Allow me to suggest that anyone reading this post has the money for both a passport and a trip abroad. The trouble is you're probably spending that money on something else. :^(
So let's share some ideas on how you can stop spending money on stuff you don't really need - so you'll have that money available to spend on the stuff you really want. Please add your tips in the comments.
Car payments
Let's start with a long view. For many people, the car payment's the biggest check you write each month after your mortgage or rent payment. But it's the easiest one to mine over the long haul for vacation money. Here's what you do: Drive your current car into the ground. Don't trade it in for a new car (and a new loan) after you've paid it off. Keep driving it for as long you can, until the a repair bill comes in that's greater than the remaining value of the car. That's when you'll know it's time to buy.
Here's the trick, though. Keep making your payments in the meantime, even after your current car is all yours. You won't make the payments to the bank, of course. You'll make them to yourself, by putting the money into a savings account.
Once the car's dead, if you've driven it for several extra years, you'll likely have enough money in the bank to pay cash for a new (or slightly used) and fuel-efficient car. (Save at the pump, too.) You might even have some money left over. If you do - that's your trip money! Keep stashing cash every month, and you'll be able to pay cash for your next car, too. And the car after that, and after that. You'll never have to pay interest on a car loan again. And, the leftover money - the cash each month that would have gone toward loan interest - will be yours to pay for theme park trips.
Pay TV
Okay, I live in Southern California, where I get more than 60 high-def TV channels over the air, free. When I want to watch movies or cable TV shows, I turn to Netflix or Hulu. (Amazon Prime's another option.) I watch ESPN online. What I don't do is pay for cable or satellite TV. Even with the Netflix cost, that still saves me hundreds of dollars a year that I can spend on other entertainment I like more than "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo." If travel is more important to you than the Travel Channel, try going without cable or satellite for a few months. Worst comes to worst, someone will give you a sweet "introductory" deal to get you back if you can't hold out, saving you some bucks on the monthly TV bill.
Food and drinks
Going out to lunch on a workday? Pack a lunch instead. Cook and freeze meals on the weekend so you won't have to go out when you're busy during the week. It's cheaper. Gotta go out? Get a glass of (free) water instead of buying a drink. Buy a reusable water bottle and refill it, instead of buying bottled drinks. Cutting soda out of your life will save you money, calories, and weight. What's not to like about that? Brew a cup of coffee at home and skip the trip to the coffee store, too. Saving five bucks a workday on soda, coffee or lunch adds up to $1,250 a year. You can get a round-trip air ticket between Chicago to Tokyo and a two-day Tokyo Disney passport for less than that. DisneySea, here you come!
Play the rewards game
This tip's for advanced savers. If you can pay off your credit card every month, go ahead and get yourself a rewards card that helps you get points or credits for your theme park trips. Airline or hotel-branded cards, or affinity cards from Disney or Universal, can help you get points with each purchase, and often throw in another bunch of points for signing up. These cards can be good deals only if you avoid high interest charges by paying in full each month. Many cards will hit you with a high annual fee after the first year, so make sure that the benefits you'll be getting are worth that cost. But 30,000 free airline miles can buy you a free trip round-trip ticket at certain times of the year, right there.
For more travel tips, please visit our 100 Travel Tips for Visiting Theme Parks and How to get the best deals on theme park tickets pages.
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Now this was when auto industry was on the bottom and sales were real slow on new stuff so i was able to get a killer deal. But the deal is always going to be slightly used over new for saving money and getting that uses less gas is good as well.
An with free over the air TV the picture is better that most HD cable, plus for now its still free.. Having hulu and other streaming service or even redbox can save money each month.
all good things but if you use the extra money to pay off debit first and live like no-other then you can live like no-other.. Dave Ramsey saying..
Now Ryanair are on their 3rd attempt to buy Aer Lingus the Irish flag carrier. This has been turned down twice by the EU on competition grounds but they appear to have a really good case this time.
This is important for one reason only !! Ryanair want Aer lingus for their Transatlantic routes these include Orlando etc... Ryanair are promising €99/$99 dollar fares one way including taxes.
With the ryanair model their are usually some catches and add-ons but this will drive the price up to the $300 dollar return fair price.
Now picture a family of four going on a two week holiday to orlando who are currenly paying an average of $600 per person to fly now being able to do so for $1200 for the family v $2400.In short if Ryanair win their case in January the number of tourists travelling from Europe and multiple times rather then once a year could seriously increase and have a serious impact on tourism. I know Im keeping my fingers crossed
Cars: Missing in the advice is the amount of money spent for a car. Don't buy more car than you need.
Car loans can range from 4 to 6 years. Try to pay off early. If you want to retain ANY resale value of your car, sell before 10 years and 120,000 miles. Otherwise, drive the car as long as possible without consideration of a replacement car especially if you don't have a deposit for new car.
Thus, there are tradeoffs to consider for the 2 paths to take. That deposit money can go to a nice new car, or you can take that precious trip to Europe.
Pay TV: Get a bundle package with TV, phone, and Internet. Avoid Pay Per View. Use Redbox. No premium movie channels like HBO and Showtime. I got DirecTV for the Sport channels and I avoid going to live games (saves on tickets and parking).
Lunch: I usually pack my lunch. I usually cook during the week and eat out on the weekends. The dinners I cook might have leftovers that I save for lunch.
Rewards Cards: Don't have too many. Too many rewards cards means you never accumlate enough rewards in any one card to take advantage. I prefer DiscoverCard since the rewards are actual dollar rewards that I can exchange for merchandise, cash, or gift cards.
I think the trick to managing money isn't just controlling the numbers. It's also about controlling the urge for immediate satisfaction. It's so prevalent in today's culture to want things now. It's what drives people to pay $12.00 to see a movie that will be available on DVD or Netflix in a month, or what makes them decide to agree to a high price or a bad loan so they can take it home, or what makes people stand in line for hours and pay full retail price for the new Iphone with bugs that still need worked out. It's the worship of goods...handing over our mind and self control to stuff. It's really easy to do in the age of endless and easy credit, and it's also the surest way to spend our working lives getting nowhere financially and running on a hamster wheel.
It's amazing how much money you will find in your pocket when you truly ask yourself the question with every purchase... "Do I really need this right now?"
And that ride would be....?
:)
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