Creative ways to save for a Disney Holiday

Saving is a big part of our agenda, especially when it comes to saving for a Disney holiday.  Disney holidays, whether that be Disney World, Disneyland Paris or even further afield, do not come cheap.  This is why we have adopted some creative ways to save for a Disney holiday.

You can of course, adapt your savings to any type of holiday!

So, do you want to know some Disney saving secrets?  Here are my ideas, some we have used, others we have yet to try out!

Budget

One of the first things to do when it comes to saving, is to budget.  Without budgeting, you don’t know what your spending your hard earned cash on, and therefore won’t be able to create a Disney savings plan.

Budgeting allows us to all figure out what we are spending.  For example, how many expensive coffees do your purchase a week when out and about?  These £3-6 drinks mount up, and can really make a dent into your spending.

Sitting down and figuring out what your money is spent on can potentially help you making those first steps towards saving for a Disney holiday.  A Disney savings chart is also a great place to begin, including where you need to budget.

Sell unwanted items

Earning any extra money can be fun!  Selling unwanted items is something that we have been doing on and off for years, and is quite enjoyable!  Anything that the children outgrow, be it toys or clothes, I ask the question: is it sellable?  We’ve sold many a piece of furniture over the years on  Facebook marketplace including blinds, side tables, clothes and nursery furniture.  I also have a Spice Girls book signed by all the girls that I will be attempting to sell very soon.  See what is gathering dust in your shed or garage and ask yourself if it is worthy to sell.

Pound jar

This is a great easy idea and one we have adopted over the years.  Anytime we have a pound after spending something at the shop, we pop it into our pound jar.  To ensure you don’t get tempted, make that jar one that you can only open if you smash it, or open with a tin opener!  By doing this over 1 year, we managed to save £500!

Countdown jar

Another idea similar to the pound jar, is the countdown jar.  Depending on how many weeks you are away from your holiday, put away that amount per week.  For example, if your holiday is 35 weeks away, put £35 into the jar, £34 the following week, and so forth.  If you book a last minute holiday, do a days countdown instead.

Loose change left over

Again, similar to putting a £1 away, you can always put any loose change away.  It doesn’t have to be a £1.  So if you have many 1ps, 2ps etc in your purse or wallet at the end of the week, get saving and pop it into your Disney vacation savings jar!

Loose the takeout!

A couple of years ago, I was a sucker for a takeaway.  Like, it was legit once or twice a week!  Yikes! Think about how much we were spending on food!  If you love your curries, Chinese or KFC, then consider whipping up your own recipe or get inspiration from recipes online.  We do just that and now only get a takeaway once a month, saving about £100!  It’s totally worth it when you see that money adding into your Disney savings.

Cash back sites

Something that we don’t use often enough, is cash back sites.  Some sites you can earn back quite a nice lump sum, especially on large purchases like holidays or on big items such as furniture or appliances.  We also get this option through Matt’s work with either a savings, discount or cash back option and we often forget to use it.  So this is a reminder to myself!  It’s a great way to save, earn and get some money into your Disney savings pot.  Some sites include TopCashBack and Quidco.

Use Vouchers or Coupons

Online shopping is a great way to save money, giving you more money in your saving pot.  Websites such as Raise allow you to search for the latest coupons when online shopping.  I suggest than when you shop, only buy the things you really need.  But if there’s a way to save on the price, then why not!  Sometimes vouchers and coupons are not overly advertised so you need to search around for these promo codes to take advantage of this saving technique!

Subscription services

2 weeks ago, I sat down and decided to stop all my subscription services that I had become not that bothered about.  I have been using Birchbox for 2 years now and whilst I enjoy receiving it, Disney is more important.  So I cancelled it. Thats a saving of £12 per month.  I have also cancelled my Disney Cakes and Sweets subscription service, which was costing me £25 per month.  I was using the subscription for about 4 months which was fun, but I couldn’t keep up with the magazines and was finding that I wasn’t using them quick enough.  I now have 20 magazines full of recipes and lots of new cutters and equipment, which I am, for now happy with.  And I’d now rather use that money for Disney savings!  Finally, after 3 years of using a food subscription service, we’ve cancelled it.  Thats a total of nearly £50 per month saved.

Food shop

We used to shop in Morrisons, but we realised that when we introduced Aldi into our lives, we were getting far more food for our buck than at any other superstore.  I know some people may prefer to shop elsewhere, but we love Aldi and save about £35 per week on our weekly shop.  Consider switching to a lower priced supermarket such as Aldi or Lidi and see how much you can save!

Bank account  – saving pennies

Some bank accounts actually save every time you spend.  You bank will round up your purchase to the nearest point and then put away them pennies for you into a savings account.  Check with your bank to see if this is something they can offer you.  Another great way to save for a Disney vacation without you even realising it!

TV packages

Are you paying for unnecessary TV packages? Do you actually use Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime?  Or perhaps you only use TV packages and can actually ONLY use these streaming services.  If so, you can actually cancel your TV licence if you are not watching terrestrial TV.

Sales shopping

I’ve really cut down on spending money on clothes, although I do love an online shop!  But, if myself or the kids need clothes (of course, we’ll need clothes before a Disney holiday!) then I tend to wait for a sale before I purchase.  It can be really frustrating when you see that you brought something and only a few weeks later, the sale has begun and you could have saved £££ on your purchase.  So if you can not be tempted, wait!

Charity shops/Car Boots

Another way to save money on purchases is to buy from a charity shop.  Depending on what you need, research local charity shops in your area and see where else you may be able to find that item your looking for.  Local to me, there is a fantastic children’s charity shop, full of beautiful clothes and walls full of toys.  Not only is it a lovely place to visit, but it is also giving to charity, which makes that purchase even more worthy.

Another place to visit to get your purchases is a car boot sale!

Search the house for old currency!

Have you been on holiday recently and think you may have some currency knocking around?  You may have quite a bit to put towards your Disney holidays savings.  We recently visited Disney World and came back with several hundred dollars.  This is now converted straight into Euros and is spending money towards our Disneyland Paris holiday.

Check out purses, wallets and even down the sofa!  You may find a surprise!

Take on extra work!

If your place of work allows overtime and you don’t mind working extra hours, apply to get some extra hours in.  Or do you have another idea in mind?  Most of my evenings I spend blogging as not only is this my hobby but it is also my business.  I do this most evenings now and I am able to earn money.  How about taking up an ironing job or work a few extra hours in a bar?  Some jobs you can even work from home such as transcribing or data entry.  Earning any extra money is another idea to add to the creative ways to save for a Disney holiday!

Thanks for reading xxx