Disney on a Budget, Part 1 Getting There

Congratulations,you have decided to go to Disney World!! Now how are you going to get there?
If you are like me you will need to travel quite a distance to make this journey and it comes at a cost.

Flying: If you are flying there are many ways to get there, and almost no one on the plane paid the same price.

EXPEDIA
Log into ebates.ca first, then search for the Expedia store. You will earn cash back and once $5 is in your account you can redeem as a cheque!
Or: airmilesshops.ca and search for the Expedia store and you will earn Air Miles on your flight.

Each time you go on Expedia, make sure that you clear your cookies, it remembers what you looked at and the prices rise a bit each time.

AIRMILES:
Air Miles allows you to choose redeeming Air Miles for flights.   You can redeem your Air Miles for a ticket and there is a charge to you for the taxes. For example, my family redeemed 3,000 miles per ticket and $160 in taxes. 12000 Air Miles and $640 we will be going to Orlando.

WORD OF CAUTION:  my flight that was booked with Air Miles had 5 changes, including the connection city.
Also, in my experience Air Miles flights often are the “milk run” with at least one lay over.  I suggest checking into how long the layovers are and if your time is worth more to pay for your direct flight.  For example, when I went to New York last year it cost $435 for the flight or it would have been 2100 Air Miles and $145 in taxes with a 3 hour lay over each way.  I felt that my time was worth more than 6 hours down time and paid for the flight.   Due to the time of year there isn’t a direct flight to Orlando and I redeemed Air Miles.

Air Miles also has an option to purchase cash tickets.  SOMETIMES these tickets are affordable.

WESTJET MasterCard: this credit card offers a companion flight for $99 with the purchase of a regular price ticket.   Also, with every purchase charged WestJet points are earned and can be redeemed towards your flight.

Aeroplan Miles: redeem your Aeroplan Miles for your flight.  This hasn’t worked out for me because I am a teacher and there are usually black out dates.  Our friends redeemed for a flight and didn’t have any issues with their flight.



DRIVE:
Driving may be an option to get to Disney World if you have time.  When driving try to stay loyal to a particular gas station. Many gas stations provide rewards for your purchases.  Taking advantage of these loyalty programs will earn you cash back rewards or can be combined with other rewards.

Credit cards and debit cards often earn more points at gas stations.

When driving gas,hotel and meal costs need to be calculated. We have friends that always drive, and they told me they would stop at the tourist bureau or at McDonald’s for hotel coupons.   They usually found them for under $50 and were usually between 2 hotel chains.  Again, stay loyal to a chain and earn points towards a free stay.


COMBO: Another alternative to get to Disney World is to drive to an airport in the United States and fly from there.   Sometimes it works out to be cheaper this way with the fares from American airports to another American airport. 

It pays to be frugal.
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April Savings

It has been a long time since I added up all the savings and perks that I accumulate in a month.  We budget for almost everything we spend, sometimes things happen ...but hey that's life.
We are frugal, and baby that isn't glamorous!   It takes a lot of dedication and work to be frugal and save money. 
It takes work to do these things, but guess what? When you do these things, you save money, a lot of money, which helps you get and do the glamorous things you dream about.

Here we go:

Air Miles: 1785 Air Miles earned this month, set to cash and that's $180 dollars worth of stuff when I redeem.

Carrots: 88 Scene Points.  My phone has this app and it automatically collects points if I make my step goal for the day.  The points go to my Scene Card with ease as a set it and forget it, easy peasy!  There are sometimes surveys to complete.
Downloand the App Carrot Rewards  UserCode: meghand8753

More Scene Points: I went to the movies on cheap night. I had no idea it was only $6.39! I earned 100 Scene Points and paid $5 of it with a free Cineplex GC from purchasing Lindt chocolate bars.

Caddle:  $20 check came in the mail! Cash back from groceries and surveys, friend referrals
 https://caddle.ca/signup/referral/57f933eb86129

Swagbucks: Redeemed for a $10 Amazon Gift Card.  Using Swagbucks search engine, and answering surveys, and friend referrals
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Donats

Ebates: $5 finally redeemed from online transactions.
 https://www.ebates.ca/referrer?referrerid=dmI00Ysp2yY%3D

Coupons: $43.50 worth of coupons this month

Canadian Tire Points : $9.90 from gas fillups, no effort required.  Each fill up receipt offers a survey code for instant win prizes, and instantly receive 2 cents off litre of gas coupon.  Saved $3.80 with surveys and instant savings per litre
Savings: $3.80 cash, and $9.90 in points 

PC Optimum Points: Redeemed $160 of points as cash off of groceries and earned 40,205 points for future redemptions
Savings:$160 cash, and $40 in points for the future

Best Western Rewards: We are hotel loyal.  My husband had work in the city for 3 days and we booked a hotel.   We earned 2850 points, (18-20 thousand is a free night) and 2 nights towards 10th night free.  Also received $20 Best Western instant Reward Dollars for next stay, or food, or pool passes.  The reservation was made through ebates.ca   When I arrived at the hotel I asked if they have a CAA or government rate and my rate was reduced $22.50 each night!  $45 in total for just asking!  A few days after my stay I received an email to fill out a fast survey for bonus reward points.
Savings: $45 cash, $20 towards future stays plus points

Toyota: $10 off.  Our car needed an MVI and when I purchased the car 2 years ago (used of course!) we got a
business card with coupon stickers for various services.
Savings:$10

Neptune Theatre: The girls and I went to see Mama Mia, it was fabulous! When I called for the tickets, I asked if they offer discounts for CAA or government, they did and saved $9 on each kid ticket and $25 on mine.
Savings: $43

Total:$344.50 dollars plus lots of loyalty reward points that will be redeemed and counted in future month summaries!
Guess what? The $344.50 was flipped over into our vacation fund for future fun!

Join Guess Who's Cheap on Facebook, and on Amazon A Penny Saved is a Mortgage Paid, and A Guide to Collecting Air Miles in Canada

https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_7?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+penny+saved+is+a+mortgage+paid&sprefix=a+penny%2Caps%2C206&crid=R06CXF8JG0RF

https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_15?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+guide+to+collecting+air+miles+in+canada&sprefix=a+guide+to+coll%2Caps%2C211&crid=2BS1C1GT9OM2G&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aa+guide+to+collecting+air+miles+in+canada

Maximize Your Points

Well, what a great day for points! I had my list of items that I wanted to buy this morning at Super Store.
This week there is an offer on IOGO Protein yogurt for 2000 bonus  points with the purchase of 2.   There is also a coupon for 75 cents off each purchase.  Yogurt often has the magical pink stickers, you know the ones that make items half price. $3.99 is the original price. I went to the clearance section of the store first and found lots of pink sticker yogurt!
I often am asked if coupons can be used on marked down items and the answer is yes! Maximize this with your personal offers and with the offers in the flyers.
I purchased yogurt and cucumbers and a few packages of blueberries.  
I redeemed $20 worth of points and put the $20 in my vacation fund. After reading about more points stolen from the Pc Optimum I have decided to redeem the points in my account. I paid $2.50 and earned $8.90 back in points!

In summary, try to use coupons on pink sticker items, and if it is a Caddle or CO51 offer or points in your offers EXTRA BONUS!

Free Movies

Who doesn’t love a movie? Going to the theatre isn’t something  we do often, but we always have fun when we do.

Saturday mornings select theatres off family movies for $2.99. Unfortunately, the theatre in my town isn’t on the list. 

Last weekend we were away for the weekend while my husband was taking a course. I was looking for fun activities to do and around midnight remembered this deal.   Around the same time I was playing on my phone checking out my Air Miles status and this freebie promo came across my screen.

Simple steps lead to a free movie! 

I logged into my Air Miles account, and entered my pin and then email address.  

Instantly an email came with pins and each pin was for a free ticket to a family favourite show.  

Then I logged into cineplex.com and entered which theatre and they emailed me a PDF for theatre pick up. 

Just like that 3 movie tickets and an hour and a half of free entertainment. 

Join Guess Who’s Cheap on Facebook 

April Budget Challenge

It’s close to supper time, and by now I have experienced 2 sugar crashes.

Don’t crash your budget for this month!

Get out your envelopes and start stuffing with the money you need for your budget.

I use the same envelopes until they fall apart.  I record on them how much I need for the month.  Some months I don’t need every envelope and some months I need to add some envelopes.  This month dance and gymnastics money is due for the kids, sigh.    Even though the fee stings, I a, prepared.

This month I am going to challenge everyone to shave $50 off of the April budget.  Throw it in your debt.   

I am going on a vacation and would like to save up some spending money. That’s my goal until June.

Let’s see who has $50 leftover from their envelopes at the end of the month

Comment and share how you did it.  I look forward to hearing the tips.

Good Luck 

Priority Pass

I took advantage of an offer exclusive to World Elite Master Card holders yesterday, and will never look back again!

Priority Pass Lounges are something that I have seen at airports when I travel, but I never knew how to get inside.

Last year, before a trip to New York I had phoned Master Card to ask questions about traveling outside of the country. I was told about the insurance that was available to me, and also that I was able to gain access for myself and a guest to the Priority Pass Lounges.

Inside the lounge are comfortable chairs and sofas. That alone was worth using the Priority Lounge. If you don't have access to the lounge card, you can pay a walk in fee which varies from $25-$50 depending on the airport and services. There was a bar with free drinks, and a small fee for the premium beverages. Coffee, tea, pop and bottled water was also available. Since you are through security, you can take it right onto the plane with you. There were also sandwiches, veggies and desserts along with WIFI. Some lounges also offer a shower and hot meals. 

Despite me being cheap and frugal, after this airport experience at the Priority Pass I would go out on a limb and suggest it is even worth the fee to sit in the Priority Lounge vs purchasing a meal at the airport and waiting for flights. 

A list of all available lounges can be found at https://www.prioritypass.com/ 

If you recall from last year's blog, my flight was cancelled and I ended up paying $500 Canadian for one night of accommodations at JFK airport. When I returned home, I was reimbursed. The great free travel insurance is another great perk.

March Budget

Here it is March 4th and I haven’t written my budget up for this month yet, oops.
Don’t worry it takes a few months to figure out how much you actually spend on the categories.   Look through your debit and credit card statements to add up your average in each category.

Sit down and make a quick list of everything that you will spend money on this month.  Your budget changes month to month but some things can be carried over.  
Some items carry from month to month depending on the need and bill cycle.
Here is a list of my categories:

Emergency fund ( 3-6months of expenses if you don’t have this started)
Dental procedure
Glasses
Clothes (this one builds up)
Gas
Car repairs, or new car fund ( if you plan to buy a car in the next bit let this build up. We just bought a car but will continue here to save for tires and services)
Power bill
Internet
Cell phone
Groceries ( this includes stock pile, end of the month I build on pantry items)
Restaurant (eating out)
Property taxes ( this builds up we pay annually)
Tax Free Savings Account
RESP
Parking at airport
Cleaning
Kid activities ( 2 activities need to be paid after March break)

OTHER CATEGORIES
Housing (mortgage, rent)
Car payment
Medical/dental plan