One Year to Save 2016

Alright! It's a little too soon to make any specific plans...but here's what we are looking at for 2017 vacations.

We want to take a small one in July to Quebec City. Just three or four days (I've already made hotel reservations) and I figure we'll need about $1500. If we have a bit more wiggle room in the budget, we may do a couple of days in Ottawa also because my kids have never been there.

The big financial goal for 2017 is to save up for a down payment on a house. Some frugal measures are in place to enable us to save $1000 a month for that specific purpose but that doesn't leave us anything (AGAIN next year...le sigh!) to go towards vacation, so it's all going to be Found Money once again. $1500 over seven months is easy...but of course, I never like to make ANYTHING easy!

So, my SECRET plan is to take advantage of a Labor Day deal and go back to Disney at the end of August!!

I am currently on a weight loss journey and am doing well so far. My hope is that I will continue to lose these unwanted pounds in 2017. It's possible I could be looking at a total loss of 60 plus pounds by mid August and although that would not take me to my goal weight...it DEFINITELY would be something to celebrate.

Anyway, as a weight loss reward to myself, I'm trying to cobble together enough funds to cover six nights at Disney. There's a ton of drama surrounding the agonizing dilemma of choosing a resort (they are deluxe resorts) and whether or not I should get park tickets--I may not be able to afford them but I have to decide on the package when I book and I'm not sure if I can add them later. But I'll go into that more in January.

For this trip I'd need anywhere from $2800 to $4000 depending on food costs and whether or not we get park tickets. If I put all my personal spending money towards this trip from January to August, I'd have just under $1000, so this feels doable although the higher end may be a bit of a stretch.

So that is where the land lays at the present time. I'll still be checking in to report for the next eight or nine days as I continue to scrounge up more money for next year's vacations.
 
Since my last update I have added $3.52 to my Disney fund because I...

earned $2.82 from quickrewards...
added $0.05 in Isay rewards...
earned $0 in credit card rewards...
earned $0 cash back through my Checkout 51...
earned $0.25 cash back through Zweet...
earned $0 cash back through Caddle...
added $0.40 in the vacation jar...
added $0 to the vacation account...

So the new totals are:

$20.66 in quickrewards...
$16.00 in Isay rewards...
$14.59 in credit card rewards...
$1.50 in my Checkout 51 account...
$2.50 in my Zweet account...
$5.95 in my Caddle account...
$29.07 in the vacation jar...
$0 in the vacation account...

...for a GRAND TOTAL of $90.27!!

Esso Extra Points: 4336
Points needed for $30 in free gasoline: 664

Shoppers Optimum Points: 8601 ($10 in rewards earned)
8000 points is $10
22000 points is $30
38000 points is $60
50000 points is $85
95000 points is $170

**So, I am still waiting on a $20 Olive Garden gift card as well as a $25 Disney gift card from Quick Rewards. I am beginning to fear that they will not arrive in time. If they don't...I guess they will go towards the next trip. But I hope they come in the mail sometime this week. Fingers crossed!!
 
Just checking in with you xx hope you had a fantastic trip, look forward to hearing about it!

Lots of good thoughts in your 2017 look forward- Quebec city sounds neat- I really want to get out east to the maritimes some day.
Excellent idea re-the weight loss- I've got 3-5 more pounds till I'm pre-baby weight, but I was heavier than I wanted to be pre-baby. so in actual fact I have about 25 pounds I want to loose to fit into most of my clothes again. Official weigh-in done.

Ahh yes, the money pit that is home owning...as I'm sure you remember, house prices here are crazy, and of course I didn't buy early like some of my friends as I was going to university and living at home etc, and so my houses have been bought once the market really took off...I made some (15-20K maybe) money on selling my place in Sahali, and we bought out next to the wildlife park as we could get more for our money...it is better paying your own mortgage rather than someone elses though.

We had thought about a spring breat wdw trip, but couldn't get the flights to work on aeroplan and DH is nervous re:Zika...so who knows when our next Disney vacation will be.
 



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