days for dinners. do that once a week and you'll save big time on your grocery bill. and you will ADD to your health!

Save on gas money

Do you do a lot of driving for shopping or chauferring kids? Car pool w/a neighbor or friend.

but the best idea is to Get that part time job!

 

[staylor]

I am afraid I may be repeating what others have already said. But, the first thing I did was buy our passes at the Disney Store. Each month I would buy one pass. After I had our passes, I started buying Disney Dollars. I don't know about you, but I am not the type of person who can just put $ into my drawer to save. But, I can't spend the Disney Dollars so they just keep adding up. I looked the other day and we have $860 in Disney dollars. For our trip in two days (May 19th) I got our rental car through priceline.com $20 a day for a SUV from Hertz. We are going back in Oct. for MNSSHP and The Food and Wine festival. For this I am bidding on our room with priceline. So far, people seem to be getting the 4* hotels (Dolphin, Swan, Wyndham Palace, and Hilton) for about $35-$40 a day. I found so much invaluable information at the following website

http://pub4.ezboard.com/bpricelineandexpediabidding

Check it out!
I hope this helps!
Good Luck!
Staci

 

[Cindy B]

Lets see, we drive down, even with gas high, it still costs less than airfare for four...

2 adults 2 kids as well

I also work two part time jobs, about 4-8 hours a week. All the part time money, so far almost $600 this year goes straight to Disney Fund.
We also do payroll deduction, change jar, stay offsite, hey you could even work at TDS if need be...

Good luck