Budget for April 2020

[mommafett89]

I am starting a board to hold me accountable! I am not too deep into planning right now, as it's so far away. I have just listed things I want to do, and possible ADR's I would like to make!

**A little back story** I am a 29 year old single mom to a 6 year old. We managed one day at MK November 2018 and it was magical. I sadly had to cancel the 8 day trip I had planned to be refunded my money due to unforeseen circumstances, AND poor financial planning .SO I am not letting that happen this year! I work a full time job making about 27000 a year before taxes.

Financial Goals for April 2020 trip:
Disney gift cards $20.00+ each grocery trip - estimated $60.00/month - 720.00 saved
No more cigarettes = estimated $54.00/month = 648.00 saved
Less eating out = estimated $80.00/month = 960.00 saved

I will update as more options are made available, or if any way to save comes up. Just holding myself accountable. Will also update when planning is concrete as well as cost!

Feel free to share any tips you might have for me!

 

[easyas123]

When I know I have a Disney trip coming up, I grab gift cards each pay period- a little extra saved up, but not putting all my $$ in gift cards, works well for me.
And may I say - good for you with the cigarettes!

 

[mommafett89]

Thanks so much! It's rough, even though I'm not a heavy smoker...it is still TOO MUCH money to spend. Cigarettes are expensive and totally awful for you!

 

[Marionnette]

I am starting a board to hold me accountable! I am not too deep into planning right now, as it's so far away. I have just listed things I want to do, and possible ADR's I would like to make!

**A little back story** I am a 29 year old single mom to a 6 year old. We managed one day at MK November 2018 and it was magical. I sadly had to cancel the 8 day trip I had planned to be refunded my money due to unforeseen circumstances, AND poor financial planning .SO I am not letting that happen this year! I work a full time job making about 27000 a year before taxes.

Financial Goals for April 2020 trip:
Disney gift cards $20.00+ each grocery trip - estimated $60.00/month - 720.00 saved
No more cigarettes = estimated $54.00/month = 648.00 saved
Less eating out = estimated $80.00/month = 960.00 saved

I will update as more options are made available, or if any way to save comes up. Just holding myself accountable. Will also update when planning is concrete as well as cost!

Feel free to share any tips you might have for me!

Okay. My first word of advice is to NOT buy any GCs each grocery trip because you can’t get your money back once they’re purchased. If another “unforeseen circumstance” happens, that’s $720 that you can’t get your hands on.

Instead, set up an online savings account. I happen to like CapitalOne360 but any savings account that leaves your money in a place where it can be used in case of emergency but has no checking or ATM access is good. Set up weekly deposits to that account in the amount of $20/week and then forget about it until you’re close to your trip.

Less eating out = more meal planning. Pay attention to the weekly circulars and plan your week’s menus around the sales. Save time by cutting vegetables and cubing meat ahead of time. Don’t forget that while your “eating out” budget is going to go down by $80/month, your monthly grocery bill is going to go up.

When you shop online, use an online shopping portal for the rewards. The portal that you use (eBates, RetailMeNot, Swagbucks) is not as important as actually remembering to use one when you shop.

If your credit is good, consider getting a rewards credit card. Your bank or credit union may be a good place to start looking. Just getting 1%-2% back on your purchases can add up over time. Just. Remember. To. Pay. It. Off. In. Full. and On Time. Every. Single. Month!

Congrats on your decision to stop smoking! Check your health insurance to see if your premiums will go down once you become a non-smoker. You can add that savings to your Disney Fund.

 

[la79al]

I am currently working on a February 2020 trip. My DH is paying for most of the trip but it is up to me and the kids to come up with anything over the budget he gave us as well as pay for anything extra we may want to do (guessing that will probably be almost $1000). A few things I am working on--using my Chase Disney card for all my spending and then paying it off by the end of the month. It only gets 1% turned into Disney rewards but it will be better than nothing. --Using Swagbucks to earn gift cards. I am currently only making about $25 a month but it looks like I am going to be getting closer to $50 a month with a little effort. --Having the kids ask for cash or gift cards for birthdays and Christmas. Hopefully this will provide their souvenir money. --I use Ibotta and Shopkick when I remember. If I'm lucky I'll get $50 from both of them combined but I don't give it much effort. Smaller stuff--the kids decorated an empty bottle and use it as a bank for change they find. I think we're at $11.25 right now but that should still be able to buy a bottle of soda in the parks by next year.--When I go to the grocery store I seriously consider whether we need that extra pack of cookies or bag of chips. Anything left in my grocery budget at the end of the month gets put into the Disney fund. The last thing I plan on doing (not to add to my budget though) is to apply for a Southwest credit card in the next couple months to get the reward points. DH is pretty determined on flying instead of driving and I told him I would agree to it if we could keep the cost very close to the same as driving. The sign up rewards plus the points he already has should be enough for all the flights for free.

I agree with not buying Disney gift cards in case you end up needing the money. If you are determined to buy them though, make sure you are doing something like using a Red Card at Target to save 5% or buying at Sam's Club to save a little.
Congratulations on the decision to quit smoking. Remember that even if you can't quit completely, even cutting back will save some money.
Good luck with the budget!

 

[mommafett89]

Okay. My first word of advice is to NOT buy any GCs each grocery trip because you can’t get your money back once they’re purchased. If another “unforeseen circumstance” happens, that’s $720 that you can’t get your hands on.

Instead, set up an online savings account. I happen to like CapitalOne360 but any savings account that leaves your money in a place where it can be used in case of emergency but has no checking or ATM access is good. Set up weekly deposits to that account in the amount of $20/week and then forget about it until you’re close to your trip.

That is a really good idea, I actually have a Chime account which doesn't have access to ATM. It does have checking abilities, but not physical checks that are actually sent to me! I think I will start transferring money into that, thanks SO much!

Less eating out = more meal planning. Pay attention to the weekly circulars and plan your week’s menus around the sales. Save time by cutting vegetables and cubing meat ahead of time. Don’t forget that while your “eating out” budget is going to go down by $80/month, your monthly grocery bill is going to go up.

So true! I will say, my problem has always been that I not only buy groceries and meal prep...I'll just not eat that food and run and grab something on lunch , awful I know! So, I'm hoping it won't fluctuate that much! I appreciate your tips and advice so, so much!

 

[mommafett89]

Good luck with the budget!

Thanks for sharing! I love that people can share their budget goals and tips here! Good luck with yours, too!

 

[mommafett89]

Meal prepped on Sunday! This was 3.55 per meal, and is lunch and dinner for 4 days! I have not gone away from this food! Had steak (it's cubed steak, cheap) for lunch yesterday, and shrimp for dinner! I'm going to do it, guys!!!

 

[mommafett89]

I researched something awhile ago, called Self Lender. I can't use it, as the guidelines allow you to take it out only a year after you started saving...and I wouldn't have it before my trip BUT I wanted to let you guys know about it! It is a savings account that actually reports to the credit companies. So, you are not only saving yourself money, but you are building your credit! I am debt free, but I paid off my debt in a big chunk and it (obviously) did not effect my credit score what so ever....so I'm kind of stuck on the pot with mine. I would start it regardless, but I'm worried about not being able to save money for Disney. And, since saving for Disney is a priority right now (well, besides daily living bills and such DUH), I want to go with that!

BUT YOU ALL should totally check it out if you're saving for a disney trip longer than a year away! I put the link here

 

[mommafett89]

Well, my child's sperm donor has either lost or quit his job as there is no more child support coming in. I was using that to make payments to Maizy's school, but I'll have to make those myself. I'm not going to let that bother me, as I wasn't planning on depending on that anyways. But, I did have it in a separate account to just let accumulate outside of what I paid her school. I have an entire year to save

 

[Disneyfan754321]

So we are on a tight budget, our most expensive parts are travel and tickets.
We still buy disney gift cards for tickets.
Gift cards are easy to sell if an emergancy came up. And I cant spend them easily. Two years ago I sold gift cards 5$ off there face... joke was on them it's almost what I paid buying them at discount. On ebay they sell for 50

I have been doing swagbucks making about 50 a month, i just stepped up trying to make more.
I bought 25$ visa cause they were cheaper than the 50 ones.

We stayed at the sherton vistana the deals are on skyauction.com they are mostly vacation clubs. You do not have to go to the presentations..
I got 7 days for under 300. And it's really nice resort.
We also did not do disney as many days as I would like to but, I took the kids to seaworld and aquatica for 99 for both days added 40 for all day dining passes cause we wanted to eat every hour.
My dh stopped smoking using the hypnosis on YouTube. It works if you want to check it out listen when you go to sleep/overnight.
Keep your trip to a non spring break/ easter week. The prices everywhere are cheaper. It's worth taking him out of school. We always go the first week of march. Right before the country is on spring break.