My hubby and I took a trip to Atlantic City this weekend. Actually we left on Sunday and came back on Monday. I was browsing through Groupon a couple of months ago because that’s just what I do to waste time. I found a deal for the newest hotel in AC called Revel. So I called my hubby and found a date he didn’t have class, which was this one specific weekend and booked it. It was going to be a short trip to begin with, but with so many snow days here in our area, my hubby’s school schedule changed and he had to go to school that night for the final presentation. So the trip got cut shorter. We had to leave right after lunch on Monday and on the way down when we were in Maryland, we started hitting traffic. We weren’t sure if he was going to make it on time, so we quickly found the nearest metro station and he hopped off to get to his school in DC and I drove home by myself. What a crazy day that was since I had to pick him back up at the metro station later that night.
Anyway~ enough with the non-sense. Let me recap this very very very short trip spending. The Groupon amount was $108.05 for the one night hotel stay. The toll fee was around $35.00 back and forth and the gas total was $48.00. I filled up my gas the night before we left and when we got back, the empty gas sign came on. The food total came out to be $140.00 with 2 lunches, one light dinner, 1 snack, and 2 cups of coffee. We both were very tired starting out this trip and we really didn’t have time to recover from hangover if we decided to drink. So we didn’t have a single drop of alcohol while we were there. We spent $140.00 on gambling. We played $20.00 on penny slots that lasted us several hours. Hubby spent $40.00 on black jack and I spent $80.00 on roulette and we didn’t win anything. But then again, we weren’t expecting to win. We were just expecting to delay losing the whole thing, so we could spend more time actually playing something. We’re not big gamblers and with our budget right now, we weren’t going to spend much money. We just wanted to get away even for a short period of time and do something different.
Our original budget for this trip was $450.00. But the grand total for this mini vacation was $471.05. I think it’s a little more than I would’ve liked to spend on a such a short trip even if we were right on the budget. There are a few things that I would do differently to save more money if we do this again next time.
– Get a cheaper hotel and take a cab to a nicer casino to play.
– Bring another couple and split the toll fee and the gas money.
– Bring some snacks and alcohol to consume at the hotel room instead of ordering in or going out to a bar.
We took a short trip to AC couple of years ago and I didn’t really think the trip was expensive back then, firstly because we didn’t have a budget at that time. Secondly, we won some money which lowered the total amount we ended up spending. This shows you how much you don’t know your own spending habit without a budget and how a budget plays a big role on your perception of what is too much and what isn’t. Hindsight, I would’ve saved this money and added more to take a better trip, but what’s done is done. Now I know how wasteful Groupon can be not only with time, but with making you buy without much thought into it. At least we saved this money before going up there, so no debt was added. And we didn’t sacrifice other debt payments to save this money, so that’s good. Live and learn is what I’m saying about this trip.
Did you go anywhere recently? Did you go over your budget on that trip? Do you regret going on that trip?
Michelle's Finance Journal 
I think planning to use a ‘last-minute’ vacation ahead of time can be a great way to save money… as long as you make sure it’s actually a good deal.
I went to Bok tower, a botanical garden, a couple of weekends ago. It was about two hours away, and my boyfriend and I met with a group of friends there, it was only $30 to get in with our AAA discount, we got lunch which was about $20, I got a free cookie because of AAA. No regrets, it’s good to get outside every once in a while!
That’s a great one day trip. I think this was a vacation withdrawal side affect. I just got so excited that my mind was making me think this was a great deal.
We took a trip to the Grand Canyon this weekend. We didn’t expect the food prices to be so high. I don’t regret it, but if I knew we would have packed more of our food.
Grand Canyon sounds awesome. I’ve never been but I definitely will go visit one day.
It’s amazing how food costs can really add up! I’ve not been on a trip for ages, but I’ll probably go camping this Summer. At least we can take our own food so the costs won’t be too high! It’s great that you didn’t get into debt for this trip and hope you both had a lovely time.
Camping sounds fun. None of my girl friends are into camping at all. They’re all resort type of girls. My hubby and I did try going on camping once and we got bored. haha~ I need to find at least one other couple to go with.
I’ve definitely spent too much on short trips, and always have a little pang of regret. This Summer, we have some camping trips and some beach trips lined up, and one of the main things we try to focus on is bringing our own food. It’s not always possible, but if we can get a room with a kitchenette, it usually saves at least $100 bucks over the course of a weekend.
Pics, I want to see pics! Especially of food! That’s a great idea about bringing another couple next time to help with some shared costs, plus I bet it would be more fun. Glad to hear you and the hubs had a little getaway time. 🙂
Well, I didn’t really take pictures other than a few I posted on facebook. But I’m done with AC. I could’ve went to Las Vegas with a little more money. I mean not a little more, but I think I’ll skip these tiny and not so cheap vacations to save more and go on a real vacation. We need to start planning for a real one for next year when my hubby’s finally done with school. I will definitely take tons of pictures then.