Today’s Money Saver Monday idea is brought to you by Jessica a Disney Guru fan that has an AWESOME money saving idea that is sure to help you be on your way to saving! Thank you Jessica!!
My name is Jessica Heistand. I’m 26yrs old & a working mother of 14mo old twin girls so money is pretty tight in my household. My husband works the night shift so he’s able to stay with the girls during the day to save on daycare. Before we had the girls my husband & I took many trips a year (sometimes a week at a time) to Disney. We love it there. When we found out we were pregnant with twins we were so excited & scared at the same time. “How are we going to afford everything” was the question we kept playing in our mind over & over again. We knew all along that we wanted to continue our yearly vacations to Disney even after the girls came around (and especially because of them…what a great experience to have with your children). So here was the question. How are we going to afford our vacation to Disney on such an overly tight monthly budget? I thought and thought and thought of many things we can cut out to save money, but nothing was practical or realistic. I was about to give up on the idea of Disney for a few years when one night it just hit me.
My strategy for saving money
I pay cash for everything. I have a huge jar at home so everyday I empty my purse of all the coins I’ve collected throughout the day & also include $1 bills. At the end of every month I roll all my coins & head to the bank in exchange for bigger bills. The money that I have collected I immediately head to our grocery store where they have Disney gift cards. My savings ends up equaling anywhere from $25-$75 so I buy the gift card accordingly. I know that if I don’t do this there’s no way I wouldn’t end up spending the cash. By buying the gift cards I know that that money is there to be used toward our hotel, food, souvenirs etc. At the end of the year we have enough gift cards to pay for almost our entire trip & sometimes the whole thing. I currently have $375 saved up in gift cards for our next trip. I hope this helps a few people as it’s helped me.
Jessica Heistand
Do you have a Money Saver Monday tip you would like to share with all of our Guru fans? Contact Kelly at Kelly@thewdwguru.com with your idea. We would love to hear from YOU!
