Myth Buster Monday

Myth: I can’t save enough money for a cruise

-- This myth was mentioned by someone looking to go on my birthday cruise next year. –

OK, well this is why I’m giving you a whole year notice. Last week, I gave you a breakdown of how much the cruise should cost. I even through in a few extra things that you don’t necessarily need to do. And as I like to say, all good things come with planning (and lots of it). To give you extra spending money lets say you want to save $1400 for 2 people.

Here is a list of my top twelve tips to help you save. Notice that there are twelve ideas, one for each month until the cruise.

Start saving your pennies
Literally, the average person has about 75 cents in pocket change a day. If you saved your pocket change every day for a year you would have about $275 before the cruise.

Garage Sale
In a well organized garage sale you can expect to earn $100 to $300 per day. You can increase your profit by washing or dusting the items before hand. Furniture typically sells quickly which will also boost your overall sales profits. There is still time for a garage sale in the fall and one or two in the spring or summer. Partner up with a few neighbors for even bigger success. If you average $200 X 3 days, you should have about $600.

Christmas
This is a great time to ask for things that you may want to take on a cruise. There are going to be people that buy you gifts anyway, so knock off a few of your cruise necessities. Need new heels to go dancing in? A new swim suit for the pool? Even unconventional gifts like paying for you passport if you need one or a Princess gift card can be great money savers. If you have booked your cruise already, people can also buy you items like spa credit, casino credit, a soda card or even fresh flowers delivered to your cabin. I’ll value this one at $100 total because I don’t like to ask for too much.

Off season shopping
For anything you might need look off season for it. Buy a new swim suit in the fall or a nice dress after prom season. I don’t imagine that you would need to stock up on much but this could save you about $50 on the low end.

Savings Account
Save your vacation money in a savings account. This way it is out of sight and you will earn a little interest on it, maybe $30 worth.

Use a credit card with rewards
This tip is only good if you pay it off every month. If you are paying interest that defeats the purpose. I pay my bills with a credit card every month and then pay it off. I usually have $300 - $400 reward points per year. It should be enough to pay for both airline tickets.

Coupons and rebates
For any online shopping I do I check http://www.ebates.com first to see if there are any rebates for items I am buying. I never look at it until I’m buying anything because I don’t want to temp myself to buy things I don’t need. The quarterly checks usually add up to about $100 each year.

I also check http://www.retailmenot.com for coupon codes on my online shopping. For real in store shopping I do try to use regular old Sunday paper coupons but I am by no means a extreme couponer. These coupons save me about $200 per year.

Leftovers for lunch
I was spending $5-7 a day eating out at lunch. Just by changing to bring leftovers 4 times a week and still going out on Fridays I could save over $1000. Although the thought of leftovers was not that appealing to me, I just had to remind myself that I liked it the first time I ate it and that makes it better. But considering I will not bring my lunch all 4 days and those leftovers still cost money I’ll say this is a savings of $500 per year.

Entertainment Book
Invest in an entertainment book in the spring. They are only about $10 or less by that time and you still have plenty of time to save money. We usually save $150 a year by using the coupon book. While you are at it you can also buy the Vancouver book to save on activities and dinning while on vacation. An estimated vacation savings of $60.

Turn a Hobby into a Paying Gig
What are you hobbies? What are the things you like to do with your free time? Rather it is making crafts or selling a product, you should be able to make at least another $400 - $500 per year.

So there you go, 12 months to go and 12 tips to help you save more than enough money to pay for your vacation.