How do you save spending money for your cruise?

[deeolasingh]

:D

No five dollar bill that crosses our hands gets spent. It goes right into the jar. Easy to save $50 and up a week that way, and you hardly miss it. That's for the spending money

 

For the actual vacation, I automatically put 5% of my take home in a special vacation savings account that I have to mail the money too, and make a 1 1/2 trip to the bank to get out - makes it inconvenient to get to and it doesn't get spent until it's time to pay for the trip.

 

I like this idea...... I have a totally free checking account that I deposit 50.00 a week into but Im going to get a jug of some sort and start putting in all 5.00 bills I want the kind of jug that someone mentioned about being able to put in but not take out...:p

[szdiver]

Every night my dh comes home, I raid his change. It adds up more than you can guess. Also, dh has a special savings with bonus money to pay for the cruise.

[truecruiser]

Wow! you guys are disciplined! i don't save at all! (pretty bad, i guess). i spend what i spend, and i don't worry about the credit card bill until i get home (which i fortunately already paid on line for the S&S expenses for our recent 2/17 sailing).

 

i shld plan better. some of you have some great ideas.

[GoinCruisin]

Wow! you guys are disciplined! i don't save at all! (pretty bad, i guess). i spend what i spend, and i don't worry about the credit card bill until i get home (which i fortunately already paid on line for the S&S expenses for our recent 2/17 sailing).

 

i shld plan better. some of you have some great ideas.

 

It's easier for me to plan for it... I pay cash for everything, and don't use credit cards (except for our business cruises, where I use my corporate card)... I take the money from my savings, minus the interest, and transfer it to a debit card for the cruise... the interest stays in my ING account. I like being able to get home from the cruise and know there won't be another bill coming, LOL!!

[DASA]

" I like being able to get home from the cruise and know there won't be another bill coming, LOL!! "

 

Thats what i'm talking about !!!!!!!!!!:D

[truecruiser]

" I like being able to get home from the cruise and know there won't be another bill coming, LOL!! "

 

Thats what i'm talking about !!!!!!!!!!:D

 

 

even if i did break my "spend at will" addiction and actually start to put separate funds aside for cruising (which, BTW, is a very good idea), i'd still use my credit card to rack up the rewards points.

[samickgirl]

I have a few different ING direct 4.5% savings accounts... and one is called "Vacation funds", LOL... I have money transferred into the account every month. I also have one of those "vacation funds" jars that I keep all my change in, and I turn that into cash and use for tips, etc.

 

I also do the ING direct savings weekly usually about 50, and then each month when the child tax credit comes (100) that goes in too. We save our loose change especially twonies and loonies(yes I'm from Canada):) I love seeing the funds grooooww!

[lgerrish]

For the first time I am trying my mom's idea - envelopes. I have one for each port and when it gets "filled", by putting some money in each week I seal the envelope and then I go on to the next one. Our cruise is in August and all port envelopes "are filled" and now I'm working on casino money!

 

I think what ever works is great - our ds (15) is saving "extra" money he gets for his spending. Enjoy! Jan

 

Jan,

I never thought about saving $ for each port. I have $ taken out of my paycheck and deposited into my vacation account. Have a great time on your 30th anniversary cruise (we are cruising April 15th for our 30th).

Lynn

[gigglebabe]

I have a big 5 gallon water jug that all change goes into every day from myself and DH, when it's about half full, we roll it up, this last time we rolled it, it had over 400.00 in there, all for cruise spending.

 

I to buy dresses off ebay, big savings. I have two teen daughters, talk about dresses, proms, formal dances, beauty pagents, you name it, now the cruise, this will be their first one. So I bought them nice dresses to wear each evening for supper, and of course a formal for the Captain's Dinner. So far I have bought 10 dresses off ebay for them, and haven't spent over 80.00 yet. I ain't about to complain ;)

 

I also got out four envelopes, and when the girls got paid, they put a certain amount each week in there, and the DH and I did the same, this to was added to our spending money for on board and ports.

 

We leave in 15 days!! We can't wait.

 

We put the cruise's on a credit card, and have it paid in full before we go. We just divide the price by how many weeks til we go, and we make a payment on the card every week. Not just once a month.

 

Then when we go to ports etc, and what we have left in our envelope's when we come home, is paid immediatly on the card for whatever we spent on board on the ss card.

 

We don't gamble, so we save by not doing that to :D ...we mainly go for the good food, wonderful ppl who are on board, all the nice ppl you meet and make friends with, the sun, the beaches, the different ports we can visit. It's just all in fun for us.

 

But I did play a quarter slot machine at Atlantis just to say I did...ehehhee

 

Debbie

[MamaParrotHead]

But I did play a quarter slot machine at Atlantis just to say I did...ehehhee

 

I'm not a gambler by nature, either. We went to the Jersey Shore with the kiddos last summer. We ventured to Atlantic City for part of one day and were attempting to hit the boardwalk. It was HOT, so we ducked into one of the casinos (the Tropicana, I think) to escape the heat and get something cool to drink. Plunked about $5 into a nickel machine and won $65! WOO HOO! :eek:

[collector]

We take the advice of Suze Ormond to always break a bill. We take the change from the bill and put into a special bank. Our son bought it for us for Christmas because he knows how much we love to cruise. It counts the change as it goes in so we can see how it builds. We also put everything we buy on our credit card with the cash back and pay it off every month. We take the bonus when it adds up to $100 and put it into our ING account to earn interest. We save all our coupon savings and any other "found money". Any time we get money that we don't expect, we put it away. So far this has worked for us to take 9 cruises.

[Sue L]

For years we gave the kids lunch money everyday for snacks and such. Now that they are both away at college we take the lunch money and put it in an envelope. 40$ a week really adds up.

 

For the casino (I love the slots) from the day I book a cruise I put all my change in a ceramic jar that I bought years ago at a craft fair that actually says "Cruise Fund"

[cruisers5]

Any money that I save with using coupons when I grocery shop goes into the cruise fund.

 

I allow myself so much "spending money" per week - if I don't spend it all by next pay day the "left over" amount goes into the cruise fund.

 

I belong to a few places on the net where you get paid for fill out survey's or emails - I cashed in over $200 last year in June and have almost $200 accumulated again which I will cash in before we cruise in November.

[Corsair41]

I tryed to sell my Husband once for extra spending money, but after sitting in the front yard all day with a for sale sign on him, there was still no takers, it started raining and i felt sorry for him so i brought him back in the house, i guess i'll just start saving my change instead.;)

Hey! Jeez, if my DW sees that, I may be next!:rolleyes:

Actually, we just have $50 automatically deducted from our checking every week and put in the ING account. By the time Legend sails in December, we'll have about $2300 set aside for spending money.:D

[caribbean dreams]

oh I also forgot...

our house is too small & cramped (but still bigger than what we grew up in) so we stay cramped rather than buy a bigger house with a bigger mortgage.

 

y

 

I have the same feeling about that, our house is just the right size but it is old, i would love to have a new house,which we could afford but it would mean cutting out some vacations:rolleyes: NOPE! can't do that, i'll be staying in my old house on the old side of town.

[3boysvus]

I cut coupons and put any coupon money or store savings card money into the vacation fund. My grocery store prints the amount saved at the bottom of the receipt and that amount goes right into the vacation fund.

 

We do this to, with 3 boys, 2 dogs, and a constuction crew to keep in water and gatorade we managed to save, from the grocery store - $1748 last year, and to that rebates, and change - we'll have the cruise paid for and about $2800. Our theory is take the cheapest cabin we can and play HARD!!!:D

[jixjix6305]

for the poster that wants a jar like ours..

The jar we have is one of those gallon jars of wine...

we make a little roll of the money and put it in. When it hits the bottom of the jar, it unfurls and cannot be shaken out....

the only downside is...I had to drink the wine first...

[thehittgirl]

I live in a trailer with no mortgage.

 

I always save the coin change broken from dollars. I am opening up a bank account with Bank of America and enrolling in keep the change program where they round to the nearest dollar and deposit your change so you can save up.

 

I buy the fun ship dollars.

 

I think I'll try the wine bottle idea too!

[CBussey64]

I just booked my first cruise for one year from today and here's what I'm doing.

 

For the actual cruise, I use my medical reimbursement fund thru my employer. Unfortunately I can easily get enough receipts to pay the balance due (after the deposit is paid) ...

 

I buy 50.00 of funship dollars every payday (well I started today) and over 26 pay periods until I cruise, that's 1,300.00 ... which should be PLENTY for the 2 of us to spend. DH is a recovering alcoholic and I don't drink but once a year maybe so we won't be wasting dollars on booze.

 

I also put 50.00 a pay period into a envelope for airfare ... so it is not a big chunk when it's time. I don't use credit cards (hate them) ... and DH has his but pays it off every month so we're good in that respect and would rather save.

 

What I've done to start saving:

 

Quit my monthly scrapbook box of goodies ($45.00 a month)

 

Stopped my monthly pedicures :( ($35.00 a month) ... can do my own until the cruise

 

Throw ALL extra change and bills into a big jug

 

Really scrutinize ANYTHING I might think of buying ... because what is more important ... a new shade of eye shadow or another pair of shoes I won't wear or saving????

[caribbean dreams]

We have enought money to not worry about the spending BUT this is not a free for all for my kids, who are young adults and do come with us and pay their own way but often can not come up with much extra spending money so they go around washing cars in the neighborhood and doing odd jobs, they even got some stencils and spray paint and went around painting house addresses for people on the edge of the sidewalk, also to save money they buy their formal dresses at the second hand store.

[Peaceful]

I started selling odds and ends on eBay. It is amazing how fast such things at small prices add up. An old handbag here, some fabric yardage that didn't get used there...plus, it helps keep me organized. No matter what I sell these things for on eBay, it's more than I would get if I had a yard sale, and truly not that much trouble! So far, I have just left the money in the Paypal account.

[walkswife]

I have a full time office job and a part time waitress job.... I can't put all my tips away but what ever comes in change plus $5 a night... usually three nights a week plus my $3 and hour:rolleyes: paycheck (really waitresses don't do it for the wages ... it's all about the tips) gets stashed for cruising.... that's spending money.....

 

cruise itself is usually a combination of tax refunds and anything I can scrounge up at the end of the month after bills..... we do usually end up putting a little on the old Credit Card but in the end it gets paid for.... Credit Card bills are just a fact of life for us and our Discover Card remains at 0% as long as I use it three times a month (no problem;) )

[CBussey64]

I also wanted to add;

 

I quit going to the gift shop in the hospital where I work (and they do payroll deduction) ... found out this past 12 months I have spent close to 4,000 (YES FOUR GRAND) on gum, books, magazines, earrings, jewelry sales ... CRAP!!!!

 

I also cut down using payroll deduction for lunches at work (I work 5 12 hour shifts a week and eat 3 meals here .. ) it was costing me 100.00 per pay period ... so in the 26 pay periods leading up to my cruise, that's ANOTHER 2,600 I can save ... plus it's healthier to bring my own lunch.

[elizablake]

We save a little each paycheck too.

About 6 months before a vacation, we always make a list of the things we will need (sunscreen, new clothes, etc). Then I can look for the stuff on sale and we don't have a big shopping bill last minute.

[woohoo4ue]

Make sure you know when those lottery tickets EXPIRE. I made that mistake. :)