I found a new way to "save" for a cruise

[KAWS]

We save our loonies ($1) and toonies ($2) coins all year. It doesn't pay for the cruise but it DOES pay for what we have to pay for boarding the dogs while we are away. That always hurt so much to fork over hundreds of dollars on top of the cruise. This year it's been covered for a while and now we're still saving them and this goes towards other stuff (like the spa).

[Semi Retired]

Good thing about being Canadian....we can save our change and have 100's in no time...thnaks to the toonie and loonie (1 & 2 dollar coins):D

[simplelife]

This has been a tough year for us economically. I 've had to use our change stash just to make ends meet this month. We were hoping to be able to afford a cruise this summer, but things are not looking good.

[vivavegas]

I save all my change and by year's end there is a pretty good bit of cash. I also make it a priority to save a preset amount of each payday. Also, if I don't have the money, I don't buy it....

[simplelife]

This has been a tough year for us economically. I 've had to use our change stash just to make ends meet this month. We were hoping to be able to afford a cruise this summer, but things are not looking good.

Just when things were looking really down, we had an upturn and were able to schedule a short cruise in June.:D We sail o nthe Ecstasy to from Canaveral Key West and the Bahamas. I am selling some things on E-bay to make the etra spending cash.

[blusun]

My husband and I have a $12 dollar a day dinner budget. I tend to get lazy and we end up grabbing takeout a couple nights of the week and didnt realize how much it was costing. Now I keep track of all of our dinners and try to keep it under $12 each day. If we want to go out to dinner on Friday I know we need to have a cheap $4 pasta night so we can afford the $20 Friday night out. HOWEVER - now that our first cruise is planned for October all the money left over at the end of the week goes into the cruise fund! I am now the master of the leftovers and cheap dinners. It adds up quick when I make my husband eat spaghettios all week - but he doesnt mind when he sees the money in the cruise fund! :D

[operabob]

For Western Canadians I make incredible use of the AirMiles offers at Safeway.

 

Yes, Safeway is more expensive but if you know what you're doing you can sometimes come away with more in AirMiles value than it costs to buy the product. When that happens I donate a lot to the local food bank for the tax receipt. Last year donations of about $2,000 netted a tax refund of over $500 and about $4,000 in AirMiles.

 

I use the AirMiles for flights and Best Western hotels with their gift cards (better than booking directly). Note: The value for flights is even better at $0.20/AM or more. Products like gift cards come in at $0.105/AM.

 

I stayed 12 times at Best Western last year and didn't pay once.

 

If this approach interests you you can follow this thread:

 

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/23424-safeways-sweet-airmiles-deals-canada/

 

This thread was featured on the CBC's Sparks program.

[holomuku]

Once we book a cruise, I start putting my $1 bills into a special spot. Then when we travel we have lots of $1's for tips and we don't feel it as much as if we hadn't them stashed in the $1 fund. Normally we will start out with $70- 80 in ones.....and they do seem to go!

 

We usually tip porters $2 per bag or more if it's a long haul for the porter. It's amazing how many porters and others you will run across on a cruise trip. My husband and myself have both worked in jobs where tips were the main source of income so we are sensitive to the tip issue.

[vivavegas]

My husband and I have a $12 dollar a day dinner budget. I tend to get lazy and we end up grabbing takeout a couple nights of the week and didnt realize how much it was costing. Now I keep track of all of our dinners and try to keep it under $12 each day. If we want to go out to dinner on Friday I know we need to have a cheap $4 pasta night so we can afford the $20 Friday night out. HOWEVER - now that our first cruise is planned for October all the money left over at the end of the week goes into the cruise fund! I am now the master of the leftovers and cheap dinners. It adds up quick when I make my husband eat spaghettios all week - but he doesnt mind when he sees the money in the cruise fund! :D

 

 

I was right there with you up to the point of eating Spaghettos all week!;) I don't know if I could do that.:)

[kimala]

Just when things were looking really down, we had an upturn and were able to schedule a short cruise in June.:D We sail o nthe Ecstasy to from Canaveral Key West and the Bahamas. I am selling some things on E-bay to make the etra spending cash.

 

...Good for you. Hubby and I had an extremely bad financial year in 2008 as did many Americans. I was almost depressed because we had to cancel our 7 day cruise I had put a deposit down on. As we got closer to the date for my vacation week we called a TA and found out that there was a 4 day cruise on NCL Sky out of Miami for 100.00/pp plus tax, came out to about $300 for the two of us...and guess what I rolled our pennies dimes and nickels that we had been saving and it cam to almost 300.00!!!! We had the best time and I didn't feel guilty about going as it was far less $$$ then our original plan. Hope you have a WONDERFUL and well deserved vacation!!!

[tootsiebit]

Hubby and I both work and get paid every other week on the same weeks. His check is direct deposit, but I work for a county agency and for some unknown reason, we don't have the direct deposit benefit...and I am so bad about getting my check and forgetting to go by the bank for days to deposit it. Recently I realized that by not putting my check in the bank, we actually save it, because hubby's pay takes care of the bills and such...so now I keep my paycheck with me until all the bills are paid thru the checking account and then if we need to add to that account I do it with my check, but all the rest goes into the savings. Last 2 checks, we didn't even need my pay, so cha-ching....right into the saving account it went for our final payment, and extras for the cruise in november, and now I already have the deposit money I will need for our cruise next year for our 25th anniversary...just need to decide where to and from...

[KristinTravels]

That is awesome Tootsie!

[monicajay]

I just book the cruise 9 months to a year in advance. I try to wait for a reduced deposit like a Wow. Then, I have lots of incentive to save the money before the final payment is due.

[simplelife]

...Good for you. Hubby and I had an extremely bad financial year in 2008 as did many Americans. I was almost depressed because we had to cancel our 7 day cruise I had put a deposit down on. As we got closer to the date for my vacation week we called a TA and found out that there was a 4 day cruise on NCL Sky out of Miami for 100.00/pp plus tax, came out to about $300 for the two of us...and guess what I rolled our pennies dimes and nickels that we had been saving and it cam to almost 300.00!!!! We had the best time and I didn't feel guilty about going as it was far less $$$ then our original plan. Hope you have a WONDERFUL and well deserved vacation!!!

Thanks! We leave in 19 days!

[HImom]

One of our best ways to save is having a credit card that gives us cash back of 2%. We have NOT spent any of it yet & we started using the CC in December, charging our kid's college tuition on it.

 

It is amazing how quickly it adds up, especially when you also charge the photovoltaic system & other expenses! We charge nearly everything on that credit card. We could actually put all our savings from all the cash back credit cards we have together into a vacation account--you are all inspiring me to do just that.

[CruiseLover19852012]

In addition to putting aside all my spare change, I've just started putting aside any money I "saved" through coupons, shopping clubs, sales, etc. For example, the other day I transferred $13.57 to my cruise savings by using my club card at the grocery store. Today I bought a birthday gift for my grand-niece and saved $57 (!) at the department store. A sweater and pair of cords were originally $36 each for a total of $72, but I paid just $14.99 because of the end-of-year sale. I don't know how much this will add up to at the end of the year, but I feel I'm off to a good start! If nothing else, this fund should cover at least incidental items such as tips, drinks, pre-cruise hotel, excursions, etc.

 

Does anyone else out there have any tips I can add to these? The more I can save, the better!

 

There are tons of creative ways to save money. However, the most creative ways may not be the best ways. Sure, it's a novel idea to say you will save every $5 bill you come across. I think a more effective way to save would be to identify a percentage of your income that you can comfortably save each paycheck that will still allow you to enjoy your life and cover all of your expenses.

 

Cruises are fun and we think about them all year. It's only natural that we want to save for them all year to make sure that we can have the best time possible.

[KristinTravels]

There are tons of creative ways to save money. However, the most creative ways may not be the best ways. Sure, it's a novel idea to say you will save every $5 bill you come across. I think a more effective way to save would be to identify a percentage of your income that you can comfortably save each paycheck that will still allow you to enjoy your life and cover all of your expenses.

 

Cruises are fun and we think about them all year. It's only natural that we want to save for them all year to make sure that we can have the best time possible.

 

 

I completely agree with this! It is much more effective to set aside a certain amount each month. You can even have it automatically withdrawn into a savings account, so that way you know you won't touch it. You just have to make sure you budget each much for this withdrawl.

 

Though finding and throwing change into a jar, while not the most effective way to save, it is a good supplament, and if you have kids a fun way for them to be involved too. That change can go towards them buying on the ship to remember the vacation by :).

[sublarry]

When we used to pay bills using a check book we would always round up whatever the dollar was when we put it in the register. Also we would write a $100 deposit as $95 to save. One year we had almost $1000 between this and the change jar. We never pull change from our pocket to even out a dollar.

[ComeSailWithME]

We use cash for our weekly misc. expenses and whatever is left at the end of the week, we put to the side for the cruise. In the last 4 months we have saved $800!

 

We also starting using one of our dormant credit cards that offers 5% cash back on certain purchases quarterly. We have racked up about $200 this way.

 

We also do the change thing, but it never amounts to more than $100ish.

[VacaDream]

In addition to putting aside all my spare change, I've just started putting aside any money I "saved" through coupons, shopping clubs, sales, etc. For example, the other day I transferred $13.57 to my cruise savings by using my club card at the grocery store. Today I bought a birthday gift for my grand-niece and saved $57 (!) at the department store. A sweater and pair of cords were originally $36 each for a total of $72, but I paid just $14.99 because of the end-of-year sale. I don't know how much this will add up to at the end of the year, but I feel I'm off to a good start! If nothing else, this fund should cover at least incidental items such as tips, drinks, pre-cruise hotel, excursions, etc.

 

Does anyone else out there have any tips I can add to these? The more I can save, the better!

 

My bank has an option that whenever u use ur debit card, it will transfer a certain amount to my savings. It is a small amount that I don't even notice and it adds up fast! I also have an automatic transfer from my chequing to my savings on payday. Allows me to save without thinking about it:)

[KAWS]

You know how a lot of Friday nights people either go out for dinner or order in? Well once per month stay home instead and whatever you would have spent (take the average of the last three weeks) save that into your cruise account. You won't begrudge the night and then have something fun and easy like breakfast for dinner that night.

[FLG8RGRL]

I have read some of the ideas. My mother in law (Yes we get along very well) have recently started saving our $1.00 bills and our change but here is a very unique way to even pay for your cruise.

 

This started last year when I decided it had been about 3years since we had been on a cruise. I had already booked with our group and paid our deposits. *One day in June last year, when everyone was sitting out here at the house, we had just had a cook out. I was thinking of ways to earn extra money for the cruise so it wouldnt put a dent in our household budgets. Then it dawned on me as a beer can went tossed into the trash can.. Hmm money. Yes I did *dumpster dive* in my trash cans for the beer cans (we have alot of beer drinkers in our area). So momma and I started collecting alumium cans her son (my ex) would take them in for us after we had so many bags. We have our friends and neighbors saving cans for us and we make it a weekly trip around the block to pick them up and we also walk along the side of the road and pick them up as well. The people I work with also bring me in their cans as well as leaving the ones they drank during the day in my locker ( I dont keep anything in my locker)!! So far we have earned about 1200.00 in cans. Now we are collecting cans just for our spending money. We dont cruise until Oct. 6th... It can be a messy job but it helps save the enviroment, if you walk and pick up cans your exercising and making friends with neighbors at the same time. people have actually stopped us and told them where they live and we could come down and get their cans. My hairdresser was saving cans for us until she found out how much we made on one trip, now they save theirs for their own vacation.

[HImom]

Great job of having a win-win situation. We don't drink beer and have switched from drinking beverages that are recyclable to mostly drinking water and milk.

 

Your & your area must have a LOT of recyclables to have earned $1200! That's GREAT!

 

I still like the 2% we get back on our credit card for all our purchases. That adds up pretty nicely with no particular effort on our part, other than trying to be sure to use the charge card that gives us the 2% return.

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

I can not agree more with you on a nice way to save. We have the same deal with our bank. You can increase or decrease the transfer amount for each transaction. If you use your debit card a lot you can save a bunch in a short while.

My bank has an option that whenever u use ur debit card, it will transfer a certain amount to my savings. It is a small amount that I don't even notice and it adds up fast! I also have an automatic transfer from my chequing to my savings on payday. Allows me to save without thinking about it:)

[FLG8RGRL]

LOL This is a little *redneck* area!! We also do get soda cans and the energy drink cans and our one neighbor saves us her cat food cans cause some of those are recycleable. So I make sure to give her coupons for those as well as go and buy some for her when they are on sale lol.

 

I stopped with the cellphones and credit cards. The only one I have now is from my checking visa card from my credit union.

 

I am starting to have $20.00 a month taken out of my check through work and deposited into my savings account. That way I dont see it and wont touch it!!

 

My mother in law use to make scrubs when I worked in medical records. Everyone liked mine so much that they would ask her to make theirs and she made quite a bit of money doing that and it always earned her lots of extra spending money for the cruise!!

 

Take it easy and happy sailing