I can be a very motivated money saver when I need to be. If I want something badly enough, I’ll pinch pennies and hoard money and come up with ways to get some extra cash. With an upcoming Orlando trip in September/October for Halloween Horror Nights and Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, I need to start putting money back. Here’s the game plan:

• MAY – Spending freeze: Well, sort of. I put off a lot of the collection purchases I typically make when I get paid (since I get paid once monthly) and then made myself only spend the money I had to. You know, like bills, gas, Deadpool DVD/Bluray combo pack… What? That’s important. Anyway, there won’t be much if any money still by the time I get paid again, HOWEVER, it helps get me mentally focused to save money. Plus, it doesn’t assault my bank account quite as badly.
• JUNE – Careful spending: I have plans to go to Six Flags the very end of May, which involves my June paycheck. But, luckily, I have a Season Pass for this year, so parking and entry doesn’t cost me anything – SCORE! But, that doesn’t mean I won’t be spending money on this little trip. Six Flags has something very wonderful… A LOT of Batman merch. I can justify spending a small amount on this trip since I have a discount and their stuff is fairly reasonable. But aside from Six Flags, I have a few pre-ordered items that come out of my check for June. Nothing that’ll really break the bank, though. So after bills, the rest of my money goes into buying Disney gift cards, paying extra on my credit cards, and stashing some cash. Yup, that’s right. Disney gift cards. I’ll explain later, haha.
• JULY – Proof that I need to stop pre-ordering so much: I have at least two fairly pricey pre-orders this month. If I’ve been careful with money in June, though, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Pay my bills, pay for my pre-orders, and then move on with putting aside cash and buying Disney gift cards.
• AUGUST – Crunch Time and Birthday Time: This will be a difficult one, but hopefully I can dance around this problem since it’ll be my birthday. How? Request cash, specific collection stuff or gift cards to places that can help me get said stuff, or Disney gift cards. Boom! Crisis averted. But sometimes this doesn’t work out for me, haha. One unfortunate issue is that I may not get to attend Wizard World Chicago for my birthday. That’s a lot of money to spend so close to our trip. We’ll see.
• SEPTEMBER – This is Not A DRILL!: Last check before we leave, even though I should be getting paid again while we are gone. Still, this check will mean serious business. Time to finalize purchases, make sure everything is packed, and assemble the gift cards and cash to make sure we’re ready to rock!

Hopefully I can stick to my own plan and not stress myself too much over little stuff. Strategic planning and staying calm about everything always, ALWAYS makes these bigger plans go a lot more smoothly. I hope to keep the planning updated as we get closer to time!

~Angel