Disney for Cheapskates #4 - Gimme Monster

My child is probably just like every other child in the world. They want STUFF. Sometimes it is just for the sake of getting STUFF and nothing more. I don’t know how many times she has begged and pleaded for something she absolutely “loves” just to get it home and never touch it again. Granted if my child ever dared to utter the words “Gimme” there would be a totally different situation happening. She knows better than that mess!!  Mama don’t play that.

Now onto Disney and beating that Gimme Monster back into the deep recesses of her little 8 year old subconscious. Disney pays a lot of people a lot of money to market their products. They are really, really good at it. Like…really good at it.  I am almost more worried about MY impulse buys than T’s need for stuff.

My plan…buy little Disney trinkets BEFORE we go on vacation and leave them in the room before we leave for the day. When we get back to the room T will have a Disney surprise waiting on her!!!  

Just the few things I have bought so far:

Rapunzel dress for her birthday day. $20 at Costco. For the complete outfit at Bippidy Boppidy Boutique it is another $100!! Nope. Not going down like that. Sure she would get shoes and stuff but it isn’t like she can walk all around Disney World that day in some little uncomfortable slipper things so what is the point?!?  Only downfall…Lula wanted it SOOOO bad until she tried it on and found it to be too itchy. I threw a tank top on her and told her to suck it up and all she had to do was where it for the salon and the character breakfast and then she could change and never wear it again. Why did I do this? Why am I so mean? Because after 9 years I know her little butt and I definitely know me. We would get there, she would see all the other girls in their absolutely adorable costumes and feel left out. Then my mommy guilt would kick in because it is her birthday and I want her to feel special blah blah blah and there goes $100. Not on my watch Mr. Disney!!!

Our Rapunzel dress:

Disney’s Repunzel dress:

                                                                               

My other purchase was this adorable necklace!! And it is pretty big and opens up so I might find a little treat to go inside of it too. How much?? A break the bank amount at $1.27!! Have I mentioned that I love shopping from China? Sure I know I should shop local but this thing was roughly $10-15 if I bought it from a US based ebayer. Sorry. I have all the time in the world to wait for it to go through customs. What I do not have is money to pay THAT much more for the same product.

Other things I am scoping out is a cheap Disney notebook for autographs. The cheapest one at Disney is about $8 . I am going to hit up a Dollar Tree and find a little notebook that will work just fine!

I know that all this might keep the Gimme beast at bay but eventually he is going to poke through and want something from the park. For this T will have her very own Disney gift card (value not determined yet) so she can buy whatever she wants. Once that is used up that is it. No more purchases. I am thinking $50 should be plenty but that sounds like a lot too so I’m still thinking.

The total savings for stuff I plan on buying is a total estimate. I figure for every $1 I spend before our trip I am saving at the very least $5! Except for the dress...I know I am saving $100 on that thing. lol And I am guessing I will spend about $50 on these little gifts.

TOTAL SPENT: $1143.50

TOTAL SAVED: $2467.06

Disney for Cheapskates #3 - HOTEL

So how did I manage to get a High end Disney Resort for 5 nights for only $119.60 more than the Value resort price??

Ok, there is this thing called DVC. Or Disney Vacation Rentals. Basically Disney World timeshares. People buy packages for X amount of points to be used towards their hotel during trips. Just like normal timeshares sometimes the owners can’t make a trip that year or just need a little extra cash so they sell the points that they have. This is a 100% legit and reasonably priced scenario.

Most of the time there is a set price ranging from $9-16 per point and there are lists of how many points it takes per night to stay at the different resorts. Usually the lower ones being already booked rooms for certain dates or from individuals. 

I chose to pay the higher price and go through a broker because there are risks!! Scary, poor people don’t have time for that , risks.

The reservation is in your name. You get all the reservation information and can log into the Disney website etc etc etc. BUT…the reservation is still under control of the OWNER. They can cancel it, stop making timeshare payments or just whatever and you can lose your money and your hotel room.  By going through a broker I might still be at risk of getting there and having no reservation BUT the broker guarantees my money and I will be refunded in full. If I booked through an individual it would be just me and Joe Blow battling it out over my money. And I would hate to have to track someone down and take it out of their butt if there happened to be an issue.

It is just safer for all parties if I don’t run the risk of losing a hotel and my money!!

I decided to go through  http://dvcrentalstore.com/ to book ours because they allow a ½ of cost deposit with payment due in full 45 days before the trip.

We will be staying at the awesome Animal Kingdom Lodge !! Check it out! It is awesome!! Lol

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/animal-kingdom-villas-kidani/rates-rooms/

We would have paid $881.40 on the value resort. We are paying $1001.00 for the Deluxe Villa. Normally this room for our dates would have cost us $ 2784.40!!!

Since we could have got it cheaper I am figuring that our savings between the regular cost and the DVC cost minus the $100+ over the value resort cost will be my savings. J PS- you can only use the DVC points at the higher end resorts so it won’t work if you wanted to stay at the value one. 

TOTAL SPENT: $1073.50

TOTAL SAVED: $2187.06

Disney for Cheapskates #2 - TICKETS

Disney tickets will always be one of your biggest expenses on a Disney World trip. It is what it is and we all pay it so blah.

I have scoured the internet and forums for any way to make this expense at least a little less for my gang. There are definitely places that claim they have cheap tickets but I am too chicken to use them. I can’t imagine showing up the big day and getting rejected because you have a bad ticket!! Man that would suck!! 

Florida residents get pretty good deals too and trust me, I thought about every way imaginable to “get away” with getting and using these cheaper tickets but in the end …I’m a big chicken and can’t do it because I would hate to be the one person trying to get off cheap and ruin it for everyone doing it legit like. 

So here is what I came up with:

Buying them outright from Disney is going to cost us $953.19

Buying from Undercover Tourist : $ 944.85

So then I remembered Six Flags tickets we got on the arsenal one year. Dad went and bought them and we used them. They have Disney tickets too!! And you are very much able to use the regular tickets without a member of the armed forces present!! (It is not the heavily discounted tickets that they can use but still less expensive and no tax)

Buying on base : $875

Then I did more research…..

Ok , there are websites dedicated to selling gift cards at a discount. Look at target ones!! You can usually save 7% on the face value when you purchase them. PURCHASE THEM!! Lol

Step 2: Go to target and use these gift cards to buy Disney gift cards !!

Step 3: make sure you have your Target Redcard for another 5% discount.

Step 4: Go to the Disney website and buy your tickets with the Disney gift cards!!

I haven’t DONE this yet but it is all over the internet and if it works I will pay $838.81 for two adult and one child 4 day pass!! 

Disney for Cheapskates #1

For about 2 years now I have wanted to take T to Disney World. Specifically bring her on her birthday. This year it is going to happen!!! She will be 9 and I will never be able to top this. She is being set up for years of disappointment but a week of pure princess fun!

We are doing this on a budget…and I plan on helping other “money tight” families learn how. We are splurging on a few items so I am interested in a running total of how much we spend and how much someone could spend if they took out those “THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!” splurges.

To date I have only set up two things for sure:

1)      Disney pins on ebay. 10 for $12.74. $1.28 each.

You can read all about the pin trading here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_pin_trading

Basically pins cost around $7.95 and up. If we waited until the day we were at the park to buy them it would total $79.50 to purchase in order to trade!!! CRAZY! Not happening. This was we spent about $13 bucks and Lula will have a memory that lasts a lifetime. And cool pins!!

2)      Eating out for less!! Let me say this...I have no shame and will not hesitate to pull a sammich from my fanny pack if it saves us a butt load of money!! I first looked into the Disney Dining plan… I thought it would be awesome to always eat at the parks and not to worry about money while we were there but $515.75 for the cheapest plan they have is it really worth it?? Not for us. So this is what I did.

Resturants.com offers discounted gift certificates. I had some that I had purchased years ago and never used so I was able to exchange them. They NEVER expire either which is great!!

·         $15 L’ italiano’s Chicago Pizzeria & Italian Restorante

·         $10 Geneva Pizza

·         $25 one80 Sportsgrill

This cost me nothing but would normally run (with a coupon code that is readily available about $9-10 ). There is a catch. You have to spend normally twice as much as the gift card when you go. After going through the menus and coming up with a plan our meals should come to about $109.25 including 15% gratuity. $59.25 after gift certificates!! The best part is that it is PLENTY of food for us to pack up and take for lunch/snacks at the parks the next day. So for the three of us we are looking at roughly $19.75 each  for 2 meals a day for 3 days or $3.30 per meal. Um…YEAH I’ll take it!!

So that is all that is confirmed so far. Coming soon:

·         How to get discounted tickets

·         How to get a Disney Deluxe Villa for the Value Resort price

TOTAL:

Disney pins

Paid : $12.74

Normal Cost : $79.50

SAVED: $66.76

2 Meals a day for 3 days

Paid: $59.75

Normal Cost: $109.25

SAVED:  $49.50 (but actually will save $456.50 by not doing the meal plan. )

TOTAL SPENT: $72.50

TOTAL SAVED: $523.26

Love, cohabitation and fighting fair

Just a few things I have learned while being in my relationship with my manfriend....

1) You CAN work through things if you subtract everyone else from the equation and focus on the only two people that matter in a relationship. Outside interference whether it be a concerned friend, a meddling family member or a trifling bitch. GET THEM OUT!!

2) Don't make promises you can't keep. Not wanting to hurt your loved ones feelings tends to make it hard to be honest. Trust me, broken promises and deception hurts your partner WAY worse than just saying "I don't know" or "I will try. "

3) It is OK to say no. Again, feelings and not wanting to tread on them will make you do crazy things. Ex: "Oh yes! I would Loooove to go hiking with you" when in reality you can't stand the idea of being eating alive by mosquitos, sweating your balls off and climbing up the side of a mountain. IT IS OK TO SAY NO!!!

4) It is also ok to do things apart from each other. In the new relationship, when hormones and googly eyes are abundant, you want to do EVERYTHING together. You can't imagine not doing everything together. The times you can't be together you are sad and lonely and maybe even feel guilt. You are two different people. Had two different upbringings. It is ok to do two different things occasionally.

5) Always include your special person. Even if you are doing two different things, come home and tell them all about it! Sharing your life doesn't mean losing yourself.

6) I always read about this in articles about "how to have a strong relationship". I swear it is in EVERY SINGLE ONE. ....never go to bed separately. And I always think that that is some BS. Rarely do manfriend and I go to bed at the same time. I'm an 8-5er...he is a night shifter. Even if he isn't working those hours much anymore that is what he is use to. And honestly, I prefer to fall asleep alone and have him come to bed later. It works better for us and as long as I get my tuck in and good night kisses or a loving sweet dreams text on the nights he is working I am happy.

7) Fight fair!! I've learned there is no need to raise your voice during an argument. Sure sometimes you might get heated but if you both stay calm and think about what you say before you spill word vomit then the argument should not escalate to something that can't be solved in a short amount of time.  It is easier said then done sometimes, but don't bring up past issues. IF this happens more often than not then the past problems were never solved and need to be discussed and resolved.

8) When deciding to coexist in one location, pet peeves should be discussed prior to moving. Sometimes this is IMPOSSIBLE because you don't know that something drives you absolutely batshit crazy until it is being done. In this case, discuss them as soon as possible.

9) Touch!! The human touch can do so much for the spirit. Hold hands. Run your fingers through their hair. Give little kisses on your way past each other. Do this often and every single day!!

10) We have said two things from the start of our relationship and I think it has helped us tremendously. Baby steps and One day at a time. When you are so obsessed with the future or the past there is no way to live in the NOW.

 “As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love - even the most simple action.” 
― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

I am by no means a relationship expert. I won't even pretend that we have a perfect or even close to perfect relationship.I am learning and adjusting every day. We both are. All I can say with absolute assurance is that he is worth it. Loving him and being loved by him is worth fighting for. 

Running

Running...

I use that term loosely as I seem to be able to walk faster than I can run.

Regardless...

I MISS IT!!

I've ran this year. One 5 k in which I did my worst time in history but I was dragging an unruly and tired 7 year old with me. I am so proud that BOTH of us finished and she is actually asking me about the next one but it was HARD to get through it.

My race watch battery is dead, I have no clue where all my other running gear is besides my sneakers and I am apparently very much out of shape which I realized yesterday doing yard work.

The manfriend made a comment (while I sat on the couch dying) about how I use to run 3 miles everyday and had actually got up to 9 miles at one time before I stopped. Yes, that 9 miles took me nearly 2 hours but dang it, I did it!

My best 3k time was 38 minutes. And after that one I felt like I should have pushed myself more. Like I knew I could do better. I actually ALWAYS feel like that after running. It's like I can't get my mind into pushing myself during the actual run...but I'm willing to try again.

I'm looking forward to kicking butt again!!

Summertime

So today was the last day of school in my area. My daughter and I opted to let her stay home with her Aunt Sissy and "skip" it.  I've also decided to let her "skip" public school all together and will be homeschooling her next year. I know me, and I'm terrified. I know I get my mind set on something and I do it and then the boredom sets in. What if it happens with this? What if halfway through I'm like "F it!" and fail my own child? THAT IS TERRIFYING!!! But I'm going to do it.

I'm also thinking of becoming more hippie like. Yep. Moving closer to my dream of living off the grid. We already have the garden started. The manfriend has done WONDERFUL on it!!! I will update with pictures once I get home today.

And my friend is going to teach me about canning foods so none of the awesome goodness of the fresh veggies and fruits go to waste.

I'm looking for ways to save money, cut corners, and slide off the grid. Unfortunately most of the google searches I do (ex: 100 ways to save money, Frugal living etc etc) are lists of things there is NO way I could do or I already do. Seriously...I'm pretty cheap. Ok...I am am REALLY, REALLY cheap. I have dug out my e-cig though and am attempting to quit smoking again. It is really the only BIG money saver I can do right now. I guess I could cut out drinking...bahahahhahaa. No.

I'm researching ways to cut down on my utility bill. Mom swears by her bubble wrapped windows.

I am going to research cheaper means of cable or being able to watch all our favorite tv shows. Can't miss the final season of Sons of Anarchy!!

Just a bunch of little things and big changes going on in my neck of the woods right now. Wish me luck!!

PS- Still weighing in at like 164. I got down to 163 for half a second earlier this week but nope. That is gone for now. Ugh.