If you read this blog last Saturday, you know that the Blawgirl and the Boyfriend were going to head to Las Vegas to take a little post- and pre- 1L trip: He’s just finished his first year, and I’m getting ready to start in August.
As current and future students who will have tons of debt to pay off at the end of our three-year stints, we don’t have a lot of money to play with. As they say, “If you live like a lawyer while you’re a student, you’re going to live like a student when you’re a lawyer”, which is why we decided to take the frugal finds approach in planning our Vegas trip.
Last week, I found some great deals on the hotel stay (a four-star within a five minute drive of the strip) and two Las Vegas shows, which broke down to about $95 a person. But what about food, gas and gambling? The Boyfriend decided not to gamble this time around, and I just dropped $5 at a slot machine for the heck of it. For the rest of our expenses, here’s a rough estimate of the four-day stay:
Day 1
- Gas: $20
- Pita sandwiches made at home: $3
- McDonald’s for lunch: $6; two sandwiches, two fries and a large sweet tea
- Dinner at Baja Miguel’s restaurant at South Point: $12; split entree with free nachos, guacamole, salsa and refried beans; used a coupon from the hotel for a free margarita.
Day 1 total: $41
Day 2
- Breakfast at Coronado Cafe at hotel: $12; split ginormous plate of corned beef hash, scrambled eggs and hash browns; four pieces of toast; and a carafe of coffee.
- Games at South Point arcade: $5
- Movie at Century Theater at South Point: $14
- Dinner after The Mentalist show at Planet Hollywood: $12; split a basket of hot wings and french fries
- Stroll from Planet Hollywood to Excalibur: free
- Drinks at hotel bar: $10
Day 2 total: $53
Day 3
- Breakfast at the Garden Buffet at South Point: $9; used a two-for-one breakfast/lunch buffet coupon from the hotel
- Swimming at the South Point pool: free
- Bowling at South Point bowling center: $15; shoe rentals, two games
- Stroll around the Wynn, Encore and Palazzo hotels: free
- Drinks and karaoke at Hawaiian Marketplace: $10 drinks, free karaoke
- Dinner from In ‘n’ Out after Sin City Comedy show at Planet Hollywood: $6
Day 3 total: $40
Day 4
- Swimming at the South Point pool: free
- Lunch at a creperie at the Paris hotel: $25
- Feed the slot machine: $5
- Gas: $20
Day 4 total: $50
Expenses added to the hotel and show costs total $279, which brings the cost to about $140 per person. Let’s say that I might have forgotten about $50 worth of alcoholic beverages or little snacks that were purchased, and that still keeps us at about $165 per person for a four-day trip! That’s about the price you would pay for one night at a the same kind of hotel on the strip! Yey, for frugal finds!
Possibly related posts (automatically generated):
- Frugal Finds Weekend (5/16/09): Frugal and fabulous in Sin City
- Frugal Finds Weekend (4/18/09): Get a gold star for frugality by checking out Goldstar Events
- Frugal Finds Weekend (5/2/09): Great, inexpensive meal ideas from the Great Depression
- Frugal Finds (6/4/09): Free weekend admission to U.S. national parks!
- Frugal Finds (6/17/09): Free admission to more than 100 national parks this weekend!
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