How can people ever afford Florida holidays??

[flortlebap]

DH and I are lawyers aswell - must be some link between having a serious day job and the escapism of disney (Most people at work are at my disney love )

Nobody at my work gets it either, except one non lawyer

I have a stuffed mickey on my desk, lol

 

[BlondeViki]

DH and I are lawyers aswell - must be some link between having a serious day job and the escapism of disney (Most people at work are at my disney love )

Same! When colleagues ask where we're honeymooning and I tell them, I get very odd responses (apart from one other Disney nut!) usually around the 'but you don't have children'.

I definitely believe that it's escapism for me

 

[kevin harrison]

Here's a story...

Before our kids came along we visited twice, the first time was at the age of 28 and the first time I had had a holiday in 13 years! always staying in cheap locations, took us ages to save.

Then my daughter came along and we scrimped and saved to go again.

Then my son came along and he became very sick and still is suffering to this day. We lost very penny we had ever saved or inherited looking after him. If we had known this was going to happen, we would never have gone to Florida - but we were not clairvoyants!

We were under severe stress and luckily a friend at the HRH gave us a severely discounted rate twice and a family member paid for flights for us.

I started to raise funding for specialist treatment abroad for my son and sadly - someone on this site (I think i know who - when my solicitor gets the IP address from the newspaper in question, the person will be sued - a little warning ) , posted a terrible message on a newspaper website running our story claiming I had spent £10,000 a time on holidays and had been for 10 years in a row ! - a complete lie. This stopped someone who wanted to help my son helping him...

We have no chance of going again at this point.

So my point is, people should not judge, as we have seen, many of us have given up a great deal to have a family holiday.

Back to Austria for treatment for two more weeks in August, no break this year ! hopefully my son might get a little better!

 

[Holstar]

I really do feel your pain!

I'm 23 and half way through my degree, I work part time at John Lewis, four evenings a week... My boyfriend works full time, but only earns £15k a year. Living is... tough.

But, when you know you want something, you find a way of making it work.

I've been saving for this holiday for years. For us and for our nieces who we're also taking, this really is a once in a lifetime holiday - after this, we need to start doing all those 'grown up' things like saving for a mortgage, weddings etc.

But, we see it as a sort of investment (Not just in our sanity! We need a holiday!) in our family. We're really close to our nieces, and we play a big role in their lives and raising them... this is all about creating memories that will last a life time - I personally think that's worth way more than the odd meal out or a couple of glasses of wine every night.

It is possible - but for us, and perhaps for you too, it's not something we could have just decided to do spur of the moment and be able to get the money together just like that.

I opened a savings account with my bank, and set up a standing order to transfer £X every month, and then at the end of the month, I'd transfer what ever I had left too.... My boyfriend did the same. We have money pots that we pop money into when ever we have a £2 coin or a 50p piece - it soon adds up and we take it to the bank every couple of months. It feels amazing seeing your savings add up!

Plus, whilst you're saving, you have so much to plan and look forward to - even if it is years away... You can start looking at restaurants, shows, whether you want to do a dolphin swim, or go on a hot air balloon ride - you will love the planning almost as much as the holiday, and it will make you want to make those little sacrifices!

Honestly? It still terrifies me that our holiday is going to cost us the best part of £10k once we factor in spending money, car hire and other park tickets. But... it will all be worth it, it's our dream after all!

Happy saving! It will be worth it in the end

xxxxx

 

[jtlover]

Back to Austria for treatment for two more weeks in August, no break this year ! hopefully my son might get a little better!

Hope he does get better and you go again to Florida soon x

That is the thing with Disney, it puts a smile on all our faces whatever our Circumstances are. Takes us out of reality and everything is magical and Disney think of everything to make the place special.

 

[kevin harrison]

Hope he does get better and you go again to Florida soon x

That is the thing with Disney, it puts a smile on all our faces whatever our Circumstances are. Takes us out of reality and everything is magical and Disney think of everything to make the place special.

You would think so, but the behaviour of someone here, potentially risked everything I was trying to do for Daniel. Read my post earlier up.

 

[2Tiggies]

DH and I are lawyers aswell - must be some link between having a serious day job and the escapism of disney (Most people at work are at my disney love )

I actually quite enjoy that now

I work for a law firm too. Recently one of the partner was standing in reception and commented how interesting it is to see how everyone has a different way of reflecting (or not) something about themselves by the way they personalise their work space. He pointed at the main reception desk, very professional with no trace or hint of anything about the person who sits there. He then glanced over at one the Paralegal's desk and said it is similar, but there are a couple of family photos placed subtly on the side with a cute personal calendar. He then started to laugh and waved his hand in the general direction of my office, window ledged covered with snow globes and small Disney Microworld characters (at least 50 of them!) and announced "And then .... we have Walt Disney World!"

I must admit, we have to keep my door closed when I am not there as it is a magnet for kids!

 

[joolz1910]

I started to raise funding for specialist treatment abroad for my son and sadly - someone on this site (I think i know who - when my solicitor gets the IP address from the newspaper in question, the person will be sued - a little warning ) , posted a terrible message on a newspaper website running our story claiming I had spent £10,000 a time on holidays and had been for 10 years in a row ! - a complete lie. This stopped someone who wanted to help my son helping him...

We have no chance of going again at this point.

So my point is, people should not judge, as we have seen, many of us have given up a great deal to have a family holiday.

What a hateful thing to do. Anyone who is aware of your son's condition knows that you fight tirelessly to get him the treatment he needs.

 

[BlondeViki]

I must admit, we have to keep my door closed when I am not there as it is a magnet for kids!

We're not allowed to personalise our space anymore even my small picture of my parents has been relegated to my top drawer!

I might just have a small rebellion when I return from honeymoon in September...

 

[kevin harrison]

What a hateful thing to do. Anyone who is aware of your son's condition knows that you fight tirelessly to get him the treatment he needs.

I fight tirelessly for him and all kids in similar positions, just spent another day at Guys hospital helping out the feeding team for free.

Who did this, hurt my son - not me. I will get to the bottom of who was responsible. Once the IP address is handed over, the person will regret what they did.

 

[bazzanoid]

Would love to know more about how this works and maybe see an example if you wouldn't mind - obviously without your figures!

No problem!

I've taken what I had ready saved as a whole, marked where it is saved so i can track it properly (NONE of it is in my current account, it would be a nightmare to track there with bills out / wages in etc). I've taken this away from the total i'm aiming to achieve a month before i go, and divided this amount by the number of months left to get the monthly target. In my case, I also have an 'ideal' target on top of the minimum as i'm wanting to buy a new dSLR while out there

With a basic SUM formula to add up the different save locations i get my total saved so far

=SUM(cell1:cell3)

, where cell1 is the box with the first saved figure in, cell3 being the last, it adds up those and any inbetween to return my saved so far total. Underneath that is the saved so far taken away from minimum target to give me my 'to go' figure. once this starts showing plus figures i'm eating towards the ideal target

I've blurred the saving locations for obvious reasons but have no issues sharing my figures, the amount i've been talking about it on here they're common knowledge i'm sure!!

needless to say i've cropped the spreadsheet to just this bit, as the rest is the standard cost breakdowns for flights, villa, car, etc etc etc, and then split further into per person based on 2, 3 or 5 (as we don't know who is coming yet - never planned such an up in the air trip!!!)

The little traffic lights you see are part of Office 2010's conditional formatting, i've got it set so anything less than £165 in any one month gives a red light, between 165 and 240 yellow, 240+ green.

When i update this info i also update the amount for wherever it may be saved in, and the formulas automatically update my 'to go' running total

Here endeth the lesson

Anybody who wants help setting something like this up, or help with conditional formatting on Office 2003 / 2007 /2010, PM me

 

[torsie24]

Love the chart!! I think I might make one!!

I do similar but without the chart.

I wish we could go every year. But we love the deluxe hotels and we'd rather wait a bit longer and stay onsite at a deluxe than go for cheaper and more frequently.

Our next trip will be May/October 2014 so I figured out that £210/month till then will cover everything we need.

We'll be ready to pay in full for flights and accommodation next summer at 11 months out, so then after that we'll save again for spending money.

We don't drink, smoke, have brand new cars or buy expensive clothes. So holidays are our luxury. And that's how we like it!!

 

[2Tiggies]

Love the chart!! I think I might make one!!

I do similar but without the chart.

I wish we could go every year. But we love the deluxe hotels and we'd rather wait a bit longer and stay onsite at a deluxe than go for cheaper and more frequently.

Our next trip will be May/October 2014 so I figured out that £210/month till then will cover everything we need.

We'll be ready to pay in full for flights and accommodation next summer at 11 months out, so then after that we'll save again for spending money.

We don't drink, smoke, have brand new cars or buy expensive clothes. So holidays are our luxury. And that's how we like it!!

I'm wishing you well on your savings plan. It's so nice to see you back on the boards

 

[gemma85]

Love the chart!! I think I might make one!!

I do similar but without the chart.

I wish we could go every year. But we love the deluxe hotels and we'd rather wait a bit longer and stay onsite at a deluxe than go for cheaper and more frequently.

Our next trip will be May/October 2014 so I figured out that £210/month till then will cover everything we need.

We'll be ready to pay in full for flights and accommodation next summer at 11 months out, so then after that we'll save again for spending money.

We don't drink, smoke, have brand new cars or buy expensive clothes. So holidays are our luxury. And that's how we like it!!

Hmm I could manage 250 month if I had an extra saving partner, maybe I can drag my ex into another holiday after dlp in feb I never go out really either, don't buy takeaways, bit pointless really as son doesn't eat them and I don't want to waste money on 1 person. I'm good at cutting back as I've had to when I became single parent working part time. I brought us both zoo memberships when I had money so that's how we spend out free time or at parks. I'm aiming for either 6th April 2014 or 26th July

 

[joolz1910]

I buy all of my groceries and diesel at Tesco and collect Clubcard points. These pay for our family holiday every year, in full. We get a 3 bed caravan in June half-term and we don't have any other holidays all year.

I also bought a Warwick Castle family pass (it's just up the road from us) and that is where we go for days out - always with a picnic!

I buy and sell stuff on Ebay.

I do car-boot sales.

I always shop around if I need to buy anything.

I buy clothes from supermarkets like Asda.

I save £2 coins.

We only drink at home - never can get a babysitter anyway!

We live according to our means and it's still difficult to save but if you put your mind to it, it is possible. It just means making sacrifices, sticking to your priorities and having the patience to wait for as long as it takes.

 

[katytrott]

With more and more budget advice coming out, I thought I would chime in about Shops Away through Virgin. I recently posted a query about it on another thread, but no one appeared to catch on about it. It's through the Virgin website when you're logged on in your flying club account. You click on Flight Partners and then onto Shops Away. There is then quite an extensive list of shops/companies where if you buy from, through this site, you get flying miles. It can be as little as 1 mile per £1 spent, but can be as much as 10 miles per £1 spent. Between my husband and Evans cycles, me with Cath Kidston and the kids with ELC, we could have got round the world tickets!

Disclaimer: I have not started using this yet as have just found it, but would be interested if anyone has any experience of it!

 

[gemma85]

With more and more budget advice coming out, I thought I would chime in about Shops Away through Virgin. I recently posted a query about it on another thread, but no one appeared to catch on about it. It's through the Virgin website when you're logged on in your flying club account. You click on Flight Partners and then onto Shops Away. There is then quite an extensive list of shops/companies where if you buy from, through this site, you get flying miles. It can be as little as 1 mile per £1 spent, but can be as much as 10 miles per £1 spent. Between my husband and Evans cycles, me with Cath Kidston and the kids with ELC, we could have got round the world tickets!

Disclaimer: I have not started using this yet as have just found it, but would be interested if anyone has any experience of it!

I've just joined flying club and put club card points towards it. Also just brought bits of sons school uniform from George from the shop away site. Get 4 miles for ever £1 and I spent £22 on quite bit of uniform

 

[diddldonna]

Disney fund Game: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2943826

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Well my mortgage of £1270 per month keeps me firmly in the UK !

I don't know how I got there before


mmmm credit cards ......

 

[wayneg]

Well my mortgage of £1270 per month keeps me firmly in the UK !

I don't know how I got there before


mmmm credit cards ......

What you buying? Buckingham Palace?