DragonCon budget schedule

[numbereleven.livejournal.com]

Does anyone have a year-long-ish budget schedule or anything that they do for DragonCon?

Seems like I end up paying for the entire damn thing in the summer, which gave me problems this year with being unemployed all year, of course. Not to mention that when the hotels went up for booking, they ALL started requiring a deposit, so we had to scramble to ask someone -anyone- with available space on a credit card.

Tickets right now are only $60. I'm trying to talk a friend who hasn't gone for like three years into going again, and he really wants to, but he may be switching to part time- so budgeting and paying for things in small chunks over the months would be AMAZING.

Just wondering if someone has worked this out already, and can toss me some pointers? Thanks!

Comments

[dklepto.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much the plan I follow, and it worked for me this past year. I was able to put aside about $100 a month and that covered four nights at the Hyatt plus food.

In general, I would suggest having about $250 put aside for the deposit, and if you're saving for four nights, have at least $760 ready to go if possible. That's enough to cover the room by yourself if you have to - I've had to for the past three years due to roommates losing jobs, etc. Obviously, though, if you can get a roommate, you won't need all that.

I live about 5.5 hours away from Atlanta, so I usually drive and budget about $75 for gas. That's usually the last thing I try to save for because of the fluctuating prices and the possibility of carpooling.

As far as food, I mostly brought things from home and tried to eat cheap at the food court. If you pick up things on sale ahead of time, like bottled water, pop tarts, instant coffee, etc., you can cover breakfast pretty easily. Those sorts of things also have a long shelf life, so you can pick them up any time.

Lunch and dinner are harder because there was no fridge in my room at the Marriott or the Hyatt...not sure about the others. If you want to go really cheap, you can also fix ramen or instant foods with the in-room coffee maker. If not, and if you're paying for yourself, plan on at least $8 per meal. If you're a couple, I'd suggest around $15. I covered meals for myself and my roommate this year, and I don't think I ever spent more than $20. We ate eight meals at the food court, so next year I'm planning to budget about $150 for food, which should more than cover it.

As for tickets, get them as early as possible, because they're only going to go up in price from here. They're $60 through Friday at midnight, so if you can't pick them up by then, plan for at least $70 each.

I don't personally drink, so I can't help you there, but I would suggest again looking for local sales rather than buying at the con or in Atlanta.

So looking forward at my own budget based on this year, I'll need about $1300 total to make sure I cover anything. Of course, about $300 of that has to come out within the next few weeks, so between November and August of next year, I'll have to save up roughly $1,000, so putting back $100 a month should get me there.

[dark-blade.livejournal.com]

An electric water kettle really is worth it. Heats the water to boiling quickly, and avoids that faint burnt coffee taste in your tea, ramen, macaraoni, etc.

[glasscannon.livejournal.com]

Seconding. I fly in from California so I have to pack light. I had a costume prop this year that required boiling water in the hotel room. I picked up an immersion heater (http://www.rei.com/product/781694/rei-immersion-heater-120240) from REI, and really liked it. Less bulky in your luggage than an electric water kettle, if you're worried about space as well.

[dklepto.livejournal.com]

An awesome idea! I'll look into that!

[kkatowll.livejournal.com]

I've dealt with the lack of a fridge in two ways:
1. pick up a cheap styrofoam cooler in Atlanta, or bring with you. Then you can use hotel ice to keep little things cold -- like sandwich meat and cheese or salad.
OR
2. eat non-fridge meals, such as PB&J, pita stuffed with veggies, Trader Joe's Indian meals (the eggplant and the chickpea ones are perfectly good even if they're not warmed up in a microwave), rice balls, those bags of cooked tunafish, if you get really inventive you can take canned beans and mash them to create interesting salads...lots of other ideas if you look for them. Walk through the non-refrigerated part of your grocery store and think, "What can I make without heating/cooking this?" Remember that most things can go a few days without refrigeration -- even hard cheese.

[awillis2.livejournal.com]

I always bring a cooler with ice and the last couple of years got a fridge for the room, but with them charging $15 per day I doubt I wil do that next year. I got lucky this year and it was comped because of problems I had the previous year.

I plan on investing in a plug in cooler in addition to the regular cooler. Heck, I might even invest in one of those really small fridges (smaller than the ones the hotel provide).

[dklepto.livejournal.com]

I actually did bring a small cooler this year, but when we returned to the room Friday night we discovered it had leaked. So I freaked out and tossed it. *LOL* Luckily it was on the countertop, so most of the water had pooled, and when it dried it didn't leave any stain. XD

PB&J is a good alternative, but I'm usually too lazy to make stuff myself! :p Although if things keep going the way they're going, I see a loooot of Ramen and PB&J in my future. ^_^;