Getting Frugal for July Trip

First I got the SW credit card- charged my property taxes at beginning of year- shuffled my money around. Got 50,000 points- bought 4 round trip direct flights from San Antonio to Las Vegas using points. Bringing my son and his fiancé. Staying 4 nights at MGM -2 comped 2 paying for in a Stay Well Room- for me and my husband about $350 all in including tax and resort fee. A whopping $50 resort credit- Putting the kids up at NYNY for good rate all 4 nights at $320 all in tax and resort fees. $75 myVEGAS free play for me and husband. 2 free tickets to KA. American Express doesn't offer the mlife cards for points anymore- I used to get at least $200 worth . So instead I got a $80 Groupon for Sugar Factory for $49. Used American Express points for a Groupon gift card and then purchased through SW rapid Rewards and got 98 points. Ditto for 2 Dry Bar Blowouts for me and my son's fiancé $70 using my Amex points and purchased through SW rapid rewards 140 points. I bought $50 gift card through Amex for Uber rides. I did buy the Darden Restaurant $100 and get $20 free - through SW and got either 200 or 100 points- I forgot. plan to use that at Yard House at the Linq.

I have 2 ACG books and have made a couple of trades. Love Nathan's and Original Chicken Tenders. Will probably buy 2 LVA books. Plan to do a downtown casino crawl and use the Cosmo and Paris Burger Brassiere coupons.

You can do Vegas on a budget but it takes a little effort.

 

that sounds like more than a little planning, but i love it. my son and it talk about how we could write a book (Vegas on a Dime). of course there is already plenty of info out there on the subject. being a bit frugal and budget-minded allows me to go to Vegas 4 times a year instead of 2. I am shooting for 11 nights in Vegas in August. that will be a record for me. I will be trying to string together as many comped nights as I can. I am guessing I may have to pay for 2. I don't eat at fancy restaurants, so if my meals are not comped, they are still affordable with some kind of coupon or points. I live to plan my next FRUGAL Vegas trip. I need to check my LVA book to see what kind of coupons that I have left to trade.

 

get a second SW card for the companion ticket

 

Nicely done! I had to rethink my Vegas trips once I retired, and now book mostly downtown for the comps and longer playing time (usually). But your trip looks like it is going to work well for you!

 

That's awesome!
Another way to be frugal is Happy Hours. Yard house has a great one with lots of food options. I think there's also several good ones at MGM but I havent had the chance to try any of them.

 

I just changed our son's hotel to MGM too. The rates went down tremendously on my husband's offers. Got them over there in a Grand King for about$70 more for all4 nights total. I read on TA and then checked it myself. They are renovating walking bridges in Vegas. The MGM to NYNY will start soon with expectations to be closed sometime in July. They give no timeframe. Too much of a nightmare to navigate back and forth in the summer. The photos of how it will look like when done is great. Looks like they may be wider- or it just appears that way. Wonder if they will get rid of the bums.

 

I don't think that's possible, but we can always hope!

I hope your trip is super!

Cheers,
Kelly

 

Pub 1842 in MGM has an awesome happy hour, Thurs thru Sunday 2pm-5pm. Brisket sliders and Lobster mac n cheese are delicious-think the sliders are $8 and mac is $9 during happy hour. I think the beer is $5 and cocktails $7.

 

I operate the same way!

 

Ah--a woman after my own heart! I have my gambling budget that remains pretty consistent. BUT I want to squeeze every penny out of every dollar I make--including vaca!
1--Comped night at Harrahs Council Bluffs; parking will be free as they have airport shuttle
2--Earned SWA companion pass early this year with some creative bonus points earning on SPG AmEx. SO our flight is BOGO.
3--5 nights comped at PH, including resort fees as I am CET Diamond--via Founders Card. (ha--I am lowly Gold based on gambling)
4--1 night comped Mirage via MyVegas--$40 resort fee
5--LVA & ACG (2) coupon books--love/hate relationship with these. But BFF is new player everywhere & on a serious budget so this will be more fun!
6--Lyft--BFF has not used so we should have 5-$10 credits (tho could be 10-$5 credits)
7--Shows:
--Retro Futura $21 each for 5-80s 1 hit wonders (BFF & me)
--$40 Groupon for Raiding the Rock Vault--my 3rd time (BFF & me)
--Brooklyn Wanderers $70/2 on eBay (lasvegas4locals--great seller) (Mom & me)
--Tenors of Rock 2 free diamond tickets (Mom & me)
--Marc Savard $5/ticket w/ LVA coupon (Mom & me)
8--$100 diamond dinner credit--I think the 3 of us can eat lunch at Mesa for close to this
9--$60 credit at Nine Fine Irishman via MyVegas (2 rewards)
10--Mom & I can eat dinner at diamond lounge each evening after BFF heads back--we prefer a light dinner anyway.
11--2 free Paris buffets (Groupons have had too long...expired for 2, but they will honor for 1 each)
12--$60 gift cards from PH Miracle Mile mall (paid $20? for these via travelzoo promo codes)
13--$25 Mon Ami Gabi Gift card
14--1 more MyVegas reward--I have $15 Starbucks at Monte Carlo, free cheesecake at Mirage or $50 credit at NYNY piano bar--I know that sounds like best deal but we will be at Mirage the last night only (has to be used with a stay)--not sure Mom will want to trek down there.
Toss in a few protein bars & other than gambling we will pay for LITTLE!!

 

I just returned from Vegas, I did something very frugal and I am proud of it. total cost for ground transportation: $4. I took the WAX bust from the airport to downtown and back, $2 each way. it felt good. no rental car, no shuttle, no taxi, no uber/lyft. I stayed downtown the whole time. I wanted to use uber and go to the GC to play pai-gow, but I never got around to it. the ride was not bad, it took about 35 minutes, and about 40 minutes on the return. I just use that time to check email, text, and read the news and such.
I will do it again next time.

 

I'm planning my 14 day Vegas trip right now!!! I don't know for some reason it's become a game with me to see how cheap it can be.

So far 14 nights.... all comped except for 1 night. 10 days are total rewards and I'm diamond so no resort fees. The one night I have nothing yet, I may just extend my 2 days to 3 days at the Mirage, pay for it full price. That way I can use myvegas freeplay!!

2 round trip airfare used points so it was about $25 in taxes.

Hubby and I both have 2 buffets from my Vegas!

Will get a Koi Groupon with a 20% off coupon making it around $75 (my favorite dinner!!! Love this)

Used Citibank points for some Starbucks gift cards.

Still have some time to see what I can do about food. More I save more gambling $$ we can have

 

Looking good, Onmyown! Have you gotten and LVA or ACG coupon books?
You seem like me--no cheap, but why would I pay for things I don't need to?