A VERY Nosy Budget Question!!

[Biyanna]

I'm a SAHM w/a hubby, 2 kids and a dog. We spend 5% of our income at Disney and 2% at other parks which include Universal/IOA, Busch Gardens-VA, and Kings Dominion.

 

[TinkerbellTracy]

My DH and I spend approx 5% of our income for vacations. We go to Disney every year. Twice this year. I work at H and R Block during the tax season and make an extra 7000. This money is used for our trips plus paying off a few bills! This works out great for us and it gives my husband a new appreciation of me and everything I do when tax season is over!!

 

[MikeP]

I am a SAHD, and we own a Pet Salon/ Pet store that my wife operates. We expect to spend about 5K on our Disney vacation this year which is a little less than 5%. We typically plan one big vacation, then spend a couple long weekends in San Antonio (we buy Six Flags season passes good in San Antonio as well as Arlington). Just about every other weekend we spend at our place on Lake Fork.

 

[robsmom]

I would say that we spend less than 5% a year on vacations. We are fortunate to have two nice paying jobs and we have always made vacations a priority. Lately, our biggest problem has become finding time.

We hadn't been to Disney in a few years and this year ended up with two trips (and possibly a third alone for a business trip - long story!!). As a last minute decision we spent just a few days in March followed with time at a friends home in FL. We will go for 10 days in December with my in-laws. My numbers are rough as I don't do detailed budgets. The March numbers look bad but December is looking very good.

March:
600 for airfare (3-dh, ds2 and me)
450 for hotel
250 for Univeral Tickets (3 day passes) - 2 days left
500 for 5 day park hoppers - 4 days left
300 for food
200 for rental car
Total: $2300

December
0 airfare (freqent flyer tickets for 3)
0 Hotel for disney (in-laws time share)
400 Hotel for Hard Rock
0 for Passes (purchased in March)
200 for Rental Car
1000 for food, gifts, other purchases
Total: $1600

 

[sheilap]

We aim to do WDW every two years, and we usually wind up spending roughly $5k each time, inclusive of everything - room, airfare, food, souvies, rental car, etc...With better budgeting we could do it cheaper, but I didn't know about this great website (and mousavers!) until just before our last trip this past Nov. In Nov. 2002 we'll do much better!

DH and I both work fulltime, and that is the only way that we would be able to go on vacations. We feel very strongly like *some* of you - that memories and family vacations are important. My mom was a sahm and dad worked full time, overtime, weekends, etc...so mom could be at home. Consequently, no time for vacations. I DO NOT want that for my dd (only child). We love our time together and have simply beautiful memories of our trips.

I applaude the sahm, and I applaude the ft/pt working moms - NOBODY should judge anybody else's situation.

DreadPirateK - you should watch your words. How dare you assume that I am abandoning my child???

 

[nancycels]

family of 4, but the girls are 19 and 24. This makes a huge difference. Since they work now, they kick in some of the cost of their passes(thank u girls!) and buy their own souveniers except for one or two their mother(who loves to spoil them) picks up right before we leave to use as a surprise). We have a timeshare, which is almost paid for, we bought a studio up north,but can exchange it for up to a 3 bdrm in orlando so our costs are low there as well. Obviously, the timeshare payments are monthly, we get a IRS ck that we use around 1300.(use that for our planetickets and passes); do rewards for about 6mo, that's because i save by using up my reward money for xmas gifts, so i don't need to charge anything at xmas time. We rent a car, use the entertainment card to eat out, and pick up a light lunch in the parks. Save all my change and cash it in for DIS dollars, and if i'm at the mall(which i am frequently) i take any cash i have and buy dis dollars. This year i've accumulated almost 400. that way. So, 1300. plus 400. reward programs, plua 400 Dis dollars, plus exchange fee about 100.; plus about 1000. in the bank; plus we charge our rental car. Wow, never realized how much i actually spend on vacation! We usually let the girls take a friend along too.

 

[Vderon]

I have to reply just to tell my unbelievable story. Last year, I won two free round trip airline tickets in a local contest. So, I booked a March trip to Disneyland. I had to buy my DD her airline ticket, which was $300.

When we got to the airport, they were asking for volunteers to be bumped. It started at $250 per person. I yawned , and kept reading my book. Then they offered $500 per person, and then $750. I nearly flew out my chair. By the time I walked over to the counter, it was $1000 per person, for a 5 hour delay. Of course I went for it! Then the unthinkable happened. They basically forgot about us, and couldn't find us a flight within the 5 hour time frame. They finally came up with a connecting flight that put us in California 6 hours after we were supposed to be there. I complained, of course, because it's my nature to complain when things don't go right. They gave us another $400 each! So I ended up with $4200 in free airline travel.

Last week we went to Florida for 6 days. We will go to Vegas twice (one just me and my Mom, she has never been, and says she wants to go before she dies. Leave it to Moms to be depressing.), we have a Disney/ IOA trip planned in March, and we are using the rest to go to California next year for a coaster trip ( we are members of the American Coaster Enthusiasts. )

To answer the original question, we spend about 5% of our income on traveling. I drive a 5 year old car, and we live in a moderate house, even tho we could afford a bigger house on our income. I do every online reward program that I can find, and make about $70 a month for our trips doing them. I use our tax refund every year for travel.

I love traveling, and it is my luxury. I love watching my children have these wonderful experiences that I never had at their age. I am saving over $500 a month for their college educations, so I can do these trips without feeling like I am cheating them.

When the time comes for me to buy a new car, I will probably have to cut back. For now, its Disney every 18 months or so, more often for a couple years til the airline vouchers run out.

 

[PooooohBear]

I'll be honest with you. We don't budget a certain percentage of our income. We budget for the trip as we plan it. Some years we spend more than others.

 

[MikeP]

I didn't mean to imply that we planned on spending the 5%, it just seems to be approximatley what we spend. Planning isn't our strong suit. If we planned more effectively, we could probably do much better. Our trip to Orlando next week was very much last minute. About 5 weeks ago we had plans for DW and I to go to Boston W/O kids, but the couple we were planning on going with had some conflicts so we traded our tickets and decided to take the boys to Orlando again this year.

 

[Jane E.]

We used Priceline for 5 hotel nites, a timeshare deal for 2 nites, and one night at AKL. All of our rooms nights were prepaid months before we went, as were our tix. WE drove to WDW and had the use of our car the whole time there. Most days we ate breakfast in our hotel room - we packed cereal, milk, dried fruit, fruit, string cheese, and granola bars. Then we ate a big lunch at the parks. For dinner we usually ate at an offsite restaurant (Bahama Breeze, Cafe Tutu, etc.)Some nights our teens wanted hoagies or burgers and dh and I went out to a restaurant alone. Other than food dh and I took the Keys to the Kingdom Tour. We only bought drinks with our meals - we brought in a squeeze water bottle which we refilled at the fountains.

 

[meanoldmom]

I am also a FT working mom and I am not sacrificing my children for a vacation or abandoning them to go to work. I saw some of the posts applauding SAHMs and I applaud them too. I also applaud all the WOHMs and all the dads out there who care enough about their children to want to give them great memories that come with vacations. And that my friends, has NOTHING to do with work status. I see folks from every socio-economic level on these boards and at WDW and we all have in common our love for our families and WDW. Let's not spoil it by posting derogatory remarks about certain groups of people, OK folks?

Sue

 

[dznynut]

Until recently, we too spent about 5% of our gross income on a 8 day WDW trip. Approximate expenses were:
Airfare for 3 $600
Hotel for 7 nights $1,400
Food for 8 days $800
Park tickets for 3 $900
Spending money $800

for a total of $4,500.

This year we joined the DVC and will take our first "point" trip in December, so lodging for 12 days will be "free". I have $450 in SWA vouchers to redeem towards airfare. I have $200 in RFC, PH, Gihradellis and AMC gift certificates earned through rewards programs. I have sold 4 items (that were gathering dust in my closet) on e-bay for $175. My company gives out local mall gift certificates for "big" anniversaries (5, 10, 15, 20 year etc). I got a $100 one and instantly went to our mall and got $100 Disney dollars. I have accumulated about $125 in rebates on products that I would normally buy anyway. I bought each of us PAP vouchers the month that I had 3 paydays instead of 2. The best "savings plan" I have is our flex spending program at work. I have saved all reimbursements this year for our WDW trip. That in itself is about $2,500.

I have done so well saving using the above methods, we were able to add the DCL 3 night cruise to the start of our trip. With the great discount info posted on the DIS, I got our cruise (including RT transfers) for $1,037 (plus the $50 onboard credit).

My son and I leave in 15 days for a "mom and me" WDW trip. It is his (and mine!) reward for getting straight A's all year in school (pretty tough in a Catholic school). I'm the "homework drill sargent" (as my DH calls me!), so I "have" to go! I was able to get the mousesaver $65 ASMu rate and airfare for $179 each. I'm redeeming our PAP early, so admission is "free" (I'm sure we'll get our moneys worth out of the water parks alone!). We're only doing a few PS and the rest counter service meals.

I have never been more motivated to save for anything more than I have for a WDW trip. I too feel that you are creating family memeories that will last a lifetime. Good luck to everyone in their planning and budgeting!

 

[KimRaye]

May I say that this is the most enjoyable and helpful thread I've read in awhile! Kudos to ALL of you! This might be good in the Tips Board, as well!

As far as SAHM & WOHM's, I've done both. Applause to ALL! Sometimes I wonder how I made it to WOH job!!

We went last month with a package booked just before finding the DIS for $3,600, off-site, 8 days/7 nights. Air, hotel, car, passes (for WDW & USF/IOA) everything but food in the parks, souvies, etc. Hotel had kids-eat-free at the restaurant but not at the fast-food/counter service. We only used restaurant once as (free) DD hates eating anyway! Car was an addt'l. $100 or so for gas, taxes, etc., that wasn't included (watch out there!) and, we spent over $1,000 I'm sure between meals and souvies etc. Whole trip was supposed to be covered by $6,000 IRS refund but, after trip was booked and before we left, we had a $6,000 sewer repair bill! Total vacation then became an out-of-unplanned-expense-pocket!

% wise, I guess it's about 6%??? I'm not sure about DH's annual salary! I work with a monthly budget, Net salary-wise, not the IRS numbers!

Thanks for a great thread!

 

[AnnaM]

This year I went back to work part-time. The money I make goes for vacation and school tuition. Our total household income is about $95k.

Our trip this year cost $3,500, which was scaled back because we had APs, and only stayed 6 nights at the Contemporary.

Our two previous trips ('00 and '98) were over $6,000. (we stayed at the GF).

Sometimes when I think of the money we have spent staying at the GF, I feel a little guilty. But it has been worth every penny. My husband drives a 12 yr. old truck and my car is 6 yrs. old.

Our trip in '98 we just saved for. Our trip in '00 I used money from a stock that doubled. (a little luck). For this year's trip, I saved during the year and used our tax return.

I'm planning a trip for '03. I'm saving now and also will use tax returns. Sometimes it's hard. Everytime I want to buy something for the house or clothes, I come to these boards and pull up pictures of the GF. I'm determined to go back there in '03.

 

[mickeyinjune]

wE USUALLY ONLY ARE ABLE TO GO EVERY OTHER YEAR AND SPEND BETWEEN 3-5k DEPENDING WHO WE TAKE WITH US. WE HAVE TWO KIDS 9 & 11 AND WE USUALLY TAKE MY HUSBANDS PARENTS BUT WE LUCKED OUT THIS THEY WENT WITH ANOTHER SIBILING SO WE DECIDED TO GO AGAIN THIS YEAR FOR UNDER $2K THANKS TO THESE BOARDS. MY BROTHER AND A NIECE ARE GOING WITH US SO WE ARE GETTING TWO ROOMS AT THE ASMU. SOME FRIENDS OF OURS DECIDED TO GO ALSO. (THEY ARE GETTING THEIR OWN ROOM).

MY HUSBAND WORKS FULLTIME AND i WORK PARTTIME(30 HRS.) WE GET OUR VACATION MONEY FROM MY HUSBAND CLEANING A HALL 2-3 TIMES A WK IN THE EVENING.

 

[Liltx]

SIZE=3]Attention: mommyto3, imgoingtodisney, Roll-Tide![/SIZE]

This really has nothing to do with Disney but I think you can help me with another delima. I am having budget anxiety in dealing with our family planning. My huband is an architect and I am a kinder teacher. Together we make a little over 80K a year depending on husband's bonus +or- 5k. We are now thinking about having a baby and I am worried about the finances. We live in a house that cose 14% of our income, but we do enjoy nice cars. I will continue to work. I love my job and with our varying hours a baby would only be in daycare from 9:00 to 3:00. Probably with reduced rates care of dear MIL. I just worry that we will not have enough money. I know that children take alot in both immediate and future needs. My husband says people do it all the time and they make less than us but I want to give my child the best, within reason of course! Our friends all make more than us so comparison is hard for me. Please help! Sorry to get off the disney stuff.

Thanks a bunch,
Monica

 

[Roll-Tide]

Hi Liltx,

I do understand your anxiety. When you sit down and crunch numbers on what it cost to have a baby, you run right to the drug store and fill up that prescription for birth control pills!
But you also have to understand that there are some things that are more important than nice houses, vacations, and fancy cars. I guess it all depends on what your priorities are at this stage in your life. When I had my first child, I wasn't working and my husband only made 30K. Then I decided to go back to school at night and wouldn't you know it........I got pregnant with my second son. So now we have two children on 35K. It was tough. We never ate out or went to movies or took vacations. We were only able to save about $80.00 a month. And that was a good month! But you know, I told my husband that they needed me more than they needed things. We gave them everything they needed. All the love and attention they could ever want. My kids knew they were loved! Then we moved to Birmingham and my husband nearly doubled his salary. I work as a teachers aide because I don't want the responsibility of a classroom even though I am certified. I enjoy leaving everything at 3:00 and not thinking about work again until the next morning at 8:00. It gives me more time with my kids.
For us, our children are everything. We make sacrifices all the time for them. I go w/o buying new clothes for myself so I can send one to boy scout camp and the other to sports camp.......and that is totally fine. I'm like you, we have lots of friends who make a lot more than we do. And that's okay. But that doesn't make them any happier than we are.
I've got a good friend right now who just had her second baby and wants to quit work and stay home soooooo bad! They make about 110K. Her husband won't let her. He says they can finally buy what they want w/o worrying how to pay for it and he doesn't want to give that up. They could do it on just his salary. Again, I say it all depends on your priorities. Right now his priorities are on material things.....the things that don't last.
You know, it really doesn't matter how much you make. The more money you make, the more you are going to spend. Sit down and take a look at your budget. Are their any area's you can cut back on? Going out to dinner less, buying a used car instead of new, packing lunch instead of buying, not buying new clothes or shoes as often? I bet you can come up with a lot.
I can tell you the joy you get out of having your own child is better than anything you could ever imagine! If you think you are madly in love with your husband, that love is nothing compared to what you will feel for your child! It is overwhelming! I wouldn't pass up a chance to feel that kind of love because of money.
I don't know if I have helped you or not. Having a baby can be a tough decision. For us, the decision was not ours......it just happened. It's just something you and your husband have to talk about. Sit down and look at your budget. When you have a baby, you will have to cut back. But usually it's an act of love. You don't care because you are taking care of what's really important in life........another life!

Good luck,
Kim

 

[JenniferW]

We spend about 7% of our income on travel, but most of that is non-Disney (hate to admit). We like to travel out of the country because we do not have kids yet and want to explore before we settle down. Like other people, my hubby and I both work and we are trying for a baby and plan on me staying at home, but obviously the travel and our lifestyle will change. I just turned 30 and realize we want a child more than anything else. I figure we spend whatever we can on travel as that is our pleasure for right now.

With this in mind, we never go to a full price movie or buy expensive new clothes and I often buy items at garage sales so we can pay for the travel. When we do book a trip, it's always with Priceline or with the Entertainment discount so our money gets stretched as far as possible. We live in Northern Ca and fly to DL about once a year and luckily my hubby splurged and we went to DW last Thanksgiving. There are so many ways to save money and still feel like we are going out of town a lot.

ex. going to Carson City for the weekend at 45 a night
Lake Tahoe for 12 a night camping
San Jose for 35 a night

My hubby and I both agree that right now we need to pay for everyhting as it comes or save up. We never charge anything we can't pay for immediately. We want to stay out of debt now so we will be better in the long run. Saying that, we plan on charging and owing money when we have kids. We hope to refiance our house so we can get some money out when we really need it. We pay more now so we can hopefully have more later.

My parents are thinking about going to Orlando for Thanksgiving this year and I am going to go again it looks like : ) I will pay for my flight a while ahead, usually $240 is the best fare I see, and I probably will share a hotel room with them, but will just need to pay for my own tickets which I have some days leftover already. I am spoiled rotten because I know my parents are picking up the car and most of the food. I always try to pay for things but they insist : ) Who can argue?

Jenn

 

[kristikae]

I am a poor (30k a year) single mom with 4 kids. I have been to Disney 3 times since my kids were born (won the trips). I have always promised them I would take them and this is the year. I took a part-time job (one week night and one weekend night) bartending so I can afford it. All my tip money goes into our fund. I have been saving 6 months and we are going in December.

Here is our budget. We are going for 8 days. We are going to all 4 Disney parks as well as IOA, Univ and SeaWorld.

Passes to parks - $1511.75
Airfare - $1000
Car rental - $100
Off-site house rental (splitting with friend) $398.72
Spending and food ($50/pp/per day $1750.00

 

[stacie_d]

Well, I was a SAHM, and dh was Chemical Engineer. His salarly was somewhere around 50,000 when we first went to Disney. And we spent abour 2500. Now we are both full time students (he is in medical school and I am in law school). We are living with my parents for the next few years while we are in school. Basically we are going into debt, big time. We are going back in December, and got the "Pop Century has been delayed" deal at AKL. We plan on going every year. So, if keep being very careful about what we spend, we should be able to make it on a "student" budget.