Preparing for the Weekend

BIG BIG weekend planned! Mark and I are going to a convention this weekend. We’ve been planning it for a year and are so excited. I mentioned, in previous entries, that one of the biggest reasons I work so hard to live on less is because we enjoy traveling. This is no exception.

How we’re doing it different this year than last year:
Last year
- Driving long distances home at 2 AM just to go back again at noon the next day
- Eating out at sit down restaurants 3 meals a day (and fast food late night munchies)
- Paying Per-Drink prices for cocktails
- Buying tons of stuff from the vendors
- Paying full price at the door
- $ for babysitters

This year
- Staying at a hotel room, on site – a great deal at the group rate
- Packing a cooler with sodas and 2 boxes of wine (yay boxed wine… no corkscrew)
- Bringing the coffee pot and coffee – those little 2 cup pots at the hotel are worthless when you’ve got 8 people who are running on 2 hours sleep!
- Bringing muffins and croissants for breakfast – No sit down breakfasts
- Bringing chips, snacks, and the all important crock pot & ingredients for making Mark’s famous queso dip!
- Sharing food with friends for lunches and dinners – no gigantic food costs
- Bringing the mattress pad in case the beds aren’t comfy
- Bought tickets a year ago for 1/2 price
- The children are going to grandma’s house for Easter, and are thrilled to be rid of us. No babysitter costs!
- Not shopping at vendors – we have taken stock of anything we might actually want to buy, and determined that Ebay or online in general will have better prices and we can plan those purchases in advance.

All in all, it won’t be a FRUGAL weekend, but it won’t be the spendfest it has been in the past. Most of all, it’ll be a great time with old friends, meeting new friends, and seeing all there is to see.

Happy Easter!
Not The Momma (this weekend anyway)