"All it takes is faith, trust, and a little pixie dust..." (and some hard work!)

Current swagbucks total: 4,360

 

 

So, I don't want to pretend like it's easy for us to save for a Disney vacation. We are not well off (though we have everything we need and many things we want) and my husband just started a new (commission based) career a year ago. Somehow, though, we always find a way to save for Disney.
I don't know if it's the feeling we get when we see this--

 

or this--

 

 

or see our children's faces look like this--

 

 

(haha. Ok, so that's one is a joke.)

 

 

Before I start giving you some tips on how to earn Swagbucks, let me give you some of our other saving tips--for going to Disney World and for saving in general.

 

1. Keep a cup on your dresser and drop all of your loose change and bills (if you can spare them) in the cup at the end of the day. You will be shocked at how the change adds up when you finally fill the cup!

2.  I am not a credit card fan, but if you have a ton of self control like I do--I got an offer for an interest free credit card a year ago.  After the first purchase (of any amount), they gave me enough reward points for a $50 gift card in their reward store. You also earn 1 point for every dollar spent.  I uses this card for most of the purchases I make during the week. However, the key (for me) is that every time I buy something with my credit card, as soon as I get home, I log onto my account and pay the card off (it helps that my credit card is connected with my checking account). For our last Disney trip, I had enough reward points to get a $60 gas card for our 12 hour trip to Florida.

3. At the end of everyday, I log on to our banking account and transfer the change to savings. So, if my balance at the end of the day is 753.85, I transfer 85 cents to our savings account. It adds up fast and we never miss it!

4. Another savings plan we just started is the 52 weeks savings plan. The first week, you save $1, the second week $2, third week $3, and so on and so on. At the end of the 52 weeks, you will have saved $1408! I'm only on week 5 and I'm sure it will be a little tougher near the end, so we'll see. Still, a good idea!

5.  Look for a discount on your Disney trip. Disney offers various discounts throughout the year. My favorite discount is the Free Dining discount that gives you free food for your entire vacation. I know that some people bring their own food to save money, but it just seems like a hassle for me with a 4 and 1 year old, and we like eating at Disney. So, we would spend money out of pocket on food at Disney, but free is even better! They also usually have a room discount that gives you a certain percentage off of your stay.

 

(Dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney)

6.  Stay at a value resort if you stay on Disney property. Disney has 3 tiers of resorts--deluxe, moderate, and value. I don't think I could ever (unless I had a TON of extra money) stay at a deluxe resort in good conscience. It's the frugalist in me. We are in the parks all day, usually, except at nap time and bedtime.  Our value resort rooms have always been clean and cute. Plus, the value resorts (there are 5) themselves are much more child themed (in my opinion) than any of the other resorts. Our favorite value resort is All-Star Music.

 

 

7.  Earn points on Swagbucks that you can redeem for gift cards.  If you don't want to use Swagbucks for your actual vacation, they have gift cards for Target, Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, Starbucks, and many, many other places. You could always take the money you saved by using the gift cards instead of cash and put it in your Disney fund!

 

A trip to Disney is still expensive, but these tips can help you save the money you'll need AND pay less for your vacation!