Las Vegas (12 nights) - without going broke - a frugal budget -with no comps. (Article one.)

As this is going to be very detailed, I have decided to write a few of articles on "Las Vegas (12 nights) - without going broke - a frugal budget - with no comps. This is article one.

A comedian I saw in Las Vegas said this -"while walking in the casino today I saw people today dropping 100's of dollars on table bets and in slot machines, while holding a coupon, that will save them $1.00 off a drink".  This is a strange but true fact.  People love to save money, I know I do.

Let's face it, Las Vegas can be expensive, hotel/resort room rates can add up, trying to find food - not fast food - I mean sit down breakfast lunch & dinners that will not blow your budget in the first few days of your vacation can be next to impossible.

Your parents probably talk of the $3.99 steak dinners, the $5.99 all-you-can-eat buffets. Trust me those for the most part are long gone, they have been replaced by celebrity chef restaurant's and buffet's that can cost $16.00 or more.

I know you have probably seen the books on how to save money in Las Vegas. You no doubt have seen e-bay auctions selling coupon books, that actually you can find for free around Las Vegas.

Well I am going to toss that all of that aside and give you a break down on how I saved money in Las Vegas.

Yes, really this is possible. I was to an extent Frugal, but not cheap.

Let me explain my self, my husband and I stayed in Las Vegas for 12 nights, saw 8 shows, dined at celebrity chef's restaurants, budgeted money for shopping (even had to purchase an extra suitcase), allocated money for playing slots and table betting. All while saving money. But the best part is we even came home with money allocated from our total spending budget! And we had no comps. (More on comps later.)

Let's look at the defination for frugal:

fru·gal

–adjective

1. economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful: a frugal manager.

2. entailing little expense; requiring few resources; meager; scanty: a frugal meal.

"Frugal." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 10 Jul. 2007. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Frugal>.

As you can see the defination states "entailing little expense". You may be wondering how can you do this in Las Vegas. Trust me it is easy, to save money, if you want to save money.

First thing to do if you decide you are headed to Las Vegas is sign up for e-mail, at the major casino resorts. Why do this? Because e-mail room rates are often lower than rates offered on discount travel sites.

We chose Bally's for our hotel (more on this later). We booked our room reservation in January, room night was $159.00 then, ($1908.00 without taxes). Why did we book so early? Many conventions, seminar's, and the 4th of July weekend, we wanted to stay at the Hotel we picked.

I received an e-mail in May the rates dropped to $79.00 a night and $139.00 for the four weekend nights including the 4th of July ($1,188.00 without taxes), we called the hotel to have the rate adjusted. The day before we left for Las Vegas, the rates dropped again to $69.00 weeknights and $129.00 weekend nights including the 4th of July ($1,068.00 without taxes).

Our total bill at Bally's for 12 nights including taxes $1124.12.

We looked at our bill from last year, we paid $1398.56 including taxes for 8 days.

We saved $274.44 over last year's bill & stayed 4 days longer!

We chose Bally's because of it's central location. Bally's connected to Paris, next to Planet Hollywood on one side, next to Flamingo on the other side, across the street from the Belliago and Cesear's Palace.

Elevated walkways leading to Cesear's, Belliago & Flamingo keep you save from traffic, a short walk inside Paris, and on the street to get to Planet Hollywood. Bally's South tower rooms can give views of the Belliago Fountains (across the street), the North tower rooms are a bit nicer. The hotel has nothing fancy (no dancing fountains, huge shopping malls), but it does have larger than most hotel rooms.

A very clean large hotel room is really all you need, you are just going to change, shower, sleep in the room. Saving money on the room allows for more money for shows, food, shopping, spiffy little drinks & so on. Bally's also feature's Gilchrist & Soames shampoos, soaps and body lotions in the bathrooms.

This however may not be what you want when you go to Las Vegas, you may want to stay at Belliago, Venetian, Luxor, or MGM Grand.

While in Las Vegas I received an e-mail for $109.00 a night for Venetian, a great rate in my opinion, and we would have changed hotels, but we had friends and family all at Bally's who did not want to change hotels.

Remember saving money being frugal does not have to mean cheap! The comedians refer to Las Vegas as "Lost Wages" but follow what I did and it does not have to!

Look for article two on saving money with coupons.

Here are links to sign up for e-mail:

Bally's, Paris, Harrah's, Cesear's Palace, Rio, Flamingo,

website for all here:

http://www.harrahs.com/casinos/ballys-las-vegas/hotel-casino/property-home.shtml

e-mail sign up:

https://ssl1.rqst4.info/dspSurvey.cfm?N=16&SID=170&SEQ=1

Luxor, Mandaly Bay, Excalibur, Belliago, Circus Circus, Mirage, Treasure Island, MGM Grand, Monte Carlo, New York-New York, The Mirage -

main website here, sign up for resorts you wish to receive e-mail from here:

http://www.mgmmirage.com/

Venetian:

Website click link for e-mail sign up :

http://www.venetian.com/

Planet Hollywood:

website

http://www.aladdincasino.com/

(I'll actually post a review article on Bally's.)

Look for article two on coupon books, on-line coupons, and are they worth it?