Friday, March 11, 2011

First Time for Everything

For our Disneyland trip we did something we have never done before.

WE PAID FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP IN CASH!

We had decided to take this trip about May of last year. I started saving $25 a week. We originally planned to take this trip over Christmas as we were not able to go back to the Midwest. That fell through and Isaac got Disney money for Christmas. Our next timeframe was for his birthday, which also fell through. Next up was President's Day weekend, which I  nixed due to hotel costs. When we finally went this last weekend, we had 2 extra months of savings and gifts.

Our hotel and parkhopper tickets were prepaid before we left. I knew exactly how much cash we had to spend and loaded it onto a debit card, just for Disney.

My Disney freak and awesome friend D taught me how to share parkhopper tickets. We cut the cost of our tickets by $140.

When we got to Anaheim, my husband surprised me by pulling out a fat wad of cash that he had been saving as well. I almost cried. We took drinks into the park, so we avoided the $3+ sodas and bottled waters. We took fruit and snacks, again avoiding the great park surchages on food. We cut costs where we could, and it worked really well for us.



Because we planned and saved, we didn't worry about money ONCE the entire weekend. We paid for everything on the preloaded card and in cash. And we even came home with some!

This is the very first trip we have taken that didn't accrue credit card debt. :) I am so proud of us!

2 comments:

LabMom said...

You go girl! We have been on the fence about going to Disney for a while. We went when our eldest (now 5) was under 2 so she would be free, but now that she really loves princesses we would love to go back.

Again, want to squeak in while our youngest is still under 2 but we also need to save up to pay cash for the trip.

Glad you had a blast! I bet it was great!

Nanette said...

Awesome!