Wow! Musta hit a nerve

[thatcrazycajun]

Profuse and heartfelt thanks to all the folks who posted in response to my rant about the high cost of fandom two days ago; I do believe 42 responses (there's that number again...) is a personal best for this journal, and all had interesting and worthwhile things to offer in their comments.

Now let's change things up a bit: What do you do to save money on your con-going? Buy each year's membership the last day of the previous con? Share hotel rooms? Keep food in your room so as to avoid eating out? Use up frequent-flier miles for airfare? Knock over a Rexall drugstore? (Just kidding about that last one; that was in memory of my dear friend Joey Grillot, who used to joke about needing to do that when money got tight.) Share your economizing tips here.

Comments

[singlemaltsilk.livejournal.com]

Step 1. Cultivate wealthy friends who always pick up the tab ;)

But seriously, folks... as I mentioned in the earlier thread, I became a dealer (in vintage Japanese kimono) and combined two rather expensive hobbies in an (almost, more-or-less successful) effort to afford them both. It's a lot of work, and not for everyone, but I enjoy it.

I do pack my own food -- especially when my UC is in flare, because most restaurant food literally makes me sick then. If I'm in remission, I'll eat out a bit more.

As a rule, I don't contact cons and ask for a concert slot, but if they ask me, I'm generally game, and that gets a comped membership. I do room-share, but not ride-share, because my little Saturn is packed to the gills with stock. It actually helps me as a dealer to share a room with filkers, because we're not trying to get into the shower at the same time in the AM.

I ALWAYS bring my own liquor -- hotel bar tabs can get scary-big.

TIP: If you know any dealers who work alone, talk to them ahead of time and see if they need help at their table -- we frequently get discounted memberships for our helpers, and I'll often pick up the cost of that in exchange for a few hours assistance.

[mdlbear]

I've discovered that, if I have a very large breakfast consisting mostly of protein, it will hold me until dinnertime. This generally saves a lot.

Taking snacks also helps. Granola bars, nuts, dried fruit...

Definitely use mileage for travel when you can, and join the various hotels' loyalty programs as well.

[gorgeousgary]

A few things off the top of my head:

1) Sharing hotel rooms--Hotels are one of the biggest-ticket items. We've actually backed off roomshares in recent years, but if the hotel room is over $100 a night we'll typically look for a split.

2) Shuttle vans--Where the hotel itself doesn't have a complimentary shuttle, or where you can't bribe a friend for a pick-up, shared vans/airport shuttles are frequently cheaper than taxis (albeit slower). Sometimes *much* cheaper.

3) Air fares--The other big-ticket item. Before booking a flight, I typically check all the major travel sites (including Kayak.com) plus Southwest & JetBlue (who don't show up in some of the major searches). Then, unless Travelocity et al have a really super deal, I book straight through my desired airline's web site. That way I get the mileage bonus and avoid the service fees. Oh yes, I'm also willing to be patient and wait out potential sales.

4) Think creatively--Last Concertino we flew Southwest to Providence, RI, then rented a car. Good fare on Southwest (probably better than anything into Logan), and the total cost of the car for the entire weekend was less than the one-way airport shuttle fare. Another year I nearly bit on a Harrisburg-to-Toronto flight for FilKONtario as it was half the cost from the DC airports. (The regular routes went on sale just as my patience was giving out.)

5) Avoid hotel restaurants where possible--I even do this when $EMPLOYER is paying, since the average hotel breakfast or lunch will bust my per-diems.

6) What mdlbear said--enter all the airline and hotel programs you can.

[kitanzi.livejournal.com]

All of the above at various times (excepting the drugstore robbery!) but rarely all at the same time. These days we don't room share much because once ACat got his CPAP and started sleeping on his back, we discovered that we just about *need* a kingsized bed for us to both have enough space for comfort.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Most of those. Since we don't have Rexalls around here, we have to make do with poor, impoverished Citibanks as targets :-)

Also, since we almost never fly, good route planning, including plans for filling the tank as inexpensively as possible. Definitely bringing foodstuffs (although we do allow ourselves one meal out, and have been known to break that if finances permit); preregistering when we're certain we're going to be somewhere; and anything else that becomes possible. (If there hadn't been illness going around here during Lunacon, we'd have daytripped it, for example.)

And lots of being online in lieu of actual human social contact, because I've become a cave troll hermit.

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

FenCon is the only convention I go to regularly enough to buy Next Year's registration on Sunday (as a former guest and quasi concom at GaFilk I've got a permanent registration). Other conventions I definitely try to preregister for.

Room sharing: absolutely. I know enough folks in fandom to be pretty-well able to find 3 other friends to share with even if I'm not bringing part of the roomsplit with me in the carpool.

I don't bring *much* food with me. Blueberry muffins to munch on when I come in from filking at weird o'clock in the morning, so I can get 3 or 4 hours of sleep before going for breakfast, rather than waking up starving in just an hour and a half. I generally at least try the hotel's breakfast, especially if they have a buffet at a fixed price. I can eat enough for breakfast to be able to coast through lunch with grazing in the consuite. Supper is variable. For road food I hit Burger King or equivalents whenever possible.

I cannot off the top of my head recall the last time I flew to a convention. It will probably come to me about 3 a.m. tomorrow. From where I live, long drives to conventions are a fact of life, and I put together carpools whenever possible.

Mostly I've been rationing the number of conventions I go to, as I mentioned in the previous post. GaFilk and FenCon are fixed events. I'd have to be running a high fever or attending my husband's funeral to miss either of those. The spring and summer events are more variable, and I give a lot of advance thought to planning which ones I will go to each year.

Of course, the *best* way to save money going to a convention is to get invited as a subsidized guest. ApolloCon has gifted me that for this summer. I hadn't thought I'd be able to DO a summer convention this year, what-with moving and getting my daughter married-off.

[beki.livejournal.com]

I only get to do one con a year, and it's local. So, I don't stay at the hotel. I commute back and forth home in the evenings. I get the kids up and fed before we leave in the morning to go back, and I usually bring something for lunch. We do splurge and have dinner out. We generally have a Callahanian dinner on Saturday someplace close by the hotel. And of course, we buy memberships for the next year.

If I were the only one going, sharing a room would be a wonderful idea. Back in the day, I would not only share a room, but the folks i roomed with would bring a mini fridge and would stop some place and get foodstuffs and we would cook in the room.

[tollermom]

For cons that are coming out of my pocket (as opposed to ones where Wild Mercy's guesting, or where the band fund is picking up some of the expenses, which we've been able to do by banking the CD sales money), I'll room-share if at all possible, though usually just with one or two other people. Since I tore up my shoulder, I tend to prefer a bed to myself so that I can sleep in whatever weird position is required for comfort.

The only way I could afford Conflikt, though, was a combination of work picking up the bulk of the airfare (work got me to and from the west coast, so all I had to pay for was the flight from SF to Seattle) and a four-way room-share that had the benefit of an in-room refrigerator so we could stock up on groceries instead of having to eat hotel food.

I seldom buy memberships a year in advance... my schedule's too variable for that. I do try to buy early enough to get the discounted membership, and I've started working for one of my favorite cons so my membership there gets comped.

Oh... and I definitely take advantage of hotel frequent-guest programs. I may not use points to pay for con nights very often, but I'll take advantage of the points that I _gain_ from cons to turn around and take a real vacation later. :-)

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

I find an in-room refrigerator to be a necessity, but then I travel with insulin. That doesn't mean the insulin can't share space with some Diet Coke and two quarts of milk, though. :)

I forgot to mention below that if there's any chance at all we'll be back next year, we always buy memberships on the last day of the con. It's one less thing to worry about, and if we end up not going (which we never have so far) we figure we can sell them or have them be a donation to the con. When you're talking about three memberships it's a significant savings. (Soon to be four as the granddaughter reaches the magic age of having to buy a membership.)

[harmonyheifer.livejournal.com]

Back in the day when I was a single mother, room sharing was my best tactic for being able to afford a convention. Doing a dealer's table usually meant that if you had a good weekend you could pay the hotel room out of your profits, having bought the stock months before. Buying the table and memberships a year in advance is always a good idea if you know for certain that you will be going to that particular convention.

Having been disabled to a greater or lesser extent over the past fifteen years and living on a very limited income, I have learned a few tricks to save money. One of the biggest additional expenses always seems to be food.

When ground transportation isn't available for a crowd and walking to the nearest alternative is impossible, that means you end up dining in the hotel restaurant, which can be expensive. Steve's suggestion about hotel breakfasts is a good one. It is usually the least expensive meal of the day, and filling up in the morning is always a good idea. Buffet breakfasts are usually an excellent value and a good way to get your daily fruits, juices and larger servings of what you like for a reasonable price.

If you can talk a friendly local into doing a food run to a grocery store for fruits and veggies, bottled water and your soda of choice, that can save you a bundle even if you pitch in for gas.

Some conventions have lunch specials or lobby food just for the convention. I don't usually eat hot dogs and chips and a can of soda for lunch, but sometimes it is what I can afford. I try to make it up to myself later by eating more healthy foods to balance it out.

If you are working a dealer's table, having a five dollar bill to throw at someone local who is doing a fast food run can be a lifesaver. If not, that is when the fruit you got, a stash of nuts or even a peanut butter sandwich you made from the grocery store run stuff can be a lifesaver.

My best strategy for ordering dinner in a hotel restaurant is to order a side salad and a bowl of soup for dinner. Lucky for me I actually like soup and salad, but it is also usually the least expensive thing on the menu and usually a lot less expensive than an entree. Sometimes I will order an appetizer and soup or if money is really tight then just one, the soup, the salad or the appetizer.

I usually refuse to be a party to large group check averaging because I have been badly burned too many times by people who seem to think that is a good way to get an expensive meal at the expense of someone else. That kind of thing can wipe out a whole weekend food budget in one meal. Putting your meals on the room and paying out of the dealer profits is also a good strategy if you are a dealer. Vending machine drinks are expensive and the corn syrup in regular drinks is poison. If I want a soda, the con suite usually has the diet stuff, bless them. The really superior con suites have diet Hansons. Otherwise bottled water is my friend.

Green rooms and con suites are great for nibbles and just enough food to take medication on. Cheese and fresh veggies, hummus, bottled water, diet soda, tea, nuts and even pretzels make good snacks in small portions. Fresh fruit is rare, but not totally impossible to find at some conventions. It is always a good idea to be extra nice to the lovely people who do the green room and con suites. If you are a performer, offer to come and sing a song and entertain the workers, who often miss the concerts. In return they may clue you in on when the homemade chili will be arriving, the donated yogurt, the brie and crackers, or the flat of strawberries. These folks work hard and a bit of gratitude and praise on your part will often lead to their revealing the secrets of when the good stuff will be available.

Before I had plastic I saved up for cons by putting money out of every paycheck someplace like my sock drawer. Ten bucks here, ten bucks there. By the time the con rolled around, that always came in handy for food and little expenses. It is better to put the money away first than to pull out the plastic, the interest makes everything a lot more expensive.

Well,

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

for GaFilk, I automatically buy my membership on the last day, as the price goes up the day after. I know that for some conventions here in Atlanta, if you buy as part of a group, you get a reduced rate (like Sci-Fi Summer and the morass known as Dragon*Con).

For food, I eat out of the con suite - thank you oh consuite goddess for keeping the food healthy in there, mostly (I know, the chips aren't and stuff).

The only meal I eat out for is dinner, and for GaFilk, I can get away with dining for under $15 at the Chinese place down the street.

Since the only time I need a hotel room is when I do a celtic festival or highland games out of the area, I end up getting a room for one night, and hope to high heaven that I make enough in sales to make costs. I'll stop on the way and grab a subway sandwich, and if I remember to, I'll bring my own water and fruit for the festival so I don't have to worry about food at the festival.

Re: Well,

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

Heh. One time my wife and I economized during a trip to Vancouver, BC by going to a Subway down the street, buying about 3 or 4 foot-long subs, and storing them in the refrigerator in our hotel room for a couple of days. They were getting toward the end of their shelf life by the time we started to head back for Seattle, but if you don't sog them up with vinegar or other wet sauces they stay surprisingly fresh.

Re: Well,

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

That's provided there's a refrigerator in the hotel room. Unfortunately, not all have them in the room.

Re: Well,

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

True, although it's one of the things we specifically ask for, since I travel with medication that has to be refrigerated and would rather have it in my room than behind the hotel desk.

Of course you could improvise a solution using the hotel's ice machine, but there are limits to how cheap I'm willing to be. :)

Re: Well,

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

That's what I usually end up doing, and it's for insulin.

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

This is a subject near and dear to my heart as we usually con-go with four of us in tow. Me, Mrs. BPN, redheadbrat, and my 11-year-old granddaughter. So our economizations include:

(1) Fitting all of us into one hotel room. It cuts down on the amount of just-us time me and Mrs. BPN get to spend, but we're usually up late filking anyway.

(2) Traveling to cons close by. The fatherest out we normally venture from Seattle is either Vancouver or Portland (Oregon). That gives us several conventions during the year -- Conflikt, Norwescon, VCon, Orycon, and if we want to do them, Rustycon and (for the anime fans in the group) Sakuracon. Would that we could make it to Worldcon, or GaFilk, or FKO, or OVFF, or Baycon or any of the other tempting cons out there . . . but alas, even though I get paid good, I don't get paid that good, nor do I have that much vacation time, nor (more to the point) does RHB, who has the car.

(3) Bring food from home. Eating out is expensive for four, and while I like to have one nice restaurant dinner when we travel, feeding four people six meals over the course of two days racks up the bucks.

(4) Look for hotels with free breakfasts to help stretch the food budget.

(5) Sign up for frequent-flyer and frequent-stay programs at the hotels you are likely to go to. For instance we have a frequent guest card with Holiday Inn, because that's where Conflikt is likely to be next year.

Some of these suggestions are tempered a bit by our situation, which includes dragging costumes, musical instruments, etc. along with us. My wife is lobbying for us to stay at the Norwescon con hotel next year, for instance, and while it is more expensive than the La Quinta across the street we normally stay at, and it doesn't have a free breakfast like La Quinta does, there's something to be said for not having to lug all of our accoutrements across one street and two parking lots. Especially if it's raining, which it often is for Norwescon.