Vegas on a Budget

I have always loved to travel. When I was younger, my step mother tried to take me everywhere, and wherever she was allowed to take me, I was always happy to go. When I got older and had to foot the bill myself, there were only so many places I could afford with even less time to go, and traveling went on the back burner. Back in February, I started my new side gig as a travel agent. It was something that I wanted to try since some friends had already done this years before, but I just never took the leap until finally, with the pandemic and with everyone trying new things, I decided to go for it. Because I am still relatively new to the industry, I needed to really get out here and travel more, but my budget is very meager seeing how I am a student, mother of three teenagers, and I just started on this brand new journey, I decided it was now or never. Vegas, though it is easy to rack up a nice little price tag in America's playground, can still be done on a budget. Here are just a few clues as to how to save a coin or two and still do everything that you might want to do there.

The first thing you might want to consider is what would you like to do on this trip. Not only is this great for creating a budget before you go, but also because a lot of the hotels and casinos give credits and discounts because you stay there. For example, I have stayed at the Strat twice by choice because I like the rides there. I know that when I stay, I will get a discount on the rides, a discount to enjoy the view from the observation deck, a discount to go to the comedy club, and these are all things I enjoy doing. If you like to gamble, there are hotels that will give you gambling credit to stay with them. If you like to party, there are hotels that have discounts on their nightclub experiences or tickets to their shows. If you bring the children along, Circus Circus is a great way for the children to have a good time and a fun stay, and you don't have to spend a lot of money. So figure out what the trip is going to be like first before even planning where you are going to stay because it might all connect.

The next thing that I want to point out is that the strip is a tourist trap and the prices of everything are astronomical. Therefore, my tip is to do things off the strip that you can do. For example, food...if you get a bit hungry while playing and having a good time, I suggest you take a ride somewhere else to eat. The prices for the same fast food restaurants that you have at home are not going to be the prices that you find on the strip. This was a rude awakening for me the first time I came. There is a McDonald's in the Strat, and a Denny's and Ihop not far away, but the prices are not the prices I am used to. I decided to UberEats some food from off the strip and saved a few dollars. I could have drove and saved a few more, but by that time I had been drinking, and we don't drink and drive around here. The first time, I spent most of my time in the buffets to save some money on food and other little small hideaways that I just stumbled upon, but because of the pandemic a lot of the buffets and those little places were closed, so until that is resolved, I would say just eat off the strip. Souvenir shopping is also better done off the strip, you can find some nice things and not have to pay the mark up simply because you are visiting. Plus doing things off the strip is how you learn how people who actually live in Vegas really live, not the commercial type things that make those casino tycoons richer. The point is that you can find places to do all those little things we do on vacation like eat, shop, even play on a budget, you might just need to explore other places besides the strip to do it.

The third tip I want to give you is about the ATM machines. There are some places or activities that require you to have cash and not use your debit or credit card. That can be dangerous anyway when it comes to the gambling capital of the US. Because of the need for cash, you may be tempted to hit up an ATM. They are everywhere and it is easy access to your funds. I would caution against this at the casinos and other side places on the strip because I have seen the ATM fees range from anywhere between five dollars and twenty dollars. That is only the ATM fee, forget about the fee that your bank is going to charge you for using an outside network machine. The way we save those few dollars is by going to the Circle K convenience store and gas station and buying a candy bar and requesting cash back or Walgreens and grabbing a bag of chips and asking for cash back. The bank doesn't charge an extra fee and you are getting something for the money that you spent that way. Granted you can only get maybe forty to one hundred dollars at a time this way, but that might be a good way to keep you on your budget because who wants to keep going to the store just to get cash back? Easy fix to the cash only problem and a decent way to save some coins.

Next, play the penny slots. As long as you are gambling, it doesn't matter how much you are spending, they are going to give you free drinks everywhere you go. Sit there with dollar bills, and take your time, and you can drink completely for free. It is customary to tip your wait staff, especially if you want them to come around again, but get those free drinks. Plus, you can't win if you don't play and I have sat down with six dollars and played those penny slots, turned that six dollars into twenty with my winnings, drank for free, and had a nice dinner, all from the start of six dollars.

My very last tip for a nice Vegas vacation on a budget is do the time share presentation, grab those free samples, and use those coupons. There are people on the street giving away free stuff everywhere on the strip. Find them and use what they give you. We did a two hour timeshare presentation, told them we did not want the timeshare, declined, declined, declined the opportunity, and walked out with two hundred dollars worth of gambling credit, (which honestly wasn't worth it because if you don't hit the jackpot with that credit, then they will not be giving you any money, so that part was a waste of time), a fifty dollar amazon gift card, a free lunch, and a discounted vacation in six months. Walking further down the street, we found some buy one get one free coupons for drinks. There was another guy giving out samples of food from his place of business. Say yes to the freebies. The timeshare presentation was two hours long, but worth it for all the freebies we got. Plus because we decided to do the timeshare presentation we got a ride to the office which was in the middle of everything, so a free Lyft ride on top of all of the other things we got for free.

Las Vegas, Nevada is a very fun place to visit, but if you don't plan ahead and play your cards right, you can wind up in a very dire situation financially. It is critically important for you not to bring more than you are willing to lose when you go on a trip like this, but if you aren't careful, you might just spend that in the first day. Use these little tips to help and you can have a great time without going home completely broke.