[JBKoala]

Don't know if this has been brought up anywhere, but I was thinking of the ways kids can help save money for a WDW trip or any trip in general.
When I was young, I craved candy like there was no tomorrow. My mom went to Sam's Wholesale and bought one of those containers of Fireballs (or was it Lemonheads?) candy. She said that anytime I wanted one, I would have to pay $0.05 for it. She told my sister and me that the money we put in the jar would go towards out next Disney trip. I'm not sure how much money we had when we went, but it made us feel good that we had actually helped out. This could also be a way of saving money for souveneirs. We didn't get an allowance, but we somehow had a little bit of money to add to the collection.
If anybody else has a moneysaving tip, this would be a good place to post. I don't have kids yet, but I am sure when I do they will be Disney nuts like me.

[polyman65]

Get them a job in a coal mine:laugh When I was a kid my dad farmed so the way I got spending money for WDW was cleaning out the grain bin floors where the augers couldnt reach.Then I got to sell the grain,about $200.00 not bad for a 10 year old in the 70s.

[Dana]

My daughter has chores to do. The money she earns from the chores goes into a seperate bank. She get $2.50 a week and is allowed to keep .50 cents of it for something. She then has to put the $2.00 into the bank. When we fill it, she turns it in for Disney dollars. I have a similar bank that I put ALL my coins in. She asks for Disney dollars for christmas when people ask her what she wants and birthdays too. The money from the chores, is my money technically, but it's her spending money in the end. It's nice for her to have some spending cash of her very own to buy whatever she wants (like I won't get it anyway lol). My father gives her allowance for odd chores. She will wash his car or something like that and he pays her. She goes to the shore with them every summer for 3 weeks and has to save for that two, so we can have numerous little "banks" going at once. She can earn up to $5.00 a week if she does everything she has available to her, but she usually just sticks to the basics and gets her $2.50. She has to learn that Mom's pocketbook does have a bottom...not a pit of bottomless cash. Having her own moeny forces her to *realize* what things actually cost. Makes her change her mind about the $8.00 pen..lol

[disneyguy]

This is exactly helping them save, but I have heard a lot of people say that they give their kids Disney Dollars for all kinds of holidays. (ie. Valentine's Day, Christmas, Easter).

[Caroline Boyle]

I think this is a wonderful thread. We didn't do it for our trip in Feb. But I think we will try it for our DL trip next November. I wonder how my kids will do??:dazed

[goofygal1975]

Another way for kids to make some extra $, is to go to Kidzeyes.com (spelling may be off....sorry...may be a z on the end). They will send out surveys geared to kids and what they like, and they make a penny per point. Most surveys are 150 to 350 points, and the parents get surveys sometimes too that adds to the kids accounts!!

My ds also asks for disney dollars for gifts and get DD for bdays, stocking stuffers and sometimes the toothfairy leaves him a disney dollar or two.

[DisneyTeacher]

When I would visit our local Disney Store I would buy $50 in Disney Dollars and give them to my DS (5) for little things. He got $1 per week for cleaning his room and a $1 for doing extra little things around the house, like matching socks while I folded laundry. He also got Disney Dollars for Christmas and his birthday that year. He has some major issues with food so he would get a Disney Dollar for trying a new food. (Let me just say this wasn't the way he made most of his money, trust me!)

By the time we went to WDW he had almost $200 to spend. We would have spent that on him over our 8 day stay so it was money we didn't have to come up with at that time. He was so good with it, he had about $30 dollars left on our last day. Earning, saving, and spending money is such a good life lesson for kids.

[cahogbin]

Thank you so much for the www.kidzeyes.com idea. My DS was registered a couple days ago. He is so excited to be able to earn his own money for our trip.

My kids do chores normally and get $5 a month which they have to divy up into different envelopes for church, savings, and then fun money for whatever they want to save for at that time.

They are also going to sell a bunch of thier toys that they ignore or have outgrown this Spring/Summer at a yard sale to raise money.

I'm taking their money that they already have and I'm going to get them Disney money in exchange. And then I'm going to get a little on hand so they can get paid each month in partial regular money for church and savings and the rest can be Disney if they want.

I've also decided the Easter Bunny is bringing Disney money this year instead of the usual gifts.

My DD will turn 6 in June then she'll be old enough to join in Kidzeyes.com too.

Thanks again for the tips!!

[Navywife]

My son who is five is always reminding me that we dont need this or that when we go shopping and instead we save the money for the trip. Like if I see a new blanket when I have a closet full of them he will say, "Do you really need that?" He is my little voice of reason I guess.

But it is a two way street. When we go to walmart and he wants yet another toy I say, "Do you really need that?" Most of the time he puts it back on the shelf with no problems. Together we learn what we really need and what we really want are two seperate things.

Also he is learning to count money and that is a really good motivator for him to save. It is fun and educational all at the same time.

In the end we do it as a team and when we go to Disney we spend the savings as a team too.