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Is There A Happy Hour?

August 31, 2022 How do you financially prepare for travel?  With being in Project Money, we’re trying a few different approaches to be a bit more strategic about the money we will be spending during our travels. However, I, Krystal, was already halfway through planning a trip to Hawaii with a friend when we got accepted. However, I was still able to implement some ways to save ahead of the trip.Flight
Want to get me talking for hours? Ask me how to save money on travel! As we started planning in early 2022, I was able to keep an eye on flight prices through kayak.com and set up alerts for when prices were falling. Some considerations:
  • Airport – Milwaukee or Chicago: Generally, flights out of Chicago are cheaper, even when factoring in the roundtrip bus ticket (from Milwaukee to there. I always start my search in Milwaukee but check the option to include airports within a 100-mile radius.
  • Mileage Partners – I have some many miles accumulated with United that I tend to stick with that airline as I get free checked bags, complimentary upgrades and more. However, if the price between that ticket and say Delta is more than $250, I will go with the cheaper ticket price
The game to get a cheap ticket is not always a fast one and it actually took a bit of research, checking a few different sites, and played around with airports and dates, but ultimately, the best deal for me was to fly out of Chicago and with United.Accommodations
$0! I wish I could share some really nifty hack for this, but it was the kindness of my friend’s parents that let us use their time share. Side note:  If you do have a hack on how to get accommodations at little to know cost – please share!Food
Going out – A few weeks before going, my friend and I looked at the restaurants on the island to look at menu items, costs and if there were any days that had specials? This helped us prepare for different costs and we were also able to see which restaurants had happy hour specials which could help us save money by ordering appetizers at the bar. We wanted to go out and enjoy the local food, but also wanted to not break the bank when doing so.$5 Mai Tai from one of the places we had a happy hour and an appetizer dinner at. The shock in my eyes is seeing how this drink is nearly as big as my head.Groceries – Since the timeshare had a kitchen, we were able to shop at a local Walmart and grocery store to get some different lunch items, snacks, etc…  Were the food costs in Hawaii much more than there are in Wisconsin? Honestly, not so much. The only difference I really saw was that 1lb of Boars Head meat was $17 there, while it would be maybe $11ish here (with current increased costs). Everything else was pretty much the same.Activities – A few months before we went, we looked into which activities we would want to do and how much it would all cost. Since we wanted to take advantage of the sun and ocean as much as we could, we decided to keep it simple by planning to go to the beach a few days, but then planned to do a boat cruise and tubing adventure. By setting up a plan early we were able to get some early bird discounts and knew exactly what our days would look like and didn’t need to waste time on trying to figure it out while there.
Souvenirs – Ah… they get me every time. I am not so big on ‘trinkets’, but I LOVE buying local foods and drinks that I can bring home with me to either share with others or give as gifts. Since this was Hawaii, coffee was clearly a big purchase and so was this delicious pineapple wine I can only find there. The food items I will use when having guests over, like using Hawaiian honey on charcuterie boards or making mochi brownies for a potluck, but will also hold onto some to give away as presents during the holidays.
So, what was the total cost for 7 days in Hawaii for me?Airline ticket: $650.00
Round trip bus ticket: $ 62 + bus driver tip for luggage ($5 each way) = $72.00
Accommodations: $0
Dining Out: $147.00
Groceries: $65.00
Activities: $275 (seeing dolphins and swimming with sea turtles = priceless, though!)
Souvenirs: $ 215
Total: $1,424 = $203/ dayWhile I didn’t really have a plan ahead of time as to how much I would spend, I just didn’t want to spend more than $2,000 and I’m thankful to say I’m nearly $600 under my anticipated spending goal. You might also be interested in Whew and wow! This has been quite a challenging and eye-opening process! It has been very hard to do this project as part of a couple when both of us appear... During the week of November 23, we wrote about how we were going to look into options for cost-saving measures. One of those measures was to analyze any... This past weekend, we took our annual trip down to Chicago, which was also paired with a trip to the theater. With being in Project Money, have been more... Something that stands out lately are the number of outlets competing for one’s time, attention, and especially our hard earned money. I don’t know about... If it wasn't so cold out right now, we might not believe that the end of the year is fast approaching, but alas – it is! With that, we have been starting... Initially, we weren’t sure exactly what to write about for this week’s blog post. However, the subject came to us this past weekend as we were reviewing... Many of us enjoy hosting parties with friends and family for seasonal activities and Holidays but don’t want to break the bank doing so! For me and Krystal... I don't know about you, but I, Krystal, grew up in a pretty cold house during winter. We lived in a rural-ish area where natural gas did not run, thus... One thing we’re still working through is being a bit more proactive about unexpected house costs. Sure, we have small savings account for house expenses...
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