A New Goal!

[kristenrice]

I just went through my projected budget for spring break next year. We are hoping to go to HHI (using our DVC points) and I want to try and do it without touching our vacation savings account.

I calculated out conservative estimates of how much we will earn off of our rewards programs. I've figured that we will have about $220 in Disney Visa Rewards, $300 in AMEX travel rewards, $100 in Marriott gift cards and another $20 in Discover card rewards. That totals $640.

I've budgeted for food, transportation, lodging and entertainment and I think I will need about $1500 total. That means if I can earn $860 in Sunshine Rewards, we can take a FREE trip!

So.....BRING ON THE SURVEYS!!!

[kimntrent]

great goal

[~Kathie]

You can do it. Have you stayed at HH before? We did for the first time a few years ago and we liked it. We only stayed one night on the way to Florida.

What will you use the Marriott gift cards for?

[disney_girl]

Sounds like a great goal! Good luck!!

[3dog2kidmom]

You can do it. Have you stayed at HH before? We did for the first time a few years ago and we liked it. We only stayed one night on the way to Florida.

What will you use the Marriott gift cards for?

I wondered that too. I would like to go there someday -- loosely planning for spring break '12 since we are cruising on the Dream next summer.

[kristenrice]

What will you use the Marriott gift cards for?

Since we have two young 'uns (ages 5 and 7 when we'll travel), we plan on spreading the 14-hour drive over 2 days. I always pick a Marriott-branded hotel to stop at so that I can use the GC's that I earn through "another" site. (*I'm not a traitor....I only buy Lancome from them and it is not available here) There is a Residence Inn(?) in Gatlinburg that I am looking at for the first night. The quoted cost only comes to $73 with our AAA discount. So, I have enough to cover that already. I also have enough AMEX travel rewards already to cover a night on the way home. By sticking with Marriott's, I also earn the Marriott points, which we used to cover one of our night's in April when we drove to WDW.

I love the AMEX rewards! I found out that anything that is charged to the room gets processed as "travel-lodging"! That is awesome because now I can charge food, entertainment and/or souvenirs to the room and use my points to pay for it. If we were flying, I'd use it towards airfare, but since we're driving, we don't have a lot of expenses classified as "travel".

[Alice28]

I was just doing this today as well. We are planning a 9-10 day WDW trip in August 2011. We usually stay in DVC with my parents. I am hoping to save...$1,000 in SR money from June 2010-June 2011. With all the surveys that are running, plus the shopping I occasionally do, I*think* it's doable if I keep at it. I have averaged about $620 the last four years....per year that is. BUT, with 6 surveys to take, I think it's doable. My earnings from this month are going towards our Sept shortie Disneyland trip. Anyway, that $1,000 would either cover most of our park ticket costs OR our meal costs. A Huge chunk!

It's great to have goals! Good luck with yours- i think you can do it and it would be awesome to have a totally free trip!

[~Kathie]

I thought that's what you would be doing with the Marriott gift cards. We did similar when we went on our Alaskan trip last year with Hilton and AMEX. Love it when I can double dip.

Good luck with your goal and keep us posted!

[Blessing and Miracle]

Have you tried Hilton. They are great with rewarding you with free nights. You can also earn them. They're a merchant with SR and there is a banner floating above our heads right now. I' ve been a member for quite awile.

[kristenrice]

I tried and tried, but just couldn't get the AMP yesterday to complete my quintet. Things haven't improved much yet today. I have to leave for work in about an hour and I've only been able to get the SH and MV. This is unusual for me since I almost always get the DS. Now, since I have to get the DS before I can try the SM survey, AND I have to go to work, I am probably going to have to settle for just the two survey completions today. It looks like I will not make my "goal" of $2/day. **UPDATE: Well, I'll probably be a little late for work, but I finally got the DS!!*** Oh, but I made a really cool spreadsheet to keep track of my survey earnings and competions.

Tomorrow is another day....but since I get home from work around 5:30am and I have to be back at work at 2:30pm, I really doubt I will have much time to try surveys. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will be one of those days when I get three surveys in 15 minutes.