Hello all... Welcome to week #44 of the OCD Savings Blog. As I'm writing this I am back to work and my vacation is over. It was a great time and I had even more fun than I thought I would. We spent 7 days in 'Disney World' and ended up visiting Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Downtown Disney and of course The Magic Kingdom! I think we went on almost every ride in each park minus just a couple here and there and we rode most of them multiple times. We went on Space Mountain 2 times, Thunder Mountain Railroad 3 times and Splash Mountain 3 times. We did Toy Story Midway Mania, Stitch's Great Escape and The Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor 2 times each. We even did the Hall of Presidents 2 times, but the big ones were the Disney Haunted Mansion and Star Tours in Hollywood Studios, I think we did each of those over 10 times each!
We ended up booking during a period of time where we were able to get the Disney Meal Plan for free as part of our package. The meal plan included 1 'quick serve meal', 1 'sit down meal' and 1 'snack' per person, per day. I can tell you that it was a HUGE savings! Each meal was an entree, a drink and a desert and the snack was one item. We kept track of what each meal would have cost and when the week was over the total was over $600 for the two of us. Keep in mind that with the exception of 1-2 meals we ate burgers and sandwiches so its not like were were eating at fancy places. The meals were also so big that we used most of our snack credits to buy things to bring home! I can't recommend the meal plan enough. Even if you can't book your trip during a free meal plan period, it would still probably be worth paying for!
We got a lot of great info from some friends that go to Disney regularly and we got a lot of help from a free service that will pretty much book your entire trip. If you're planning a trip, especially if its your first one check out www.pixieandpiratedestinations.com and have them help you out.
Ok... so we spent a bunch of money on the vacation, but as you see every week, I put aside $20 a week specifically towards a vacation. I have been doing that for the last few years so not only was I able to pay for the trip (my wife paid for the flights and some other stuff), but we also have some money left in that account for whatever our next vacation ends up being. It doesn't take much money to go on a small trip somewhere and if you put aside $10-$20 a week you will barely even notice it. If you're not quite as crazy as me and you can deal with having direct deposit then you can have the $20 taken right from your paycheck and put into a special vacation account and if you do it that way you will most definitely not notice it!
Well as I slowly get back to reality I have to catch up on some bills. Luckily my paycheck this week is for more than usual. At my work when we go on vacation our pay rate for that weeks check is based on the previous years average pay including overtime so my check this week is for $749.48 with $48.34 going to my 401K. This is the first week of November so the entire check will be going into my regular checking account, but I will still be doing my $20 vacation transfer! I might have some cans to return next week so hopefully we can get that 2013 piggy bank total over $100.00! With all that being said lets get on to the weekly wrap up...
Here is the week 44 wrap up:
$48.34 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund
Which makes the 2013 totals:
$1534.33 in my 401K
$880.00 in the vacation fund
$96.90 in the piggy bank
$550.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$263.87 in my vet bill savings
$2227.41 in my money market
$1677.40 in my car account
As we get into the final count down of the 2013 OCD Savings Blog I'll say that we have only 8 more Fridays this year. That means 8-9 paychecks left to reach my savings goals. I went over my account balances and I've set a goal for each one with and made a note for myself that says how much money needs to go into each of the accounts to reach the goal I set. I'm still hoping to find a new job at some point and I know it will be a big pay cut so reaching my 2013 goals is pretty important since I don't know what the future of my savings hold. So if you take anything from this let it be that you should always try to save when you have the means to save. Even if its just a few dollars a week, it will add up and could act as a nice cushion for a future emergency or planned event!
glad you had a great time! the most time we spent at Disney was 4 days, and that was exhausting (but VERY fun). We didn't get a free meal plan, but we worked out the details and it was WAY cheaper to pay for it in advance and just show your card when you get there...
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