The Next Save

In December of 2017, on the 15th to be exact, my World of Warcraft guild, Spectacular Death, will celebrate 10 years of uninterrupted time in the game. That's a long time. We were talking, last summer, about doing something spectacular to celebrate. Brainstorming came up with a guild trip to Walt Disney World. After presenting the idea, it was approved.

In September of last year, I put a down payment on the trip. I had tucked away a decent sum until house repairs forced me to dip into the Disney fund to get things fixed. It makes me sad because I have to, essentially, start all over in saving and there's less than a year to do it. February and March see the highest heating bills so I'm scrambling right now, to figure out where money goes and what really needs to be done in 2017, since I put down money on this.

I was at my favorite bookstore and this was on the shelf. The last time I bought one of these guides it was 1990 and I was going, as a family, for the first time. My last visit was in 2005, when my pen pal was still alive.

A guild member, Liz, went in November of last year and took these amazing photos of the fireworks at Epcot.

She went during the time of that Super Moon.

These were taken from a pontoon boat which you can reserve to watch the Epcot fireworks. Unobstructed views and snacks are guaranteed. We are going to do this.

So far, 13 of us are going. We're not going as an official group because that locks us into a certain discount and the travel agent we are working with says she can get better deals if we are just a bunch of friends going at the same time. We're going in October, to take advantage of Halloween and the annual Food and Wine Festival. I have selected the venue for our character breakfast but we're getting down to the wire to pick the place for the 'Goodbye' dinner. I told the group I would pick 4 places and we would vote. The place with the most votes would be where we'll go. We can make reservations for rides and dinners as early as April 17th. When it was November, that was a long way away. Now that it's January, *gasp*, that's almost here.

I know I can do this, but I really need for there not to be emergencies. I'm not going to take another traveling vacation this year, opting to take days off here and there to save money. Having a car that doesn't need monthly maintenance helps tremendously. Now, I need for it to be mild in temperature so the heating bill is not astronomical.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

A New Goal

Next year, my little guild in World of Warcraft turns 10 years old. Lasting that long in a video game is notable. We need to do something as a guild, something big and splashy. So I put this to the guild's Facebook page. Things were suggested but what stuck was a Walt Disney World vacation.

I started talking with a guild member, Liz, who goes to Disney 3-4 times a year. The more we talked about the things we wanted to do, the more we explored resort properties, the more confusing the options became. It seems, with Disney, why have 5 options when you can have 45. Liz suggested we should look into Disney travel agent. Enter Hollie. She is paid by Disney so even if we don't have a huge number of people coming along or, if it was just me, she would still be paid to help with a trip. She helped me price out a vacation and, at the July meet-up, I gave a presentation.

The one thing we needed to decide was when did we want to go. The cheap time is January, the week after New Year's through the end of February. But, if we want to spend a bit more, we could go in March, when the Flower and Garden Festival is, or go in October, when the Food and Wine Festival AND Halloween run concurrently. Well, when presented with these options, it became a decision about how fast you could save the money and we decided October of 2017 was the best time.

The big attraction is the two festivals going on at the same time. You know that Disney will do Halloween fantastic. When I went to BlizzCon last year, Halloween was only at the Haunted Mansion. Christmas hadn't quite wandered in but Halloween had wandered out. We will be going at the height of the holiday. It's going to be exciting to see the decorations.  We're going to do Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Rides. Trick or Treat. A special parade and fireworks and the Magic Kingdom all to ourselves and anyone else who buys a ticket to the party.

And then there is the Food and Wine Festival.

Located at Epcot World Showcases, this is a celebration of food. The World Showcase part of Epcot is my favorite place at Disney World. Even with a lot of people in that section of the park, it is peaceful. I love to wander through all the countries and see what they have to offer.

During the festival, each country has food carts and special food indicative of their culture.

Having been to Disney World 4 times, one of the things I've wanted to do is "Eat Around the World", stop at each country and eat something at each country. With the festival going on in October, I can do this just by eating at the food carts stationed around the lagoon.

It took the summer to figure everything out on what I thought I would want. Hollie and I met in mid-September to go over possibilities, and, after looking at everything, she gave me a price and I put down a deposit. Now comes the saving.

I have to say I'm excited. A year ago, I was excited to go to BlizzCon. I spent a whole summer and most of a fall, saving for that trip, which included 2 days at Disneyland. This is going to be a whole week. I'm going with guild members; people I respect and whose company I relish. I'm going to be sharing a room with Liz. I admire and respect her and her company will make this that much more fun.

We will be going for a week in the middle of October. We looked at going as a group, but the group discounts didn't amount to much and Hollie said there are usually always discounts on things which we wouldn't be able to take advantage of if we're a group. So, we picked the days and then let everyone decide where they wanted to stay and what kinds of additions to their vacation they wanted.

In case you are wondering, WDW shut down this month for only the 7th time since opening, due to Hurricane Matthew. People who couldn't use tickets for events slated for Thursday night through Saturday morning, received compensation and/or had their tickets rescheduled for other days. The price of the resorts in October is one step above the base rate and two steps down from "We're going tomorrow and it's Christmas" rate. We were told this is primarily because October still has the potential for hurricanes raining, literally, on your parade. I told guild members Hurricane Matthew is a good example of why trip insurance is a very good idea.

Liz and I are going to stay at the Port of Orleans, French Quarter resort.

It's a moderately priced resort and the theme is New Orleans French Quarter area; heavy on the jazz. I can't wait. They serve beignets at the cafe in the main building.

They won't be the Mickey beignets that the restaurant in the French Quarter of the Magic Kingdom at Disneyland had, but, beignets!

I've needed to make some decisions with regards to what we're going to do so people can plan. I'm arriving on a Saturday, so I've decided my "Eat Around the World" at World Showcase can start then. Liz assures me there will be ample credits from the middle priced food plan and I will be scrambling on the last day to use them up. I remain unconvinced, but, several of us are going to Epcot and will take turns buying snack items to share. I'm planning for needing cash for meals.

We're going to the Halloween party on Sunday evening, to give people a chance to get to WDW. A Halloween party ticket acts like park admission so we can go to the Magic Kingdom as early as 4 pm and get in. Costumes are encouraged, within reason, so we'll have to see what we can do about that. Eighty percent of the rides are open so I expect to cross most of my "must ride" off the list then.

I want a Character Breakfast and a final meal. Those were things I felt were important to me. What people did with the guild wasn't as important as those two things, such as going to the same parks or eating at the same restaurant. But people were coming in and leaving on different days so trying to schedule within those constraints was hard. I finally decided, as guild leader, I could pick the dates we'll go, as a guild, to breakfast and dinner and then hope that people can fit those things into their schedule. I also made the decision on where we're going to eat breakfast. Guild members decided they really wanted Goofy at our breakfast so I've settled on the Tusker House in Animal Kingdom on Monday. Look! Goofy!

Dinner is going to be a majority vote decision. Liz and I have looked at a wide variety of places. We're going to pick 4 and offer them to the group, with plusses and minuses for each place. Then, we'll let the group decide and that's where we'll go. We're going to do that on Friday night. I leave a week after arriving.

Also in my sights are a foot and leg massage, a Steam Train Tour, a fireworks cruise and game night on Wednesday night, where everyone will come to the French Quarter, if they aren't already staying there, and we'll play games. My feeling is that it's their money and outside of a few suggested things, they should spend it however they want. They don't have to come to anything I arrange. I hope they do, but it's not required. I feel requiring things takes all the fun out a special vacation like this. Ben and Natalie are engaged and may use this as their honeymoon. If they do, we have plans, oh boy. Wendy is going to rent a scooter as she has an issue walking a lot and you will walk, a lot. We've already decided to trick out her scooter.

So, that's the current savings goal. It's been kind of an expensive year so I'm very glad we decided to do this in October of next year. It's going to be such a fun time.

Beverage:  Cookies and Cream hot cocoa

Deb

Feeding the cat

It was time to empty the Lucky Cat Bank.

I mentioned last year how we got this bank from the Japanese pavilion at Epcot Center at Disney World. There was some lore with it. A white cat with the raised paw was to signify luck. You were to feed the cat but not count the amount of money you fed it. By this anonymous method, you watched the amount of your change grow.

I couldn't get change to stay in the bank anymore as the interior contents were up to the slot at the back of the head. Originally, the bottom hole was covered with green felt. But that had to be removed in order to retrieve the coins in the bank. And we discovered quarters don't come out easily, so a groove had to be carved in the bottom hole and quarters had to be turned on edge and pulled out. So, the only coins in the bank are pennies, nickels and dimes. When you don't spend them, however, eventually, they add up.

I emptied the coins from my wallet. That's the pile to the right containing a few quarters. Then, I peeled the tape off the bottom and started shaking out the contents.

It turned out to be a goodly amount of coinage.

All of this goes into a bank Carole and I made over 10 years ago, right about the time her dad left us. We were feeling very low and wondering how we were going to make any ends meet, let alone pay the mortgage and utilities and provide for the few things she needed in high school. We decided we needed some symbol, something to rally around as emblematic of how we weren't going to be beaten down.

It's a heavy cardboard heart-shaped container. We decorated it and I used a quote from Shakespeare's Tempest Keep. Prospero says it in Act 4, Scene 1.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,

As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

I used this quote to remind us that as long as we had dreams, we were good. There are days when I don't believe my sentiments, but, for the most part, I have held to this. As long as I can dream, I am good.

I have emptied this container three times since we made it. All the times were in preparation for a vacation. I don't empty it until the lid won't sit on it square anymore.

It's about half-full now. Buried under the coins are a few dollar bills I added back in June. I try to resist the urge to fish them out. I can't remember when I emptied this last; I might be going on 2 years now. With a debit card in my wallet, I rarely carry cash about, although I have been doing that in an effort to keep track of where my cash goes. If all I have to spend is the $3.00 in my wallet, I'm going to think three or four times about buying that overpriced bottle of soda.

I have no clue how much was contributed to the dream keeper. That's as it should be. If I remember correctly, I've turned in $117, $98 and $86 in coin and bills.

Remember how saving your loose change was something everyone did? You walked into a home and pretty much everyone had a change jar. My friend Terry had a jar that she and her hubby filled with pennies. It was dubbed the "Pennies for Paris" jar. They turned it in and put the proceeds into a fund to go to Paris. I remember her saying it wasn't much every time they turned it in, but it certainly added up.

It may be an anachronism to save one's change. For me, however, it is a reminder of how far I've come when I can put a couple handfuls of coins into a dream.

Beverage: Scottish Blend tea

Deb

Finances According to Luck

The bank has done all that they will do.

They feel they are being more than generous when, clearly, I screwed up. Because I have no proof that they mishandled my deposit, they are refunding only a small portion of the overdraft fees charged to my account.

I spent part of Monday evening looking at other banks in the area. The one bank that seemed to have a perfect fit for me has no branches within a 30 minute drive of me. They are more a Chicago bank and not a suburban bank.

I called a couple banks who were next on the list but it would take at least a week to get new accounts up and running because, you know, they have to put a hold on your money to make sure any checks clear. I can see if it's from "John Doe", but when it's from "XYZ Financial Institution", that 5 day clear thing is male bovine excrement. I can't wait 5 days to have access to my money. I have to pay bills now. I can only pay a very small portion of them, too. It's just how it is. Some places are understanding. Others are not and tell me whatever account I'm calling about is "on hold" until I make it right. Fine.

I keep waiting for the proverbial "other shoe to drop".

I have a wee bit of cash on which I can live for the rest of the month. I got cat food yesterday, a new brand that they are eating. It's too far for me to go to Meijer and get the brand Val had for them. I'm not a fan of those gigantic stores anyway. If they continue to eat this as well as they currently are, I'll see if I can get a bigger bag, which is more cost effective.

And, I'm feeding my Lucky Cat.

This is a traditional Japanese good luck charm. You'll see ceramic or porcelain statues at the entrance to all shops in Japan. This is a small bank. We got it in the Japanese section of World Showcase at Epcot Center at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida many years ago.

The tradition is that the white cat brings in wealth. There are other colors representing other places where luck is wished, such as health, family and love. The "rule" is you feed the Lucky Cat your spare change once a week, not counting how much you put in the bank. The cat then multiplies the coinage over the next week. When the bank is full, you empty 75% of it, always leaving some as "seed" money.

The only problem with this bank is that the bottom hole from which you remove the coins, is too small to accommodate quarters. So, I have a separate bank that Carole and I made when times were tough. The quarters go into that along with the 75% of the bank when it's full. You are never to count the coins because that supposedly chased the luck away. I don't count them until the separate bank is almost too heavy to carry. I've turned in $150 and $110 in change and bills in the over 15 years we've had the lucky cat. Yes, I had change and I fed it last night.

I know it seems ridiculously silly to put any faith in a superstition. I would like my luck to change. Instead of me always having to throw money at something to fix it, why can't the money come to me so I don't feel like the next sound I hear is a major appliance breaking down? That's where the stress is, the feeling totally and completely helpless to change anything about my situation. I wrote my letters to the Better Business Bureau and to the Illinois Attorney General. I know nothing will come of these. The only thing I'm doing is filing a notice that I feel deceived.

I'm out of bread so I have to run to the store tomorrow. I also need garbage stickers. There will be chances for change to feed the cat. Life is what it is. I can only go forward from this point and hope that my luck changes.

Beverage: Scottish Blend Tea

Deb