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Las Vegas Recap: My Most Frugal Trip Ever

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 54 Comments

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Las Vegas Recap- My Most Frugal Trip Ever9

We spent most of our time at the pool, and it’s where we probably had the most fun. I’m in the white swimsuit 🙂

I’ve been to Las Vegas a few times now.

I’ve done three girls’ trips there in the past few years with my friends, and I also went a few times when I was under 21 with my family.

One thing that I was surprised by this time around was the weather. It was a cold 60 degrees each day, which is a huge difference from the 90 degree and extremely humid days that St. Louis has been experiencing.

Las Vegas was a lot of fun. Me and 6 of my friends (and one girl who now lives in Las Vegas met up with us as well) went to Vegas for my bachelorette party. We left at around 11 a.m. on Wednesday and came back at around 6 p.m. on Saturday.

I’ve gone to Vegas with this same group of friends three times now. It was my sister’s first time though, and it was also right after her 21st birthday. She had a blast and I know she’s already waiting to go back!

 

If you are interested in past travel recaps of mine, check out the below:

 

Did I work at all?

One of my goals on this trip was to put my laptop away and actually enjoy myself on a vacation. I am happy to say that for the most part, I actually did not work. I worked entirely from my cell phone and didn’t even bring my laptop. This meant that all I really did was handle urgent emails and make sure that nothing insane would happen while I was gone for 4 days. I don’t think I worked much though. I maybe sent out 10 emails while I was gone.

It was a little hard to completely separate myself from work, but it was also nice at the same time.

 

Las Vegas total cost.

Even though it was my bachelorette party, I’m always looking to save money when on vacation. Why spend money when it takes just minutes to save hundreds of dollars?

The total cost for this vacation for me was less than $300.

I believe my friends spent right around $500 each, which is a cheap budget vacation for all of us! It was a little more expensive for them because they paid for some of the costs for me (such as hotel and a Vegas show) since it was my bachelorette party – and we have always covered the costs for bachelorettes at past bachelorette parties. However, $500 total for Vegas including airfare, the hotel, food, etc. is not a bad deal!

 

Hotel in Las Vegas.

We stayed at the Flamingo. No, it’s not one of the most glamorous hotels, but it’s right in the middle of The Strip, the rooms are updated, and the pool is one of the best on The Strip. People actually leave their nice hotel pools on The Strip and pay to go to Flamingo’s pool, so there must be a reason for that!

We had two hotel rooms, since there were 7 of us. The 8th girl lived nearby and went home since she had work during the week.

We stayed at the Flamingo in 2012 when we all last went to Vegas, and we loved it last time so we booked it again this time. I believe the total cost was $580 (including all taxes, resort fees, etc.) for all 7 of us in 2 adjoining rooms for 4 days/3 nights.

I also brought my Total Rewards card and we were upgraded to a Strip View for free and received early check in for free as well. Even though the hotel wasn’t in my name, the super nice worker said that we could use it anyways because they were not strict about that policy.

Definitely sign up for your Total Rewards card before you go to Vegas. I believe it saves you 10% at many of the hotel gift shops, it allows you to skip the checkin line at many of the hotels, and you also get to waive the early check in fee (which is $30 per room!).

Total for the hotel: $0. It was $580, but since I was the bachelorette my friends would not let me pay. $580 split among the 6 of them though was still a steal!

 

Transportation to/in Las Vegas.

We all live in the St. Louis area, so taking a plane to Las Vegas was our best bet. Luckily, none of us had to pay a lot. I earned enough points through Southwest to get free/cheap airfare for 5 of us. Read How I Plan on Getting $2,500 in Airfare to Las Vegas for CHEAP.

Then, one of my friends had buddy passes through Southwest which meant that two of the girls also got to fly for free.

Roundtrip airfare from STL to Las Vegas tends to run around $400, and I got it for a very cheap price for all of us. I had around 84,000 rewards points for multiple roundtrip tickets.

We also took several taxis for our trip. We took the taxi from the airport to the hotel and back again when we departed. Then, each night we went out and took taxis from there and back so that we wouldn’t kill ourselves walking in our heels. The taxis weren’t that bad though. I think I spent around $50 in taxis altogether.

Total for gas and transportation: $50. I believe they each paid around $150 in transportation though since they all split the cost of the 7th plane ticket.

 

Food/drinks/miscellaneous in Las Vegas.

We didn’t spend a ton on food when we were in Las Vegas. Since we’ve all already been so many times, we were a little bit more lazy since we’ve already tried a lot of the restaurants there. This time, we mainly wanted it to be more relaxing and save time so that we could lay out by the pool each day.

We went to Walgreens on the Strip when we first got there. We all stocked up on drinks (and alcohol), snacks, and food (bagels, peanut butter, sandwich stuff, etc.) for the whole trip. This way we didn’t need to get breakfast each morning since we would all be too tired anyways.

For lunch each day, we ate at the pool. Surprisingly, the pool’s food was very good and surprisingly cheaper than we thought. I bought chicken tacos and tater tots (LOL, I know) for $12.

For dinner we tried a different place each night. With drinks included, I think I spent around $30 each night on dinner, which isn’t bad at all.

Drinks were super cheap for us. Luckily all the promoters and clubs want big groups of bachelorette parties, so we were able to get open bar and free tables each night. It’s nice to be a girl! We went to Surrender one night, and Tao the next night. The third night we had a free table as well but we decided to roam the Strip, people watch and drink instead. It was a lot of fun!

We also went to Thunder From Down Under, which is actually our FOURTH time going. I know, I know, we are a sad bunch of girls 🙂 Since it was my bachelorette party, they all split the cost of my ticket, which was very nice!

Total for food, drinks and miscellaneous expenses: $150. This would have been a little higher, but my sister was adamant about paying for some of my meals. Love you Lexy! For the others, they probably spent around $225 each (because of the Thunder From Down Under tickets).

 

Have you ever been to Las Vegas?

What’s your next planned trip? What was your cheapest vacation ever?

 

 

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Fun night at Tao!

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Fun times on the escalator haha. And don’t worry, that’s wine in my friend’s McDonald’s cup.

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We spent a TON of time at the pool.

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Another day at the pool!

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This was our first day when we first got to Vegas. I had a mango drink that was $14.

Las Vegas Recap- My Most Frugal Trip Ever

This was our view from the elevator on our floor. The view from our room was Caesar’s Palace!

 

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About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

  1. Glen @ Monster Piggy Bank says

    Looks like you had a heap of fun without spending much money at all – Nice one!

    I’ve never been to Vegas, however I think it looks amazing and it is certainly somewhere that I want to visit one day.

    Reply

  2. DC @ Young Adult Money says

    Looks like you had a great time! The Flamingo is an awesome casino, mainly because it’s in such a great location. The last time I went to Vegas my friend and I played Blackjack there from about 10pm until 4 or 5am. We kept winning so it was a great time, not to mention the free drinks we got while playing 😉 I’m glad you had a good time in Vegas!

    Reply

    • Michelle S. says

      We didn’t gamble at all on this trip. We are bad gamblers so I can’t imagine the amount of money I would lose if I was playing for as long as you did! 🙂

      Reply

  3. E.M. says

    Sounds like it was awesome and very affordable! I’m glad you didn’t work while you were there, that pool seems too nice to not enjoy. It’s also nice that everyone split the costs evenly; everyone wins in that situation. That’s a great rate for the hotel!

    Reply

  4. Holly@ClubThrifty says

    Our next trip to Las Vegas is this Friday….WOOT! Like you, I paid for flights for four of us using Southwest points. I have the Southwest Companion Pass so Greg was “free.” I hope my trip is as frugal as yours was. We earned four free buffets through myVEGAS rewards and our hotel has free breakfast so we should only have to pay for dinner.

    Reply

  5. John @ Wise Dollar says

    Nice work on splitting out the costs like that! We’ve never stayed at the Flamingo, though I’ve heard great things about the pool and want to try it the next time we’re there. We were there a few months ago and talking my wife into when we can go back. 🙂

    Reply

  10. Shannon @ Financially Blonde says

    This sounds like so much fun Michelle and it’s awesome that everyone was able to make the trip work while not breaking their piggy banks. And now you have put me in the mood for chicken tacos and tater tots by a pool. Sounds awesome!

    Reply

  11. Kara says

    The last time we went to Las Vegas I wanted to stay at the Flamingo, but we ended up at the Excalibur.
    Now I want to go back, looks like a fun trip!

    Reply

  12. CeCe @Pink Sunshine says

    I love Vegas!! It can be done on a budget too. The updated rooms at the Flamingo are great. I love their pool but I’m not so into the party aspect of it. Glad you had a great time, stayed on budget and took a break from work.

    Reply

  13. lesley says

    michelle – i know you had an awesome time bc i can tell by your pics! i am going to vegas at the end of next month. i may be hitting you up with a couple of questions. i was just amazed by how expensive the plane tickets were though. for some reason i had always thought it was super cheap to fly there…maybe if you you fly from springfield or peoria, il.. i don’t know, but stl was ridic! oh well, i am just excited to be going for my first time too with my dad and sister for a family reunion.

    Reply

    • Michelle S. says

      Thanks Lesley! And yes, you can always ask me questions.

      For the flight, I pretty much had to stalk them for a few months until they were the cheapest price. I think I bought them for around 15,000 or 16,000 points a piece for each roundtrip flight.

      Reply

  15. Lena says

    Sounds like you had a blast on a budget!! We plan to go to San Fransisco this summer but otherwise, we will stay close to home (which I’m totally fine with 🙂

    Reply

  17. Grayson @ Debt Roundup says

    I have been to Vegas, but it has been some time. Glad to hear that you had a great time and I enjoyed my bachelor party as I didn’t have to pay for much. That makes it incredibly frugal for me 😉

    Reply

  18. J says

    Sounds like an amazing time! I’d love to go to Vegas – a friend wants to go for a bachelorette as well. I’ll have to put your tips to good use!

    Reply

  20. Kendal @HassleFreeSaver says

    Looks like you had a great time! That budget is amazing — not many people can stay in Vegas for that cheap! It helps when you’ve been there before and all the glitter and glam isn’t as impressive. When I first started going my friend and I basically dined out for EVERY meal which is insane. Now we go to dinner maybe once while I’m there. Fun pics!

    Reply

  22. Tonya@Budget and the Beach says

    Glad you had a good time and it was frugal too! Not a fan of Vegas myself. I’ll go if someone holds a gun to my head or it’s being paid for by a company and I can eat at all the great restaurants…it does have that!

    Reply

  23. Debt Hater says

    I’ve never been to Las Vegas, but I’d love to make it out there at least once. Looks like you had a great time and probably even better than it was your bachelorette party! My cousin had his bachelor party there, but he is 5 years older than me and I was not 21 at the time yet so I missed out on that opportunity. The closest I’ve been to Vegas is going to Atlantic City a few times and while that is fun, it is not quite the same thing.

    Reply

      • Debt Hater says

        It’s fun, but it’s definitely been down in popularity the past few years – so there is always a lot of great deals and discounts to visit there. Gambling isn’t really my thing though, but one of the newer casino’s called Revel has an awesome night club.

        I’m more of a beach person and I don’t think the beach at Atlantic City is that great, so I prefer to go elsewhere. But with friends it’s still a fun time.

        Reply

  24. Dan @ Our Big Fat Wallet says

    Looks like a fun trip! I’ve been there a few times and its always fun. One trick about cabs, a really nice driver told us once that most drivers will intentionally take tourists from the airport to the strip using the freeway because its slower and they can get more money. We had this happen once and it was $35 but with the nice driver that took a shortcut (avoiding the freeway) it was only $12

    Reply

    • Michelle S. says

      Yeah, we had one cab driver take us the long way, and it made me really mad because I knew what he was doing! The second one didn’t do that though.

      Reply

  25. jefferson says

    So crazy, Michelle.. I was actually staying at the Flamingo the same time as you!

    I was there last Sunday – Thursday.
    That would have been nuts if I had run into you guys in the lobby 🙂

    I was there for a work conference, but still had fun.
    It sounds like you guys had a great time as well.

    Vegas is always great for a few days to get away and just let loose.

    Reply

  26. Danielle says

    I love this recap! I am going to Vegas for my Bachelorette party in October and I can’t wait! I only live 4 hours away, so that will help me save on travel, but I am definitely going to pay attention to all the tips you’ve given! Thanks so much for sharing!!

    Reply

  27. Krista says

    Did you know the promoters? I am heading to Vegas in May for a Bachlorette Party and looking for table service, ect.

    Reply

  28. Kayla says

    How did you go about getting such great club service? I am planning a bachelorette getaway for my best friend and I would love to get all of us the best deals possible! We are actually looking at the Flamingo as well. 🙂 Was there a fee for the pool if you stayed there?

    Reply

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