Anniversary trip to Utah & Las Vegas Budget Roundup

We flew into Las Vegas on a Saturday, and flew home the following Sunday. We spent Saturday-Thursday in St. George, Utah & the drove back to Las Vegas on Thursday, where we stayed until we flew home on Sunday. 

Flights: $989.52

• These flights were extremely expensive, for no particular reason other than the fuel surge. I had a few small flight credits that I applied to the reservation, saving me about $90. Not that much. I also was able to leverage my A list status (earned through primary travel credit card) to allow for the basic ticket price, while still getting perks of the next ticket class up. After minor credits, total spent for flights = $989.52

Transportation: $392.52

• Sam had to work really early on the day we left, so we didn't have an option to head to the airport early for a ride & avoid paying for a ride share. However, I did use credit card Lyft credits to get the cost down to $14.50, which included a tip on the full value. 
• We booked a car for the Utah portion of the trip, and spent $235.19 on the car rental. 
• I paid $65 for parking (split across 2 days) at Zion. 
• Gas: $18.03 + 20.59
• I paid $12.16 for a taxi in Las Vegas
• On the way home from the airport, we spent $27.05, including the tip. 

Lodging: $100

• In Utah, we stayed at my friend's condo. I loaned her cash in Las Vegas, and she offered up a future condo trip as a fun exchange. We picked up a couple of gift cards to local restaurants as an additional thank you.- $100
• In Las Vegas, we stayed at a hotel using comps.

Food: $1085.69

• We had a splurge lunch in Las Vegas before we left, after picking up the rental car, and spent $258, which included a bottle of wine & a lot of fun people watching. 
• We bought some supplies for the condo at Costco, including: apples, coffee (will leave what's leftover), wine, protein bars, eggs, three prepped meals for dinners & a prepped tray of pretzel sandwiches for packed lunches. We spent $245.27, and it's not lost on me that's cheaper than our entire lunch above!
• We ate lunch in St. George at Viva Chicken (I was still remembering my salad from the girls trip back in March, & it did not disappoint! I also wanted to pick up a gift card for my friend, as a thank you) - food cost only - $36.61
• We made a stop at the local grocery store for additional bottles of water (not recommended to drink the water at the condo, but I'm not sure if that's a taste preference or not.) Given we were going to be hiking during the trip, did not want to chance any stomach issues. We bought gallons of water (they also use it for the coffee maker, etc), sparkling water, handi wipes for hiking, & deodorant for M (forgot his). Deodorant isn't food, but including here anyway. - $22.86
• We stopped for more water, salt, an onion, two bananas & Sour Patch Kids (my hiking treat of choice!) & paid $20.64.
• We went to lunch after our last day in Zion, & spent $102.31 (includes an after hike beer). 
• We spent $400 on food tips in Las Vegas (the rest was comp'd, but tips are not).

Activities: $222.23

• I bought a national park pass for $80. I'm going to get at least 4 days, so I'll divide the cost into $20/day, for easy math. We went to 3 days of national parks, so this cost $60. The great news is that I was also able to bring M in for free each day with my park pass. 
• We also spent $20 on a day pass visit to Snow Canyon State Park in St. George
• I spent $70.23 on the gear for The Narrows (canyoneering boots, large poles, and a dry bag). 
• The two lottery permits for Angels Landing were $12.
• Massage tip - $60 (the rest was comp'd). 

Other: $500

• I lost $500 gambling in Las Vegas (my trip limit), over the course of 4 days. I have about $100 of comps for our next trip. M was in a black jack tournament, so our room, the majority of our food, the hotel stay & a massage for me was all comp'd. Tips are not included, which is why you see them called out above. Reminder if you are new and/or I haven't explained this before, but many years ago, M won a craps tournament & put the winnings in a "Las Vegas" fund. We don't consider the money "real", although of course it is actual money. We use that initial fund to generate comps, which we use for trips to Las Vegas, & he's since won additional tournaments, and the money again stays in the fund, because you also lose, of course & we enjoy the value of the comps. If I do any gambling, I do so with my own fun money. M made it to the finals of the tournament, but didn't win. Please note, in no way do I recommend this as a "money saving" hobby, a way to save on holidays or heaven forbid "make money". This is something M has done to make the cost of a hobby he really enjoys (tournaments - black jack, craps & baccarat) as close to free as possible. 

Total spent = $3289.96 for an absolutely fabulous trip!

It's Monday, we are back

Ooof, we got back yesterday evening & I'm all feeling all of the Monday vibes this week! It was a struggle this morning, particularly because I had to be up even earlier than normal to get to the office by 7:30. What a way to kick off the day!

It's also my official start to part time (I'll be working just Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays until the end of the year, when I'll then be done). No one knows about this yet, but I will be telling my team this week, so things are going to get interesting very quickly! It will be so nice to have everyone aware, and be able to start transitioning work, etc. 

I'm working on a trip recap for our vacation, so stay tuned for that. 

A few frugal wins for today:

• There were plenty of electric charging spots available at the crack of dawn this morning, which means I will get 4 hours of free car charging
• Breakfast is free (if you don't order hot food), so I had a Chobani yogurt + a sprinkle of granola & grabbed a banana for later
• Someone left out a box of Puff protein bars with a "free" sign in the break room. I've wanted to try those, so I now have one to try before I buy my own. 
• We are in that glorious time of the year where we need no heat or A/C. We had a very moderate summer, and only used the A/C maybe 8 days. I'm hoping we can last until the end of October for the heat, but who knows!
• We installed a new water monitor when we had all of our plumbing issues a few weeks ago. Our water is very expensive & our bills are high. We are hoping this helps us really hone in on our usage & conserve & save money. More to come here!

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Hiking The Narrows at Zion

 Hiking The Narrows is a bucket list hike in Zion, but the details need to line up well. The water flow needs to be reasonable, you absolutely need to be aware of the risk of flash flooding & plan accordingly, and the time of the year matters as well. Our timing was nearly perfect, and the water was warm enough that we didn't need the full waders, & could get away with just canyoneering boots, neoprene socks & the poles (not hiking poles - these are much thicker & better for this particular hike - would not recommend them for a standard hike!).

You hike through the Virgin River, into a slot canyon & the views are absolutely breath taking! It's impossible to do it justice in photos, but the way the light comes up through the canyon walls in the morning... So beautiful!

We move on to the Las Vegas portion of the trip tomorrow, and I'm guessing that will be quite different! ;-) So much love for Utah & the national parks. 

Oh my, Bryce Canyon

 Our entire trip has been fantastic, including surprise lottery permit to Angels Landing (I only did the first section, because I get freaked out when it goes from chain to the non-chained section), amazing place to stay, relaxing hikes, great weather, low crowds... but, Bryce Canyon was perhaps my favorite national park I've ever been to, and that was with really low expectations. Absolutely stunning views around every corner. 10/10, no notes! ;-) 

We are hoping to do The Narrows tomorrow, if the weather & flash flood conditions look good. Super jazzed for that. Definitely want to bring the boys back for Zion & Bryce. So much fun! We are hoping to get there early tomorrow, finish at Wall Street, have lunch at the brewery, and head back to the condo to get everything washed & cleaned for leaving early on Thursday, where we will carry on to the Las Vegas portion of the trip. I'm getting a massage! After the hiking, I"m pretty excited. 

Fitness Monday

It was sort of a mixed week, with the need for at home workouts (elliptical) between pretty chaotic work happenings. I managed to hold things together reasonably well, and still get in some sort of activity most days. My steps helped tremendously by my 20k steps yesterday ;-) 

Weight: 146.3 (up .2 lbs from last week)

Calories: 1,322/day

Steps: 13,360

Workouts:

• One hard workout class (cardio & strength)
• One double strength class (upper & lower body + core)
• 3 elliptical workouts (2 - 45 minutes, 1 - 75 minutes)
• One day without a workout (travel day on Saturday)
• Hiking about 7 miles in Utah

Goals for the week: enjoy the hiking, have fun while keeping the calories in check enough to not go totally off of the rails. 

What about you? How are you doing with your health & fitness goals this week? 

Menu Plan Sunday

 This is a very different type of menu plan, as we are at my friend's condo in Utah for a hiking trip, and then heading to Las Vegas for the end of the trip. We opted to buy some prepped Costco meals to keep costs down for the first half of the trip, as we have access to an oven, but my friend doesn't keep spices, etc in the house. Cheaper than takeout or eating out, but not as cheap as made at home. 

• Friday - wings & spring rolls - a use it up meal before we left!
• Saturday - we had a big lunch before leaving Las Vegas after our flight, so we kept things light M having some fruit, and I had a pretzel sandwich (Costco)
• Sunday - we have a beef/chicken fajita kit that we will make tonight
• Monday - I bought the grain/rotisserie chicken salad
• Tuesday - We will try the sesame chicken with veggies & noodles
• Wednesday - wrap up any leftovers
• Thursday - dinner at a steak house
• Friday - dinner at a seafood restaurant

We spent about $240 at Costco, including wine, coffee for the house (will leave remainder there), apples, three prepped meals, protein bars, eggs & a prepped tray of pretzel sandwiches (for packed lunches). I think we will eat one lunch out until we get to Las Vegas, but the rest of the meals will largely be at the condo. 

I will report in on whether any of the prepped Costco meals are worth picking up in a similar situation! What about you? What's on your menu for the week?

Weekly Spending

 Another expensive week, although the big purchase (aside from the ongoing plumbing projects) is a Christmas gift, and our Christmas budget is planned for in our annual budget. 

September 11th-September 17th

• Friday - bought Nick his ski season pass for his Christmas gift, using the college discount, on the last day of the sale before the prices go up - $899.00
• Saturday - groceries at Costco - $139.70
• Sunday - additional groceries (including some hiking snacks for our upcoming trip) at Trader Joes - $41.02
• Monday - two sump pump monitors, to ensure we know if they go out again, and don't cause damage - $233.71
• Tuesday - no spend day. 
• Wednesday - bought M's anniversary gift, which was car wash supplies/tools - $260. 
• Thursday - no spend day.

Made $12.18 on an eBay sale

Total net spend for the week = $1559.45. Yikes! Another expensive week, but two gifts in there, as well as the ongoing fun of house projects & expenses related to that. 

I don't think I'll keep up the weekly spend tracking forever, but it's certainly eye opening when I do it! 

Frugal Friday

 It's been another week - and, we survived it! Nothing super exciting on the frugal front. 

Saving on things we buy

• Picked up snacks at Trader Joes for our upcoming hiking trip. Light weight, reasonably nutritious & calorie dense are good options when spending all day hiking, as opposed to normal snacks. I uploaded receipts to Fetch & iBotta, and got a $.30 cash back offer from iBotta. The snacks brought from home will be substantially cheaper than anything we could buy in the parks, and it's unlikely we will be near any food locations for the majority of the days. 
• I bought Nick a season's ski pass for the mountain near his college. I took advantage of the Labor Day sale (last day before it went up in price) & he was also able to get a promo code through the college ski club. This is his big Christmas gift, as ski passes are not cheap. 

Earning money

• Today is my last day of full time work! I move to part-time (Monday-Wednesday) when I'm back from vacation!
• I sold a shirt on eBay for $12.You might recall that I purchased some items at Uniqlo in Japan for the boys. There were a handful of items that weren't a perfect fit, so I'm selling what didn't work out. 

Avoiding spending

• Sam is planning to take us to the airport before he has to go to work on Saturday, which will save us the cost of an Uber. 
• Worked hard to fit my very different items (hiking boots, day pack, hiking clothes, plus much nicer clothes for Las Vegas) into one suitcase, to avoid the need to check a bag. 
• I needed to pick up a prescription, and CVS had to send it to multiple pharmacies to get what I needed. In the end, they delivered it for free, which saved me time, gas money & the potential for spending money on other things while I was there. 

Eating what we have

• M froze & then re-used his chicken marinate from the weekend before. It takes quite a bit of time to put it together, so he's started making it one weekend, then freezing it for a second batch. We are also stockpiling chicken for Nick, who has asked M to bring another big bag of frozen grilled chicken (Dad's special marinate) when we go to Boulder for family weekend.
• I've been continuing to eat the occasional potato (microwaved, & then in a pan with eggs) for my brunch, as we have a large bag of potatoes in the pantry. 
• We took the leftovers of the sheet pan with cabbage & sausage, and I added a few extra sausages to round it out & add more protein, which served as an extra diner.
• We also had extra tomatoes & fresh mozzarella, so I made a caprese salad (bonus for basil from the garden) 2x, to round out some leftovers.
• I had a scrappy lunch of an apple, a ciabatta bun that Sam abandoned & the last slice of cheese & made an apple & cheese panini, which is a great combination. 

For others

• Hosted a volunteer event for work. 
• Mentioned last week that I was chasing the process to get a corporate match for the donation we made to Guardian Scholars (a program that helps students existing the foster system & starting college). That got approved, which doubles the amount of my donation & impact to the non-profit. Woohoo! A small amount of work for me that will hopefully have a meaningful impact on the program.

What about you? Any wins to share? 

Saving up for family travel

M & I are working on saving up for some big family trips. 

Turkey with M's mom:

If things ever settle down in Iran (the airports are currently all closed), we would like to meet his mom in Turkey & bring both boys. It's unlikely Sam will be able to go, as he is on the wait list for a year long internship, but we would likely go in May, so Nick could attend. While we aren't able to pay for flights due to sanctions, we would cover all other travel expenses for M's mom + whomever else comes along. This trip is currently just a bookmark for May, as there's no way to know what will be feasible until it gets closer.

My dad's trip to Japan with my nephew:

My nephew would like to take my dad to Japan before the trip becomes untenable due to my dad's health. I've offered to sponsor most of the trip. I don't think my dad's back can hold up in an economy seat for an international flight, so I'm tentatively earmarking flights to be a very big expense. 

An international trip with my mom & sister:

My parents don't have a ton of disposable income, and I know they would both love to do an international trip before they are no longer able to. My dad's big dream is Japan (above), but that's not on my mom's wish list. My sister & I are working on short list of options to share with her, as she's asked us to select something. A lot of things are being discussed, but she's not a big city person, wants something reasonably active, safe & easy logistics from San Francisco. So, more to come on this one.

Travel is already a significant portion of our budget for myself, M & the boys. I'll likely plan to pull forward some of our spending in 2027, and expect that it will level off quite a bit after that. I'm happy to have the flexibility to make these trips happen for our parents. As a result, we are going to work hard to keep other expenses in check & save up extra funds! 

Travel planning, budgeting & optimizing perks, rewards, miles, etc is one of my favorite things to do, so stay tuned for more details on how I try to optimize these trips. Without work travel, I will not have many miles or points to leverage, but I will have the glorious advantage of having a flexible schedule. 

Are you daydreaming of any trips? 

Fitness Monday

Last week was a much more challenging week, as I had to be in the office two days, had a work dinner event, and a bunch of meetings in the evening with our team in Tokyo. As a result, my workout flexibility was quite limited. I also had a bigger weight drop last week, so not surprised to be flat for the week.  

Weight: 146.1 - same as last week

Calories: 1,386/day on average

Steps: 9,873/day. This is quite low for me, and I had a few days with back to back meetings that meant my steps were below 5,000 steps. 

Workouts:

• 7.5 mile hike with a friend on Labor Day
• 2 hard workout classes
• 1 -20 minute elliptical workout between meetings at the office gym
• 3 days without workouts :-( 

Goals for the week: I have more schedule flexibility this week, and would like to go to 3 strength training classes. I also need more steps!We will be traveling on Saturday, but have hikes planned for Sunday as we kick off our week of PTO. 

How about you? How are you doing with your health & fitness goals? 

Menu Plan Sunday

 I'm hoping this week is a bit more stable than last week, but who really knows?! 

• Friday - frozen pizza + salad. Dinner of champions, really ;-) 
• Saturday - sausage sheet pan dinner that didn't get made earlier
• Sunday - cheater chicken fajitas (made with rotisserie chicken)
• Monday - leftover sheet pan dinner
• Tuesday - grilled burgers
• Wednesday - shrimp + rice
• Thursday - grilled salmon
• Friday - any leftovers

And, after that we are off on an anniversary trip to Utah & Las Vegas! Looking forward to minimal cooking. ;-) 

What about you? What's on your menu for the week? 

Weekly Spending

 As opposed to last week, this one was expensive, as it involved house repairs. 

September 4th-September 10th

• Friday - the plumber came, and we paid $1700 for a bunch of repair work we needed to have done.
• Saturday - Trader Joes + Costco, $225.78
• Sunday - Lunch/dinner combo out at after our hike (we had oysters, a burger, a shared salad, wine + a blood Mary) - $186.17
• Monday - I bought a national park pass, in advance of our trip to Utah, and a trip to Joshua Tree with my parents - $80. Also had to order a house wide water softener, which is basically required in our neighborhood - $2429.81. Not having this is causing other plumbing issues, so in the long run, this is the better option. Note that this doesn't include installation, which we haven't paid for yet. The plumbing above is related to our failed sump pump. We also have a leak in our bathroom, so the plumbing fun continues for sure. 
• Tuesday - no spending 
• Wednesday - Bought lunch at the office, in the middle of a crazy day. It's been a work week, so I spent $7.67 on a large salad.
• Thursday - I again bought lunch, but brought home leftovers for dinner for Sam, before he left for work. I spent $10.41 on a sandwich. 

Total eBay sales for the week = $50.29 (summarizing, vs trying to keep track of which days they were on).

Total net spend (spend above minus side hustle) = $4589.55

As you can see, it was an incredibly expensive week! Let's hope next week is very inexpensive, but I've heard the plumber will be back soon to install our water softener system. 

Frugal Friday

Note to add that I wrote most of this earlier in the week & scheduled it, not thinking of the timing of this post falling on the anniversary of 9/11.  

It was exactly the week I expected... in other words, definitely not great thanks to some work stuff going on. But, only two more work weeks until I go part-time! (I have a week of PTO also in there). 

Saving on things we buy

• We had to buy a pricey water softener/purifier (the whole house kind - not just for drinking, as we've been having plumbing problems) & they had a Labor Day sale that we weren't expecting. It was still expensive, but we saved $200, which I suppose is better than a kick to the face. 

Earning  money

• Sold two jackets & a textbook on eBay. I took advantage of a 50% off promo coupon that was offered recently, and it made a difference in sales, so that was nice. 

Avoiding spending

• Not exactly sure which category this falls into, but we recently purchased a Southwest voucher at a discount from one of M's coworkers who needed to sell it. It has an expiration date, so I cancelled Nick's flight for Christmas that I'd booked with United miles & rebooked on Southwest. The miles don't expires, so this gives us more flexibility in the future. 
• My frugal fail is that I bought lunch at work on Wednesday (not avoiding spending), thanks to a very wild work week. However, I did get free snacks & fruit at the office, along with four free hours of car charging + a free team dinner. So, I suppose I still made out okay. 
• Almost identical to the above was Thursday - I bought lunch, but got 4 hours of free car charging + snacks & fruit at the office. 

Eating what we have

• I used up the arugula I purchased for the sheet pan BLTA recipe in salads during the week.
• Sam ate my leftover lunch & dinner from work events.
• We had leftover chicken & rice 3x, because....I was too busy & stressed out to cook.
• For the lunches when I was home, I made my current go to of a potato (heated in the microwave, & then diced), added to a pan & topped with two eggs & cheese. Super easy, fast & pretty healthy. Also, super filling.

For others

• Jumped through more hoops to secure a corporate match for our donor advised fund gift to the program I mentioned last week that helps students coming out of the foster system transition to college. 

What about you? Any wins to share?