Do you divide up your money by each day?

[gucci]

in answer to your question mercy we had a fantastic time even tho we were there during the attacks. We have decided to return every second year dis asmu this year wanna do boardwalk in 2003. Just a reminder to some as well you always have your room card if it gets to the point you are hungry and have no money left you can then go to the check out the next day and pay for it from your extras envelope. If we hadn't done it this way we would have been in debt up to our eyeballs. But we were able to go on a disney vacation do everything we wanted and this was all only planned 5 mo before we left. we came home with cash and not even a penny in debt.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

I have a sheet of paper for each vacation with columns for the date, plans for the day and then on the far end I have columns for motel/food/gas/other with the amount budgeted. I then have a line underneath where I post what we actually spent each day so I can tell if we are on budget or under or over. We always come home with some left over as I plan for 'things to come up'. My theory is that if you watch what you spend you can stretch your money to fit in MORE FUN!!

Slightly Goofy

 

[baileybrad]

DisneeDad, if you don't understand it, then you are not one of us and you may have just eaten too much on the "day" that you "ran out of money". So to answer your question, so I can't eat? The answer is "no soup for you". You would just have to wait until the next morning when that day's envelope is cracked open.

Seriously, this is just a very simple way of tracking money budgeted and spent on a trip. Obviously, there is some flexibility in any budgeting system. What obviously works for many of us and leaves you "missing" isn't for your family. My question to you is with your "strict food budget" if you ever did run out of "food" money before your vacation ended, would you be unable to eat. One other thing, if you are never behind under budgeting system, is it really budget or just a large chunk of cash?

Those old envelopes tell me at the end of the trip whether I can lower my "daily" amounts on our future trips. I just have to take the chance of my little ones having no dinner if I budget too low on a future trip.

This is not for everyone but just another option in planning a WDW trip.

 

[Poohbear123]

I Keep a Spiral Notebook and before I go, I write how much I can spend on each meal! I usually go over 5-7.00 per meal, and if I have any leftover, I put it in the Souvenier area. Last year, I came home with 140.00 of my money! Once, on a 3 day trip, I only spent about 60.00 on food for those 3 days!

 

[KaraJade]

disneedad...... I think the idea is this. Last trip, we were on a pretty strict budget for food, but didn't want to have to eat at the food court for all our meals. I had a very strict idea what we could spend each day. Every night I had to sit down with all of my checkcard reciepts, to total them all up and see if I am over/under for the day and for the week so far. If I'm over, thats fine, but there goes my souveniers budget.
With the envelopes idea, instead of having my money in my checking account, its in envelopes. At the end of the day all I have to do is count up the leftover money to see how I'm doing.
If I personally did it this way, I'd still have at least a minor amount in my checkcard's account, which I carry everywhere, so that If I ran over at that moment, I wouldn't be stuck.
Wow I'm making this sound a lot more complicated than it is! Hope that helps though

 

[crazyforpooh]

for our Christmas trip.

I found this worked very well on our last trip and in fact I use this method on all vacation trips. It helps to keep within budget and possible come home with some $$ in your pocket or extra $$ to spend before leaving for home.

I also have a envelope a day for our DD this is her money to spend as she wants.

Do you also make up all your mousekeeper envelopes too? We do.

I just hope I'm budgeting well for this Christmas trip. $200 per day for a family of 3, $20 per day in DD envelope extra on our Busch Gardens and IOA day because we have never been before.


OH I can't wait till 12/20.

Laura

 

[cboudre1]

I didn't realize so many people did this. I withdraw $200 from the ATM machine every other day. I split into 2 envelopes. What I don't spend from that day goes in the next day's envelope. If I run out then I put it on the credit card or charge it to the room. That way I know how much over budget I am. I use to put travelers checks into envelopes but now I use the ATM machines instead.

 

[Tigger's Friend]

We do the Envelope-system as well. Once I have booked the trip Mom & I start our envelopes. By the time our trip rolls around we have prepaid the whole thing. By having the envelopes filled ahead of time it is like the trip is "free". We have one for Tiffany Town Car, one for Tips(includes bellhops and maids) and one for spending money. For spending $ we set aside $100 per day for each of us(Mom sets aside cash, I go the route of travelers checks). The spending $ is for everything- gifts, meals, shows, etc. Some days we spend under the $100 so for the other days that we go over there is the money to do it. We never scrimp and we always come home with money. In my opinion, envelopes are the way to go.