Do you have any tips or tricks for funding family vacations? What are you doing now to save?

We always keep a big change jar in our house (it's a clear pickle jar). All the coins we get go in there, and once a year we cash in and use it for a weekend away.

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We also use the jar trick.

We also have kids do extra chores to earn their own spending money.

Buy your trinkets ahead of time. We are going to WDW(sorry but the kids are looking at it is a surprise still) and I am getting autograph books and other trinkets ahead of time. I also brought everyone disney theme shirts. I will not bring them out until we are already there. I also purchased the thin raincoats, just in case. I got everything in trades or from garage sales.

We also put all and any extra money we did not expect into the vacation fund no matter how small. I just put in $1.00 that I found in an old purse I was going to donate.

If you want to eat out do lunch or breakfast. they are both much more expensive than dinner.

allgirls

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

We're planning on going to Disneyland again next year
The kids lovee it there soo much.
If we get anything back (income tax) we're using that as vacay $$.

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What I do to save either for traveling or "just in case I need money" time is I have $50 from each paycheck put away into savings through direct deposit with my work. I have the rest go to checking. I get paid 2 times a month, some months 3 times. So Im saving $100 - $150 each month. It really adds up quickly.

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Alex & the spider monkey

I am a travel agent so thankfully I get discounts at a few places, we stayed at the Nickelodeon Hotel during the off season, we got a 2 bedroom suite for $120 per night and it usually goes for at least $350 per night if not more. My teeny tiny tip, You could stay at the Nick hotel for the entire time you are in Orlando and have enough to do!! The hotel is completely and totally amazing!!

Everytime you save with big coupons...Greater than $1.00....put that into a savings account.

Ebay....whatever we sell on ebay....that goes into our vacation account as well!!!

Everylittlebit adds up!

I am accually thoinking about getting a job for the holiday rush = vacation $

I guess my tip is really for saving money while on the trip...

Instead of staying at the theme park hotel/resort...stay outside the theme park and get a suite with a kitchenette in it. Most hotels near a big attraction will have free shuttles anyways. We usually buy breakfast itemsfrom a local grocery store or eat at the complimentary breakfast, buy packable lunch items and carry that into the park with us then splurge a little on dinner in the park.

Sandra

Sandra

We are going to use anything we get back from income tax. Also, we have a dicover card that we use for everything and pay off at the end of the month. We get the cash back once a year and we save that for a trip as well. We are planning a trip to Hawaii next May and so that's what we've been working towards.

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Laronda

on your way to destination if you are driving pack sandwiches and goodies that way you don't have to stop to eat and spend money that you don't need to.

give each kid an amount of money for buying things and that is all they get once it is gone to bad for them...it will give them an idea of how to save money and only buy things that they really really want!

plan out your trip...if your activities are planned you wont spend extra money when you get bored

stay at a place with a pool or near the beach, and buy GOOD sunblock

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Danielle

These are great tips!! We are actually using our tax return to go to Disney World in March. (it pays to live in poverty all throughout the year for that big tax return in February). Also, I got a part time job at Target to get us through the holidays and save extra money for the trip. We're driving down with friends and splitting the cost of gas. We're also packing sandwiches, snacks, drinks, all that good stuff.

The kids have birthdays in September and October. Any money they got for their birthdays automatically went into their savings and they were told that they had to save their money for Disney. My daughter has saved $235 so far. I'm also Ebaying a lot right now. That's going towards the trip as well.