#con budgeting

[squeemcsquee]

They won't get you rich, but every penny helps when you budget for cons

I know I said something about this a few years ago, but it still holds true: Saving $$ any way that you can for a con is a good thing. Maybe you only net $20 extra from an app - but that's the tip for housekeeping covered. Or your coffee for the long commute to the con. Or your day's parking expenses. Any number of little things. So, I'm including referral links for the apps I actually have used.

Rewards for receipts

Receipt Hog pays you to upload receipts and take surveys. Sure, it's pennies on the dollar, but I have had this one for a couple of years now and cashed out about $40-$50 to my PayPal. Doesn't sound like much, sure, but it takes maybe 2 minutes from my day, just a couple days a week. Download and enter code lin45051 to earn a special bonus when you upload your first receipt. https://app.receipthog.com/r/lin45051

I also use Fetch. Same principle: Snap receipts, slowly build points to gift cards. They've also got gaming offers, which I'm only just now starting to try out, so I can't say for sure how that will go. Sign up with this link, and we'll both get a bonus on your first receipt. https://referral.fetch.com/vvv3/referralqr?code=K3WXB3

Surveys / Gaming

For this, I mainly use InboxDollars - though again, ReceiptHog has done surveys and Fetch has gaming. InboxDollars also does receipt points - $0.01 per receipt snapped, for a limited number of receipts per day. You can earn more pennies if you buy certain products from certain vendors but I honestly usually forget about this aspect of InboxDollars and mainly do the gaming offers. Pay attention to what's *really* on offer - a lot of them claim you can get "Up to 102.34" but part of that is "buy X item for $9.99 and get $4.99 back"

But I've found that most of the lower-paying offers (like $60 or less) have been pretty achievable even if the gaming can be a slog, depending. I haven't had as much luck with surveys lately, sadly.

I think over the years I've had InboxDollars, I've earned about $300.

Food

Ok. I'll be straight, right now. I haven't tried to use either of these at a con. Or while shopping for a con. But I *have* tried them and found them to be worth it.

Martie is one of those sites that's going to sell you food and other items at a discount, with a minimum purchase threshhold of $50 to get the free shipping. So be careful of that. But you will find all kinds of snacks and organic foods and other oddities on there. I used it to snag some kids' stuff and giftable stuff. The food might be nearing its expiry date but it will still be in-date when it gets to you, don't worry there.

Martie.com | Save up to 80% on your favorite brands!

Score big on daily overstock deals at up to 80% off! Shop fresh deals on pantry, beauty, and home goods daily with no membership or subscrip

I’ve also used Too Good To Go. It's purpose is to help save good food from going to waste by partnering with restaurants and other food vendors to offload stuff that's still there at the end of the day like leftovers or day-olds, etc. I tried it with a gas station and ended up with a donut, sub sandwich, chips, and a brownie for $4+ tax. Worth it! : https://tgtg.onelink.me/OGjG/htdymhbt

Gas

Upside is legit. And you can now get some discounts on groceries and restaurants, too. I use this one every damn week.

Download Upside with my link or use my code KATIE233877 to get 50¢ per gallon extra cash back on your first gas fill-up and 20% extra cash back on your first restaurant or grocery purchase! https://upside.app.link/KATIE233877

I'll add more apps if I find more that have referral links. In the meantime, I also suggest looking into rewards apps for restaurants and gas stations you go to regularly. Or apps like Ad It Up, which is on the T-Mobile network, and rewards you for gaming with discounts on your phone bill. And of course, look into travel rewards accounts.

Hopefully, one of these helps someone save a little more for their next con.

[conthrift]

alright! so as my first post here, i’m going to post my typical budget for a con! this includes rough estimates on food / drink for my province. my budget will differ from my partner, as well as anyone else, but this can be a rough guide for anyone’s first con! 

under the cut will feature the full detail i go into for building my personal budget for the cons i attend!

all my prices are in canadian dollars, for reference! 

passes:     depending on the con, you can pay from $40 - $100+ per full weekend pass. i try to buy the passes in early bird times, so i save some money. there’s a tax and service fee that typically adds another $10 dollars on.  i buy my partner’s pass as well, when she pays for gas and parking. we don’t buy the vip pass. they do have nice benefits, but it’s usually at least another hundred dollars. we usually only attend expos for one day, and that can be the same price as an anime con we attend, so we only go if there’s guests attending we really want to meet. cost: $100-140

transportation:      i do not drive, but my girlfriend does. we have a costco membership and buy our gas there, and typically we get it for $0.88/litre as a standard.  compared to 0.92-1.00/litre at other places without coupons. she spends about 20-25 dollars on gas when she fills up.      parking depending on convention ranges from $10-25/day.  on fridays, we use public transit to get to our local anime con, using bus tickets. i buy bus tickets at about $23 for a sheet of 10. we use 4 during the day.  cost: $12-25/day

food and beverages:      we usually buy a majority of our snacks and drinks before hand. we tend to have protein heavy foods for snacks - nuts or jerky or pepperoni sticks as snacks. we’ll also take sandwiches for at least one meal.  we invested in a cooler that’s come in handy ( and does a fantastic job at keeping our stuff cool )      we usually keep an eye on sales and stock up. - loaf of bread: $2 - deli meat: $6 - pepperoni sticks: $11 / 16 not on sale - jerky: $10  - nuts ( typically cashews ) : $2/bag at dollar store - granola bars: $3 / box of 4 - muffins: $8/12 muffins@ costco     for drinks, we keep water bottles on hand and refill them at water stations around the cons. we also usually have a powerade each. in the morning, we stop at the local starbucks to get coffee.  - powerade - $6 @ $1/bottle - grande blond white mocha or latte with vanilla and hazelnut syrup -  $33.00 @ $5.50 a piece ( though i might get something different, but the white mocha is my Go To )  cost: approximately $66 with this spread. depending on if we pack bentos, it might be closer to $100.  

eating out:     now, this is something we like to do at cons. we like to go to a dinner with friends somewhere nicer than we usually go on date nights. or it’s the day’s other meal.    - other meal ( usually a coupon at a fast food place ) $15-20 / meal for two - social dinner with people - $60 with tip  cost: $120

grand total of these other expenses at the high end of potential costs: $435

alright, since we’re already spending $435 or so dollars just to have fun that weekend, give or take, i’ll usually take $200 dollars with me personally to spend in the artist alley and dealer’s room.  i work a job with tips, and i save it as my main con spending money, and take out some more, depending on the con.  so, i usually spend about $535 per convention we attend. this does not include the money i spend on cosplay. that’s another post.  this is what i can afford, and i make sure all my bills are paid first before attending a con.