Spending money

[Blueste]

Originally Posted by SgtElias

Am I alone in not budgeting anything ? That doesn’t mean I’ve got bottomless pockets, just means I am on holiday having a good time and if I spend $150 one day and $250 or whatever the next, I couldn’t care less. I am on holiday, having a good time and we spend what we spend.

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Not at all, I and assume a lot of others are in the fortunate position of not needing to budget. Although I remember the days I had to budget just for a weekend at Butlins so I understand the need.

[DisneyMadMummy]

I budget $65 per person per day. This covers everything we need. This is the minimum I'm comfortable with, if we take more then great and if not then I know we'll still have a great time. We eat out every meal, shop, use Ubers, pay tips etc etc with that.

[Bondy007]

Originally Posted by SgtElias

Am I alone in not budgeting anything ? That doesn’t mean I’ve got bottomless pockets, just means I am on holiday having a good time and if I spend $150 one day and $250 or whatever the next, I couldn’t care less. I am on holiday, having a good time and we spend what we spend.

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No, I imagine you're definitely not alone. Going back to 2000 onwards when I met my DW we never budgeted for any weekend away, any holiday, spent what we wanted when we wanted. That was just the way it was.
Now, we ditched credit cards, have an 8 year old daughter, a rabbit, a dog, 2 cars, mortgage... the list goes on unfortunately... So planning for a holiday means some fine tuning and ensuring we know what we need, so that once we arrive at the airport I can bin the budget and crack on enjoying the holiday. And like you, it then isn't too important if we spend $150 one day and $250 the next.

I actually enjoy the budgeting side of it - but i'm sad and love a good spreadsheet...

[vampiress88]

I actually enjoy the budgeting side of it - but i'm sad and love a good spreadsheet... [/QUOTE]

Me too 😳

I kept all the receipts and spreadsheets so I know exactly what I spent.
Love lists, spreadsheets and charts.

[dannigizmo]

Hey

we usually have about $150 a day for 2 main meals, snacks, drinks for 3 of us 2a1c. Usually eat once a day at millers, chillis, uno, longhorn etc then dennys, i hop, mcds, buffalos etc. soo much food we can never eat 3 full meals thou i might give it a go one day

We always have some left too to add to gift spending. We are not big shoppers though.

[Concerned]

In 2019, which is the last time I went, only with my wife and no-one else, we spent £880 over the two weeks, which is pretty good me thinks. Mind you, we didn't buy trashy souvenirs etc, just fuel, parking and food/drink.

[loldis]

I really don't spend much when I'm out there now, not interested in carting back loads of stuff. On my last trip, everything on-site was covered by free dining and gift cards (about $300 in total on those) and then I had one trip to Target which was less than $100 including Uber. That was only for a week, but I don't think I would have purchased much more outside of food if there longer.

Bound to be a difference experience next time as I'm assuming free dining may not come back. So I'd probably add about $50/day for QS food - the one TS meal I do OOP is covered in the costs above. That's based on what DDP used to cost, now I'm tempted to make a spreadsheet to work out how much the OOP cost would be.

[mike4scuba]

We are 2 adults and have been many times before so we don't buy souvenirs and hate shopping.
We tend to get hotels with free parking and at least 1 of us will have an annual pass for universal to get free parking.
We have in the past parked at disney springs for free and got the bus to a Disney hotel so we can have a look round then get the bus to the parks. After 4pm they lay on buses from the parks direct to disney springs.
As for food
We buy a roast chicken from walmart along with mash and vegetables and use the left overs to make chicken sandwiches the following day
We do buy the resort mugs to get use of the unlimited.ited drinks for 2 weeks and when on the parks we get the iced water
We spend around £500 to £700 in total for 2 weeks
If people like to brag about spending $$$$ and posting pictures all over social media then that's up to them. Personally we like to budget so we can go 2 or 3 times a year

[landandword17]

We like to go twice a year to the US and 2 shorter trips within Europe. I use credit cards almost exclusively to earn miles and for safety and have a separate bank account for the holiday fund. I never have so little in the account that I need to watch every penny but at the same time I don’t want to get carried away and be foolish with money buying stuff that will end up in a drawer when we get home. So I have a ballpark figure and honestly being budget minded gives me the pause I need in the shops when I see something and then I take a minute and admit it will gather dust and that money is our flights to Italy. If we spend way less that expected then happy days I no longer do the mad rush “using up” money on the last day. Been there, done that on the first trip and most of the stuff went in the bin a few years later! So overall for 2 adults we usually spent $80 a day averaged out in Florida and $100 a day on the west coast. Some days we are fine with fruit and protein bars we buy in the supermarket and a QS tea in the evening. Some days we do a lunch and tea but in the heat we can never manage 3 cooked meals and I also love being hungry for a big feed 😁 Nothing like walking in hungry and enjoying every bite. On the first trip we were eating 3 cooked meals and having snacks to use up credits and I was eating for the sake of eating really. You can do Florida on any budget and eat plenty and have a great time. You can also make your own souvenirs when you get home from your photos - nice prints, personalised accessories are cheap to buy online. Not having a big spending money budget shouldn’t be a deal breaker.

[princess allie]

Originally Posted by mike4scuba

We are 2 adults and have been many times before so we don't buy souvenirs and hate shopping.
We tend to get hotels with free parking and at least 1 of us will have an annual pass for universal to get free parking.
We have in the past parked at disney springs for free and got the bus to a Disney hotel so we can have a look round then get the bus to the parks. After 4pm they lay on buses from the parks direct to disney springs.
As for food
We buy a roast chicken from walmart along with mash and vegetables and use the left overs to make chicken sandwiches the following day
We do buy the resort mugs to get use of the unlimited.ited drinks for 2 weeks and when on the parks we get the iced water
We spend around £500 to £700 in total for 2 weeks
If people like to brag about spending $$$$ and posting pictures all over social media then that's up to them. Personally we like to budget so we can go 2 or 3 times a year

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We are similar in that we prefer to have more trips on a budget than one big blowout. Everyone has their own idea of a good holiday, but I don’t spend much in restaurants and on takeaway coffees etc whilst at home and I also prefer to not use all our money on food and drink when away. We also love a Walmart chicken with salad, we then can chill out by the pool and have a glass of wine. I saw a trip report where a lady went to Orlando with 3 kids ( I think) and her budget was tiny, about £500 or similar. They had a great time.