Couponing to Disney

I follow this blog (and Facebook page) called Couponing to Disney because she and her family are obsessed with all things Disney, much like my husband and me. She has a "Grow Your Fund" challenge that encompasses a couple of different things:

1) Budgeting
2) No Dining Out
3) De-cluttering
4) Minnie-mizing for the mouse

All these things are meant to help you "Grow Your Fund" to go to Disney. If you are thinking of going out to eat and you decide not to, you put that money in your fund because mentally, you'd already spent it. Same for movies, things you think of buying, etc... If you fall under your budget, you put the extra in your fund because you don't need it. And working on walking and losing weight is always helpful for a Disney vacation because you'll be doing a lot of walking, so it's good to condition yourself. The decluttering part I don't participate in because we declutter often enough that it's not something we need to do right now.

So I'm going to be adding my Grow Your Fund information to this blog so that I'm even more accountable for growing our Disney fund, especially since we'll be needing to tap that fund come December 24th of this year! So on the side I've added a little spot for me to keep track of what we've saved and I'll account for it here. For example, I put $300 away today for my scheduled savings, plus $13.42 because our utility bill came in under what I'd budgeted for it. That brings me up to $751.53.

Our goal is $1,320. Here's our breakdown:

1) $300 for gas, a little less if prices stay around where they are right now
2) $120 for two one-night hotel stays halfway to and from Florida
2) $336 for 2 two-day Disney tickets
3) $150 for a third and fourth day if we decide we want it
4) $50 for gas while we're there
5) $100 for food for two days at Disney
6) $50 for a third and fourth day (those would likely be shorter days so we wouldn't need as much in-park)
7) $214 left over for incidentals and for our Christmas shopping in-park

My Christmas shopping is done for everyone. All that's left is the Christmas shopping we do for each other and for Scarlet at the park. I'm thinking we'll be able to make our goal if I do my couponing really well and keep our food budget to about $75 per month! Whew!