My Frugal Year

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I can’t help it. I suppose that’s fair considering it’s our first family vacation. Circumstances over the years just haven’t allowed it before, but that’s all over and here we are a few months out from our fabulous Disney World vacation. I did get a great discount – 40% off the hotel room and picked the best time to go – when I’d already be in Orlando for a business conference so my airfare was covered.

SO…with summer coming up, I figured I’d go looking for some ways to save money for vacations and good vacation discounts out there to share with you!

First of all, I’m a fan of online surveys. As I’ve said before, you won’t get rich doing it, but every little bit helps, right? For over a year now I admit I’ve been horribly lazy about completing surveys, so the income isn’t what it could be. Still, last year I earned over $500 and so far this year close to $200. Here are some of my favorites:

Those are my favorites and ones I get checks from regularly. Now of course, there is MyPoints. While they don’t pay cash, you can trade in points for great vacation stuff like airline miles, Marriott certificates, restaurant gift cards and all sorts of wonderful things. You earn points by clicking on links from emails and shopping through the links on the site if you choose.

Now for some travel savings:

Expedia is a great place to shop for flights, hotels and such:

Priceline lets you set the price you’ll pay:

Southwest is running some great deals right now!

So there are some vacation savings ideas for you. I’m already throwing my spare change in a jar to plan for a real vacation next year too!

The Couponizer is having a Mother’s Day special! You can get 10% off your order:

10% OFF

on select items with coupon code SAVENOW at checkout!

Hurry, coupon code expires May 31st!
10% off all Couponizer products
minimum purchase $19.95 for code to apply
expires: May 31, 2010
(excludes already discounted combo offers)

Click below to go to the site and start saving!!

One of my favorite sites, $5 Dinners, has a great coupon database. If you’re looking for coupons for specific products, this is a great place to search. I love this site – she always has great, inexpensive recipes to try. I’d highly recommend subscribing to her feed!

Here’s the post about her coupon database: http://www.5dollardinners.com/2010/04/coupon-database.html. Give it a try!

YUMMY! I love Jamba Juice, but it can be pricey. Here’s a great coupon – they’re celebrating 20 years and this coupon is good through April 25. Check it out! Jamba Juice 20th Anniversary Coupon.

It’s always frugal to get free stuff you’ll really use! I found a great giveaway at 3 Crazy Monkeys blog. Bisquick! Mmmmm – who doesn’t love pancakes?? Check it out and enter the giveaway!

It’s been quite a frugal year around here and I’ve been terrible about blogging it. So here I am, ready to get back on the horse again and do a better job of tracking the savings. One thing I did learn was that an event like a car accident or illness can derail the best laid plans. But enough about the past…on to the future of frugality and savings…with a NEW GOAL!

Something we were able to accomplish this year was to save enough to be able to take our first ever family vacation. We’re anxiously awaiting our departure this summer for Walt Disney World! It’s been so much fun doing the planning and plotting to make this a fantastic vacation. I’m happy to report that I found us great savings and are able to stay on property at a deluxe resort for our 5 night/6 day Disney extravaganza.

So…the new goal…now that we have a taste of what a real vacation is like – we need to plot and plan and save so we can do another vacation next year! Woo hoo!

Through a great Disney-related message board, I found a terrific budget board and joined a “Coupon Train.” Ever done this? It’s where each week you clip all the coupons you can find – set aside the ones you will use, then send the ones you won’t use along to the next person in the train. Each week you receive a lovely envelope stuffed with coupons in your mailbox. I’ve found this to be very useful as folks in other areas of the country get different coupons sometimes than we do here, so I’ve gotten some great ones to use and have been able to pass along some great savings to others.

Grab some of your own coupons here: