How far would you go

[GlitteryOtters]

Travel is our biggest hobby, but we're on a tight budget so we do a lot of the things mentioned here.

We have only 1 car (Prius bought used) & use the bus or walking a lot to reduce wear & tear on the car and our budget. Husband works close enough to home (less than 1 mile) that he can walk or bike in good weather. I take the bus exclusively and do not drive.

We garden at home as much as we can to reduce costs on produce.

We are vegan and mostly cook from scratch avoiding fake meat products & find it a lot cheaper than buying packaged foods or expensive cuts of meat or cheeses.

I do a lot of batch cooking & freezing of meals and baked goods and we periodically do "eat out of the freezer & pantry and do not grocery shop" weeks to make sure we eat up all the freezer meals and keep the pantry supplies rotating.

When we travel we try to eat at least 1 or 2 meals a day in the hotel or from packed lunches to reduce cost. We bring along snack foods just in case, too, as my husband is type 1 diabetic and sometimes needs something quick & you can't always find vegan options at the drop of a hat.

I earn Amazon & PayPal GCs via Bing & Swagbucks and use them to fund the trip and supplies needed for the trip.

I also do surveys on e-rewards for Southwest frequent flyer points to help pay for part of our travel. In the past 12 or 13 months it (plus points earned from travel) has bought me a free Detroit to LaGuardia ticket & a Sacramento to Orange County ticket. Also, my mother has the Southwest credit card & used it for everything and usually accrues more points than she needs for her annual travel so she often gifts us a transfer of her points to help us travel.

At DL we are staying off site to reduce costs & planning 1 meal plus 1 snack per day in the park & we're staying close enough to return to the hotel for a meal and a rest when needed. We try to do this for most places we travel.

I shop sales and use coupons & allow 50% of the savings to go into my travel fund. My main grocery store lists the $ saved each trip right on the receipt, so I automatically transfer half of that amount into our trip fund. I also use the Ibotta & checkout51 apps and transfer my cashed out deposits right into our trip savings account.

We skip having cable, just use Netflix & deposit the savings directly into the trip savings account. We also don't go to the movies often, but when we do we either go to the matinee discount showings or go to the local art house theater where we have a joint membership (with discounted tickets!) with our housemate.

Also, we share a house with a good friend which not only reduces monthly bills, but we trade off dog care with her when we travel. This week she is at a music festival so I am on dog care duty, in October she'll do the same for me when I head to CA to see my mom, sister & Disneyland.

Husband takes his lunch to work or pops home to eat (on days he drives).

We seldom eat out, brew our own tea or coffee at home to skip coffee shop prices, and even make some of our own juice at home, partially using ingredients from our garden. Instead of buying bakery treats like rolls, bagels, breads I have out bread machine do the dough making & shape and bake the treats myself. I also make batches of banana breads, cranberry breads, zucchini breads, etc., when the main produce ingredients are cheap & store them pre-sliced in freezer Ziplock bags so my husband can take a slice to work as a snack & can skip the tempting & expensive vegan muffins they sell at his work.

I cut and color my own hair myself & husband hates getting his cut, so he gets it cut short once every 6 months & just grows it out until it bothers him.

I book hotels via hotels.com and take advantage of the 1 free night's stay for every 10 night stays.

Instead of using our credit union's debit card we use their rewards credit card & transfer funds to pay for our purchases the same day, then we use the end-of-the-year cash back bonus for travel.

We shop thrift store/clearance/Cyber Monday sales for most of our clothes, or buy a trip t-shirt or sweatshirt as our one souvenir item.

Instead of buying a bunch of souvenirs for ourselves when we travel we each usually just buy one thing we like for ourselves & keep an eye out for cute small trinkets or trip souvenirs we think the other will like. We buy them and hide them away until Christmas and stuff them in each other's Christmas stockings.

 

[Puget Peach]

We are two seniors doing the “Golden Girls Retirement Plan”, meaning we decided we could share a house in retirement to save money and have companionship. Being on a fixed income, we still want to treat the grandkids/nephews/nieces to Disney trips. We make it work by:

We only take one grandchild/niece/nephew at a time and that child gets our undivided attention for the duration of the trip.

We drive from NW Indiana to save money on air fare and rental car, and stay in my timeshare (not Disney).

We do 5 day park hoppers to make sure our guest gets to do as many attractions as possible (that means the last day we need to split between the Magic Kingdom and Epcot) and buy discounted tickets from a reputable seller as soon as we can to avoid price increases

We do simple breakfasts at the timeshare, much of which we bring from home. Coffee, Tea, Hot Chocolate, Cereal, peanut butter, whatever fresh fruit we have, and buy bread, milk, cheese, sandwich meats, etc. from the Publix close by. The home supply also give us healthy snacks on the drive.

The two adults share quick service meals OR order kids meals in the parks and let our guest have whatever they want to eat.

We do one character breakfast, Tusker house or Crystal Palace (with early entry) are our favorites.

I carry protein bars with me, and everyone else carries whatever they want for snacks (brought from home), planning on one purchased snack per person per day.

We drink only ice water (free at any time without purchase) from quick service locations. We find water is too heavy to cart around and soft drinks are the worst thing to drink in Florida heat.

On shorter days (Animal Kingdom/Studios) we do dinner and laundry in the timeshare, usually salads, sandwiches, and fruit, while watching a Disney DVD or two and a nice evening swim.

We purchase an age appropriate T-shirt and a few souvenirs on sale from the Disney Store website and present them upon arrival in Orlando.

This has worked well for us. None of our grandkids/nieces, nephews are from affluent families, and for most this is the only time they visit Disney. They are thrilled when their time comes up and love the one on one special time and memories with their grandmother and favorite “aunt”.

 

[Colleen27]

Frozen better than fresh???? Depends on where you are buying your fruits and veggies. We buy from local farmers. If the veggies and fruits are in season then buy fresh. If not then buy frozen but it must be marked "US Fancy" which is the highest grade. Those marked US No 1 or IS No 2 tend to be poorer quality. We try not to ever buy frozen but we also visit the farmers market 3-4 days a week.

I'm pretty sure that poster was referring to grocery store fresh, not farmer's markets or other local sources. For us frozen produce is usually from my own garden surplus or the farmer's market, blanched and frozen at home. So it is frozen while still very fresh and generally much better than the "fresh" stuff we can get at the grocery store in November or January or March.

 

[mondragon]

I'm pretty sure that poster was referring to grocery store fresh, not farmer's markets or other local sources. For us frozen produce is usually from my own garden surplus or the farmer's market, blanched and frozen at home. So it is frozen while still very fresh and generally much better than the "fresh" stuff we can get at the grocery store in November or January or March.

all we grow are peppers, tomatoes, many herbs and we have a few lime and lemon trees along with grapefruit, papaya and avocados.

 

[EvieBug]

I was actually going to do the pantry thing for no reason other than I have a ton of food and I just keep buying more every time I go to the store. I think that's always a fun challenge to do every once and a while!

and if it saves a little money for a fun trip....bonus!

I think I need to do this - there are probably enough soup cans in my pantry to feed my family for 3-5 days... and it needs a clean out!

 

[Colleen27]

all we grow are peppers, tomatoes, many herbs and we have a few lime and lemon trees along with grapefruit, papaya and avocados.

I'm a bit jealous... I'd love to be able to grow my own avocados, but it is too cold here for that (or citrus). I keep a pretty nice sized garden - zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, onions, green beans, peas, eggplant, acorn squash, melons, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries - but we also have great farmer's markets nearby so I get my corn and extra peppers, tomatoes, and green beans for freezing/canning that way.

 

[KJMAX1]

I was talking about your local grocery store. A family member of ours is a farmer, and sells millions of strawberries a year to stores. We also have a friend who owns orchards of peaches, cherries, apples, and pears. Both have told me it takes about 5 to 6 days between sorting, packaging, etc to store. The both sell to major food chains, and also Whole Foods. Our friend says his peaches and cherries are picked, washed, sorted and frozen within 5 hours. If youre not getting it directly from your yard, or some farmer you know, then you might want to read this article. In our town, we have two farmers markets. The farmers who travel here over the mountains come on Tuesday. They picked Sunday to Monday. They also stay in town at various markets in nearby towns, and come back to us on Friday. They haven't picked more, its still the same inventory.

http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition...ozen_vegetables_are_we_giving_up_nutrition_fo

 

[QVCshopper]

How far will I go to save money? I guess pretty far. I detest wasting money and spending more than I have to on just about anything. This really doesn't have to do anything with Disney though.

For example, a new Panera Bread opened yesterday near our home. They announced the first 200 customers would get a bag of goodies. My DH stopped on his way to work; he got the bag with a mug, coupon for 5 free coffees, and coupon for one free bread every month for a year. He emailed me what he got, which I read an hour later. So, I got the kids up and headed over to Panera at 8:15. Got the same bag of goodies. And you know what? My friends think we are silly for taking advantage of something a new store was offering up to anyone. But, now we have free drinks and two loaves of bread a month for a year--and it only took us a matter of minutes.

Other things I will do--buy something again and return at the higher price at Target (mostly clearance), use coupons, not spend any money for a set amount of days in a month, check gas prices before stopping for gas, pick up coke codes and Kellogg's codes from other peoples recycling, pick up money on the ground, forego certain ingredients and food if I think they are too costly, buy mostly clearance items for Christmas presents for the kids and store for months ahead of time, line dry my clothes even though I have a completely functioning dryer, keep my heat low and my AC high, take free food offered by friends or after group events, refill drinks at restaurants within reason/share drinks among family members, not flush the toilet much, wear the clothes I have... I could go on.

Most people laugh at me and say we will reach a certain dollar amount one day, but we passed that a while ago. It's sorta funny to me how so many people find me ridiculous one minute and than complain to me about money the next. I grew up poor and put myself through college; it was tough. I don't worship money, but it's to be respected and valued. I offer some people help, but they usually run away when I tell them some of the things that I do.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

MREs can be heated up right on the sidewalk with your can of sterno. Bring the can opener from the creamed corn.

Ah.. now we could all learn a thing or two from the infamous "Corn People". Wonder what ever happened to them?

As for us we squirrel away pocket change and then take the jug to the bank just before our trip. Two months before our trip we limit our dinning out spending to Subway or dine out on a Sat. for lunch when food prices are cheaper. While at Disney we always rent a car to eat off property. If we eat on property we usually schedule a late breakfast (10:45) reservation so that it serves as both breakfast and lunch.

In Jan I opened 2 SWA CC to get the 100K offer. Then did creative spending to get the other 6K needed to reach Companion Pass status. So now we fly for $11.20 roundtrip for the next two years!

 

[mondragon]

How far will I go to save money? I guess pretty far. I detest wasting money and spending more than I have to on just about anything. This really doesn't have to do anything with Disney though.

For example, a new Panera Bread opened yesterday near our home. They announced the first 200 customers would get a bag of goodies. My DH stopped on his way to work; he got the bag with a mug, coupon for 5 free coffees, and coupon for one free bread every month for a year. He emailed me what he got, which I read an hour later. So, I got the kids up and headed over to Panera at 8:15. Got the same bag of goodies. And you know what? My friends think we are silly for taking advantage of something a new store was offering up to anyone. But, now we have free drinks and two loaves of bread a month for a year--and it only took us a matter of minutes.

Other things I will do--buy something again and return at the higher price at Target (mostly clearance).

How far will I go to save money? I guess pretty far. I detest wasting money and spending more than I have to on just about anything. This really doesn't have to do anything with Disney though.

For example, a new Panera Bread opened yesterday near our home. They announced the first 200 customers would get a bag of goodies. My DH stopped on his way to work; he got the bag with a mug, coupon for 5 free coffees, and coupon for one free bread every month for a year. He emailed me what he got, which I read an hour later. So, I got the kids up and headed over to Panera at 8:15. Got the same bag of goodies. And you know what? My friends think we are silly for taking advantage of something a new store was offering up to anyone. But, now we have free drinks and two loaves of bread a month for a year--and it only took us a matter of minutes.

Other things I will do--buy something again and return at the higher price at Target (mostly clearance), use coupons, not spend any money for a set amount of days in a month, check gas prices before stopping for gas, pick up coke codes and Kellogg's codes from other peoples recycling, pick up money on the ground, forego certain ingredients and food if I think they are too costly, buy mostly clearance items for Christmas presents for the kids and store for months ahead of time, line dry my clothes even though I have a completely functioning dryer, keep my heat low and my AC high, take free food offered by friends or after group events, refill drinks at restaurants within reason/share drinks among family members, not flush the toilet much, wear the clothes I have... I could go on.

Most people laugh at me and say we will reach a certain dollar amount one day, but we passed that a while ago. It's sorta funny to me how so many people find me ridiculous one minute and than complain to me about money the next. I grew up poor and put myself through college; it was tough. I don't worship money, but it's to be respected and valued. I offer some people help, but they usually run away when I tell them some of the things that I do.

ewww... Not flush the toilet. So now you have to use extra water to clean the urine stained toilet. You really take this money saving seriously. We just rarely go out to eat unless on vacation. That is how we save.

 

[hsmamato2]

I'm pretty sure that poster was referring to grocery store fresh, not farmer's markets or other local sources. For us frozen produce is usually from my own garden surplus or the farmer's market, blanched and frozen at home. So it is frozen while still very fresh and generally much better than the "fresh" stuff we can get at the grocery store in November or January or March.

Yes. in summer season where I live, it's all about the local fresh produce...in fall/winter/spring, we buy fresh also, but a staple is frozen fruits and veggies- they are usually frozen quickly after harvest,and better quality than a green bean that was picked 3 weeks earlier and trucked to my state in the middle of January... in the summer I buy 2-3 times a week locally to get that fresh goodness....

 

[mi*vida*loca]

My number 1 thing I do is not attend every function I'm invited too. I have a big family but they are low key. But my boyfriend has a big family and a big group of friends that loves to celebrate everything. It's great and I love attending but it gets to be excessive after a while. So I've cut back especially this summer since our trip is so close.

I was invited to something every weekend in June, July and August. Some weekends it was Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. No way no how. For each event I would either have to take a dish, a drink or a gift.

We also limit eating out. I used to be the queen of eating out but now that my kids eat like adults it's way too costly.

 

[mondragon]

Yes. in summer season where I live, it's all about the local fresh produce...in fall/winter/spring, we buy fresh also, but a staple is frozen fruits and veggies- they are usually frozen quickly after harvest,and better quality than a green bean that was picked 3 weeks earlier and trucked to my state in the middle of January... in the summer I buy 2-3 times a week locally to get that fresh goodness....

Buying frozen is fine as long as you buy the right frozen fruit/vegetables. There are different grades. Most grocery stores like Walmart and target will not carry and fancy grade (I think that's what it's called). We find ours at either whole foods or fresh market.

 

[Colleen27]

If youre not getting it directly from your yard, or some farmer you know, then you might want to read this article. In our town, we have two farmers markets. The farmers who travel here over the mountains come on Tuesday. They picked Sunday to Monday. They also stay in town at various markets in nearby towns, and come back to us on Friday. They haven't picked more, its still the same inventory.

We're fortunate to live in an agricultural area so the farmers markets tend to be stocked with things picked yesterday or the day before. Most of the vendors at my favorite market farm within 50 miles of the market. They pick Thurs & Fri for market on Saturday, then again on Monday for the smaller Tuesday market. And they often sell out of high demand items before the end of the market day - I'd never suggest someone go at noon if they want eggs or apple cider or paste tomatoes or strawberry jam.

 

[mondragon]

We're fortunate to live in an agricultural area so the farmers markets tend to be stocked with things picked yesterday or the day before. Most of the vendors at my favorite market farm within 50 miles of the market. They pick Thurs & Fri for market on Saturday, then again on Monday for the smaller Tuesday market. And they often sell out of high demand items before the end of the market day - I'd never suggest someone go at noon if they want eggs or apple cider or paste tomatoes or strawberry jam.

We have many farmers markets Belarus. One you literally go out to the fields and pick it yourself. Very fresh and never older than a few days.

 

[DisTXMom]

Reading this thread, we are not very creative.

I buy water and snacks for the hotel room/backpack and we skimp on souvenirs. Other than that, it's just basic saving.

 

[mondragon]

Reading this thread, we are not very creative.

I buy water and snacks for the hotel room/backpack and we skimp on souvenirs. Other than that, it's just basic saving.

We bring our own water and snacks for the baby. We don't eat a lot of snacks in the park (I find those dole whips disgusting and way too sweet). We contribute a % or our salary to vacations and any bonuses go there.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I do the Swagbucks/Target gift card/Target Red Card algorithm, as I like to refer to it haha. I sign up for any sort of points/reward program that gives away Target gift cards, so I'm currently using Swagbucks, Shopkicks, and mPlaces. I also use eRewards for Southwest points, which offers direct 2 hour flights to Orlando from our airport. On a day to day basis I use Checkout 51, Ibotta, Saving Star, Snap by Groupon, Mobisave, and ReceiptHog to accumulate more points/dollars. I also coupon and match to sale flyers. Some people consider this a hassle and too much work, but I really love it! It's a game for me figuring out just how much I can save us.

It's just the two of us, but we enjoy staying Deluxe and having the Deluxe Dining Plan when we go to Disney. Any vacation, Disney or not, is about great food for us, so we are not going to budget and skimp on meals when we travel. The only other thing we do is send snacks and breakfast items to Disney before we go. We do this more because we just prefer to eat breakfast in our room/we'd rather use our table service credits for 2 credit signature meals rather than breakfast. Also, I'm the type of person who just eats all day long, so I like to have granola bars, goldfish, etc. to snack on in the park as we walk around.

 

[QVCshopper]

ewww... Not flush the toilet. So now you have to use extra water to clean the urine stained toilet. You really take this money saving seriously. We just rarely go out to eat unless on vacation. That is how we save.

True, and I am flushing more, just not every time. Don't like wasting water... but it's not saving me any money now because our sewer company recently switched the billing and now charges a flat rate, which we usually have only used half of after all is said and done. Used to save a lot at my old house though... So, here's to flushing more I suppose.

 

[leebee]

True, and I am flushing more, just not every time. Don't like wasting water... but it's not saving me any money now because our sewer company recently switched the billing and now charges a flat rate, which we usually have only used half of after all is said and done. Used to save a lot at my old house though... So, here's to flushing more I suppose.

Doubling up on flushing isn't that uncommon. I grew up in a house with a cranky cesspool/septic system, so minimizing waste water was STRONGLY encouraged so that the cesspool didn't have to be pumped as often- although saving water was a side benefit, I guess. We had 2 bathrooms for 6 people- parents used the one off their bedroom, kids used the main bathroom. The "rules" were that you flushed all solid waste. If there was tp/liquid waste when you went in to "go," you could flush. If the toilet was clear/empty when you went in, no flushing... "save" it for the next guy! I guess it sounds a little gross to us now, but when we were kids we didn't think anything of it, it's just how we lived.

To save money for/at Disney... One week every other month, we live out of the freezer/pantry. Keeps down the waste and gives me space for more food! We also have returnable bottles, so anything from there goes into the change jar, which is specifically for Disney trips. We cycle the Southwest 50000 point credit card offers (me, DH, DD) so we always have a ton of points available for airfare. I also have a Disney VISA card (with DD and DH as secondary users) so we rack up points there, too. Both of these save me a decent amount of money... last time we went to Disney, our airfare was about $36 (airport fees) and our food for the first 4 days (of a 5 day trip) was free due to VISA rewards. We usually stay offsite with a rental car, which I get by stacking codes and coupons, and we get the smallest car that'll fit us. It's a huge savings over staying onsite at Disney, even with parking charges. Besides, we hate the Disney bus system so always want to have a car, even when we are staying onsite (but don't always get a car unless it fits what I am willing to pay). We eat breakfast in the room (plenty of space in the suitcase, which flies free on SWA), take snacks, use britta/bobble water bottles or get cups from counter service while in the parks. We also share meals in the parks. It's just too much food, especially if we are traveling during the hottest months.

There are other things... no smart phone, DH and I have basic tracfones, no expensive hair salons/mani-pedis, drive old cars (9 and 11yrs old right now), fix our own appliances wherever possible, etc., but that's just how we live and not something we do/give up for a Disney trip. DH fixed two different problems on the washing machine this winter- saved us two repair bills OR the cost of a new washer- YAHOO!