Savings in Las Vegas

Las Vegas is filled with so much fun things that those few dollars can add up very quick! 

But during my families vacation in April we found so many ways to save money. 

First thing I did was book our room. Like I said before (here) I always look for hotels with a breakfast included. This saves on money. 

We booked the Embassy Suites. It's 2 blocks away from the Strip so this means I avoided all those resort fees which can run an additional $10-$30 per night. Yuck!!

Next thing is I ordered our Go Explorer Passes. 

This was the first time I purchased these and I am now a forever fan. I entered in the city I was wanting to purchase, in this case Las Vegas. It then pulled up all the shows, activities, restaurants, etc that I can chose from. I can chose to purchase a pass good for 3 or 5 attractions. Since my family and I were only going to be in town for a long week I chose the 3 attractions. 

But before I purchased I checked Groupons just in case. I found these passes for about $10 cheaper per person. That's an extra $60 saved. 

And to get the most bang for our buck we tried to chose the most expense attractions instead of the cheap stuff offered. 

We chose The Ultimate Variety Show that's at Planet Hollywood. Tickets are $69.99 on their website. This show is so amazing! I recommend it to everyone. 

Then we chose CSI: The Experience that's at the MGM Grand. Tickets on their website cost $28! This is really fun! Our family is really into crime fighting shows we it was awesome to be able to solve our own murder. Can you tell from my daughter's finger guns?

And last we chose Paris:The Eiffel Tower. The pass only allows daytime hours so make sure to read the fine print. We were totally fine with this. The cost for a daytime ticket is $17.

We were debating on using our last attraction for another show but my kids really wanted to go here. We homeschool and last month we learned about France so they were so excited when they seen the Eiffel Tower. Just don't look down!!!

And now what else did we do? Vegas is filled with coupons.

There's coupons in booklets that lay around everywhere. In our hotel, on the corner, at restaurants, etc. Oh my goodness! People are just handing out coupons as we walked the street.

While walking someone handed me a booklet about a show and I skimmed through it to see if I could find a coupons and Viola'; there was a 20% off coupon for the M&M store. My kids were so happy to visit here. And I was happy to save a few bucks! :)

For lunch we packed wraps, power bars, water bottles, fruit, etc. Everything we could pack to save on cash and calories.

Also in those Las Vegas visitor magazines that are in hotel. Those are my new favorite hidden treasures.

(source)

This places names all the place to:
-Golf
-See a movie
-Eat
-Gamble
-Bars
-Tours <---- and this caught my eye

Hexx Chocolate and Confexxion offers free chocolate tours and tastings! I signed up on-line on there website (HERE) and within an hour we had our appointment. I'm sure the times vary based on how busy they are but we were blessed.

 We got to tour the back room and see how all their yummies are made.
Then we were seated and given 2 trays of chocolates (1 per person) to try all their different chocolates. I now have a new #1 chocolate.

There's so much free stuff in Vegas. So much that my family and I didn't even put a dent into our bucket list. 

There's tons of street performers. It's nice to tip when they put a show on but I don't tip just because they are wearing a costume. These Hello Kitty were dancing then started dancing with my daughters. So I paid each $1. 

Cool dragon in MGM.

Hershey Store 

Looking at waterfalls.

 
Carol's Bake Shop. It's free to look but how could we pass up those sweet smells. So we paid for some cannolis.

  3D movie at the M&M store

 Checking out the M&M race car.

Flower carnival at the Wynn Hotel. 

But beyond the free stuff there's some things we paid for because we just wanted to have that memory. Like lunch at White Castle. We love those little burgers!

And Taste Around the World in the Everything Coca-Cola store. For around $20 we got these 3 trays of kid cups. (18 cups total) and got to try Cokes from all over the world. 

No one liked the Coke from Italy. 

But one thing we absolutely wanted to experience was the Tournament of Kings at the Excalibur. 

But these tickets have convenience fee and taxes on top of the actual ticket but thanks to one little thing my family saved $200! 

I got myself an M life card. It's free to sign up for (21+ yrs old) and there's some great unadvertised discounts. When we got to the ticket counter my husband asked if there's any discounts since the show was starting soon. The employee said only if we had an M life card. And I remember signing up a while ago but never printed it out. So we went to the M life counter and the worker printed my card out for me. When we returned back to the Tournament of Kings ticket agent she took the discount off. So we ended up savings tons of money just because of this little sapphire. 

If you've never heard of this show it's amazing. It's a full 3 course meal and a medieval show. The show is so thrilling, exciting, and loud it just pulls you into the show where you'll be screaming for your knight and banging on the tables. We left with sore throats and hurting hands.

But thanks to my M life card we were able to snag discounts here and there on drinks of soda and small upgrades from being seated first. There's so much more perks that I'm going to have to look into this more.

This is it. We came, we loved, and made more memories with our kids. We were able to go big in one of the most extravagant cities in the the world. (Probably the world!) So hope this helps you.

3 Ideas for Picking A Hotel

Picking a hotel that fits my families needs USE to be difficult. I would go with the cheapest place no matter what. All we needed was a beds, right?

WRONG!

Now a days my family is getting bigger. I'm not talking about adding more people. I mean my babies are now teens/pre-teens. We need more space!

We're planning a weekend trip to Vegas soon. It's close enough to Salt Lake that we can get there in 6 hours. And it's a nice change of pace from our daily routine.

So when I look for a hotel this is what I look for.

#1. A room big enough for everyone.
 So staying on the Strip is out of the questions. Something about being split up from my family on a family trip doesn't make sense. So I'm looking for family rooms or suites. Sure the cost might seem more but in reality it's the cheaper route.

1 single room on the strip can cost $60 a night (we're staying 3 nights) x 2 rooms (praying these rooms are adjoined) + $20-$30 hotel fees for each night = I'm looking at $540 minimum for hotel cost!
So we stay off the strip. But still close enough that we can walk or shuttle (if the hotel offers). So staying off the strip can cost us about 40-50% less since we are not paying those nasty hotel fees.

#2. BREAKFAST INCLUDED!!!
Look below....

I use bookings.com for my hotel searches. There's tons of searching sites but this is the only site I've found where I can book now and pay when I get to the hotel. And I can cancel up to the day before just in case my plans change with no charge. 

Anyways this is my search for Vegas and family of 6. The sites my cost will be around $268-$310 for the weekend at these hotels. And this is a great price for my size family. 

But looks what happens when I add breakfast included in my search.

Now the cost is $325-$347! The cost is around $40 more but knowing my family this is a great price. For $40 more I'm paying an average of $13.33 a morning for breakfast. That's like paying $2 a person.  Even if my family goes to a dollar menu for breakfast I'm looking at spending around $5 a person! So this is a great price. Plus we can eat as much as we want. So we fill up on breakfast! 

#3. Kitchen! 

Mini fridge and microwave are a must! I can usually read this in the room description but sometimes I get surprised to find a kitchenette or a full size kitchen in my room.  The reason why I look for a kitchen is.....remember that cost for doing to a $1 menu- Now cut that cost in HALF! All thanks to using the kitchen items provided in our hotel room.

On the first day we arrive at our hotel our family just chills. We relax, unpack, shower, and stretch our legs for driving so long.  And I assess the kitchen area. Once everyone is cleaned and refreshed  we go to the grocery store. My husband insist on finding a Super Target. This way we can get the food and whatever else we might have forgotten. Like swim trunks, sun screen, socks, toothbrushes, whatever. Plus we're all about saving with cartwheels and red cards. 

So while at the hotel I will make my list of items we'll be using for the next few days. 

Wraps: our go-to meal 

-tuna pouches (high protein) 

-tortillas 

-pre cooked frozen chicken

-small mayo

-produce

( apples, celery, lettuce, avocado, oranges...

 things what won't smash in my bag while we're out exploring)

And added yummies for our kids:

-cup of noodles

-yogurt tubes

-juice boxes

etc. 

So my family will fill up at the hotel breakfast. Then we go out and enjoy our destination. 

While at Vegas our kids want to go to the M&M store and the Coke store. Last time we tried the Cokes of the world and we all loved it! And they want to do this again. 

Anyways my husband and I budget to eat out at a restaurant 1-2 times and know we'll pick up a few snacks here and there. 

For restaurants we plan to take advantage of lunch specials.  Cost of restaurants are about 50% less during lunch hours which are normally from 11-3pm. We sit down around 2-2:30 and enjoy a great meal at a fraction of the cost. But most days I will pack up my daytrip bag with waters, snacks, and wraps so my family doesn't get the HANGRY! After we eat we explore some more. While my husband and I can go long into the night exploring and finding the cities treasures our 6 & 7 year old are sleepy and cranky by 8pm. So we head back to our hotel, give them bubble baths, and enjoy an easy microwave meal. 

Hotel picks can vary. Based on where we are going my family likes those little extras:

Pools for Vegas are nice. But pools for California are dumb. Seriously the ocean is a few miles away. 

Exercise room- we will never need!

Parking cost- I only find places that offer free parking.

Internet access- doesn't everywhere have this. Even if not our iPhones is all we need since we're vacationing to unplug. 

TV/DVD player- we don't care. We never watch the TV anyways. 

High Security- We've got the highest protection; God! 

Well that's what my family and I do pick the best hotel for us. Good luck on your searches and go adventuring! 

1 Way To Always Save Big Bucks!

When I shop I walk out of every store saving anywhere between 75%-100%!!!
But I would never accomplish this task without doing this 1 thing!

It doesn't matter how many coupons I clip, how many times I check the websites, or how much I stalk the clearance; If I don't do this 1 thing my budget will get screwed up every time! 

My #1 shopping secret is PRAYER!

As I get into truck I say a prayer to my Heavenly Father. I ask him to help me find the items on my list, for my coupons to work properly, to help me find the items that my family needs or that others could use. I ask for helping finding items that cost pennies or will be free so I can either put in my stockpile or donate. 

And I testify that God answers my prayer every single time.

Last night I went to Walgreens to pick up toliet paper and paper towels. I budgeted $35 to cover the cost of everything plus tax. So while I was looking at the summer toys like water guns and chalk the employee came up to me and said that each items was ringing up 9 cents! Regularly each were 99 cents! So I grabbed a few items since I had an in-store gift card for $2. 

When I went to the register everything rang up cheaper and with God's help my total for $176 worth of items only cost me $33! 

So I was able to get the 4- 12 packs of Charmin and 2-6pack of Scott paper towels 

PLUS

4 boxes of cereal

2 spiderman alarm clocks

1 Crayola Star Wars box tin of crayons

1 Easter "Rejoice" Cross

1 large perfume that I'll use for Mother's Day

59 summer toys

(water guns, chalk, water balloons, parachute men, helicopters, flying disc, jacks, bouncy balls, etc)

So I was able to spend less and get more and this only happens when I prayed for God's help. 

And to tell you there are times when I forget to prayer and when I shop this is when I will miss or forget a coupon, something comes up the wrong price and I don't catch it, my coupons will beep at the register, or I grab the wrong item for my ibotta, etc. Then I have double the work fixing the mistake so I make sure I pray every time. 

Give it a try. Heavenly Father will not let you down. 

After Easter Clearance

After holidays are the best days to shop. And the longer you wait the cheaper items will be. 

A week after Easter my Target had non-food items at 90% off. And the food was 70% off. This is as low as the prices will go so it's stock up time. 

Of course I picked up a few candies to munch on but when I look through the holiday clearance I'm looking for 2 things:

1). Items I can use next holiday. In this case I'm looking at those adorable egg wreaths, bunny decor, dye kits, and anything I can use next year. It's cheaper now than next Easter when I'll have to pay full price. So I snagged a cute Happy Eastet banner for 30 cents, an egg stencil kit for 19 cents, and dye kit for 9 cents! 

2) Items I can use all year long. And these are my favorite finds. The toys, gift wraps, decor, craft things that have no hint of Easter but are still 90% off. 

And this is what I found. I found tons of Dr.Seuss items. All originally $1 that are now 10 cents! 

So when I seen all those bags and knick knacks I thought of my daughters summer birthday party. It will now be themed Dr.Seuss. So I grabbed tote bags to act as goodie bags. Posters to act as table decor. And after her party I will hang up in her room. I grabbed the rulers, erasers, stickers, bookmarkers, and keychains will act as goodie bag fillers. My daughter is so excited to have a Seuss birthday party. 

In addition to the Seuss items I picked up twine, felt flower kits, ninja turtle sticker books, candy gum tubs, chalk paint, and gift tags that all don't show a hint tht they were Easter clearance. All prices between 10 cents and 30 cents. 

So for my little Target adventure I snagged birthday items, stock pile candies, crafts, toys, and candies all for around $5! That's a huge savings!

So look around and see what your stores have. Think outside the box on ways to use those Easter clearances. Happy Savings!

Be Brave!

While faxing at kinko's I seen the sign at how much my pages were going to cost. And for some reason the price was higher. So being frugal isn't only at the grocery store. So I stood in the long line figuring out how much I was overcharged.  When I got to the worker she tells me that the machine is right and I was charged more since there's a "1" in front of the are code. So I explain how my faxes were local so I should have been charged $xx. She tells that I was wrong still so this is when I get some courage and pose the question if the area code I'm faxing from is the same I'm faxing too how is this considered long distance. She looked at my fax numbers and asked for my card I paid with and gave me the credit back. 

I'm not one to walk away from my hard earned money so even the few dollars saved here is a victory for me. So when machines over charge talk to a human and explain what happened. I know we all are depended on machines and how they are never wrong. But in my opinion computers are only as good as their coding. And humans do the coding so there is always room for error. 

So talk to someone if something isn't right. 

Gift Closets

Having a gift closet is the best investment to have in my home.

What is a Gift Closet?

It's a few shelves in my home where I have tons of gifts on stand-by for birthday parties, Christmas, weddings, anniversaries, baby shower, etc. Anything that involves gift giving.
Through out the year I will find deals that are so cheap that I can't pass them up. So I'll stock up on a few items and put them away for later. So when the time comes for my kids going to a birthday party I don't have to rush to Target and dish out $20. I just unlock my closet and let them pick something from there.

So here's a few things I've picked up for my closet.

Minion Tiny Chef @ Toys R Us.
Regular price $17.98. Marked down to 98 cents!

Doc McStuffin Puzzle bag @ Toys R Us. 

Regular price $9.99. Marked down to 98 cents!

Darn Yarn Infinity Scarf Kit @ Target.
Regular $14.99. Marked down $4.48!

Crayola Chalks @ Toys R Us.

Regular $2.99. Marked down to 48 cents. Plus they were included on a promo where I BOGO 40%. So one set was 48 cents and the other 28 cents. 

Melissa and Doug: My First sidewalk chalk set @ Toys R Us.
Regular $3.99. Marked down 98 cents!

 It's My Biz: Bead Boutique @ Toys R Us.
Regular $24.99. Marked down $4.90!

So if I would have gone to these stores and paid retail price I would have spent $77.92! Yikes!

But since I'm a savvy shopper I only spent $13.08! And I know there's a few birthdays coming up soon so I'll be ready and stocked up. 

Target Game Sale

Sales like this is the time I stock up for my gift closet and add a new game for my family.

Target has a sale Buy 2 board games Get 1 Free!

For my deal above I price matched the Hedbanz games with Target.com. In store the price was $20.99. Target.com it was $11.99!

Rummikub was regular $19.99. I price matched with Amazon for $9.74.

2 Hedbanz @11.99

1 rummikub @9.74

With the buy2 get 1 free sale Rummikub was free.
 My total was $23.98.

(Then minus a coupon from coupons.com )

-$8 off 2 Hedbanz games

it made my total $15.98! 

I price matched the Rummikub game so I could use the coupon since I couldn't use the coupon on a free item. I could have picked any game under $11.99 but most the games at my Target were out of stock or games we already have. 

My total out of pocket was only a few dollars since I had gift cards but $15.98 is still a great price since just one of these games cost more than that. So now I have two games for my family and 1 for my gift closet.

The Habit and Chick-Fil-A

So many resturants have "clubs" that anyone can join. Just sign up on-line with your name, birthday   ( so you can get your free birthday surprise) and email.

I did this with The Habit and joined their Char Club. 

When I signed up I got an email with a coupon for a Free Char Burger! No purchase needed. All I had to do was walk in and show the cashier the email. 

I did this and snagged myself a $3.15 burger for Free! Yummy! 

I also signed up for Chil-fil-a calendar card. At the beginning of the year Chik-A-Fila sell calendars that include a card where I can get 1 free item each month. A friend of mine was selling these calendars a for her son's baseball  team so we paid $10 for the calendar. But in the 3 months of the year so far it's paid for itself. This month I got a large coke! Value of $2.15! 

A small tip is to ask for no ice so my entire cup is filled with soda. I hate how I'll take 5 sips and my drink is then empty. All the sodas are cold already from being in the machine so I end up with more pop.

To use my card I just drive up and ask for calendar deal. The cashier swipes my card and I go about my day. 

So today's lunch was Free!! 

Instagram

I started an Instagram account so look me up @ couponer_thankfulsavings

Follow all my money saving deals! 

Thred Up

Thred Up is one of my favorite websites. This site sells Like-New condition clothes from brands from Target, Michael Khors, BEBE, etc. Most my closet is from this site. Something about shopping on-line in the midnight of the night always suits me best.

photo source

I want to share a couple tips I've learned on how to find the best and cheapest pieces for my wardrobe.

When I start my search I put in:
-My sizes (Large/ Extra Large, size 9 shoe, size 14 pants)
-Brand. I'm bias to J.Crew and Old Navy (tops and dresses)
-Color. If I'm looking for a new white tee since my 6 year old left her PB&J on the couch and I sat on it. :)
-Price. I always select Under $25

Then I click on the last arrow. It will be on Newest First but I'm more interested in the price. So I click on Price: Low to High. So everything I selected will now be from cheapest to highest priced.

If you click on my link and sign up  for the first time you'll get $10 FREE! As you can see from above there are LOTS and LOTS of items items that are under that $10 price. It took me 23 pages to finally get to the prices that cost more than the $10. So that's leaves lots of cute stuff that you can purchase without going over the free $10. 

Shipping cost flat fee of $5.99 or it's free if you spend more than $70. 

I've found a shirt from H&M for $4.99 and a pencil shirt from Forever 21 for $4.99. So my total was $9.98. With my $10 credit I only paid shipping so it was like paying $2.99 for each item! That's a steal! 

So look around and snag some great and cute clothes on the cheap! Remember to use my code HERE to get your free $10!

Walmart Clearance

Walmart is one of my places I will only go at night. When my kids are asleep and I have lots of time to spare. Walmart is always filled with hidden clearance treasure. And 80% of them are  not marked or mismarked.

So last night I went to my local 24 hour Walmart for a few things with full intention on being
in-n-out. But then I seen those yellow clearance balloons everywhere and just went to look. I'm glad I did.

I found these boots for my 14 year old son. He's already 6 foot tall, size 13 shoes, and wearing bigger clothes than my husband. So he can be a hard one to shop for. So when I seen these boots I got really excited and put them in my cart.

Original $59.97 marked down to $13! See what I mean about not being marked correctly. On-line they are full price.

Then I seen these slippers  in my sons size. Original $5.43 marked down to $3! Good price for new slippers.

So here is why I'm at Walmart for hours. Walmart does not properly mark down their clearance. I'm sure they try their best but things get missed, items are moved, or whatever the reason might be clearance is not priced correctly. 

So I'll spend hours scanning everything! These slippers scanned in at $2! Not the $3 marked.

During my trip I  found a pair of sneakers in my size. Originally $14.93. Marked down to $5 but scanned in at $3! I love canvas shoes. These are my go-to shoes for everything from dressing down a pencil shirt to short/jeans.

 Glade candles originally $2.98 (not marked but had a Christmas tree on them) marked down to 75 cents. Hair accessories for my daughters marked down at $5 but scanned at 50 cents! 

And it's not just clothing that does thing but EVERYTHING! I've found in the past Lego sets regularly $99, marked down to $70, but scanned in at $20!

The way I know how to find these hidden items is Instagram!

I know each store is different but for the most part items/prices will be the same. So when I get the my empty Walmart at 11pm I look up the #walmartclearance.

There's people who dedicate their days posting hidden items. I'm very thankful for their hard work since it helps me find that exact Frozen bag that isn't marked and has a tag for $5 then it scans at 50 cents. 

And sure sometimes prices will vary. I seen a shirt on Instagram that several people posted was $1. But at my Walmart it was full price. So sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. ( and no Walmart will not price match Instagrams)

But after 4 hours of walking, scanning, searching, and more scanning I found my son those 2 boots, the slippers, a pair of dress shoes, 1 shirt for me that I plan to refashion,  the pair of sneakers, a few toys for my gift closet, free baby food for an upcoming baby shower, frozen burritos, a gallon of chocolate milk (I was thirsty), groceries, and some nice smelling candles. Retail I would had paid close to $300! But I spent $75!