Final Arizona Trip Cost

First trip of 2019 is in the bag! We went to Arizona this past week on vacation to see my friend’s wedding. She looked beautiful and we had a good time. As it would turn out, A’s family doesn’t live in surprise at all. They live in Scottsdale. So we ended up visiting Scottsdale, Gilbert, Sedona, Phoenix and Tempe. Here are the final costs!

Hotel: As always, $0. It did end up costing 120,000 points to stay in Tempe for 6 days. We picked Tempe because it was kind of halfway between Gilbert, where the wedding was, and Phoenix, where we also wanted to go. It was a nice enough hotel but it was right next to Arizona State University so I can only imagine that staying there during the school year is terrible. Also, I’m already up to 100,000 points so I’m primed for next vacation in September!

Flight: $707. We flew into and out of Love Field on Southwest. No baggage fees and my mom dropped us off at the airport because she’s a nice lady.

Rental Car: $196! I saved $100 in taxes by not picking up the car from the airport!! We Ubered from the airport to the rental place for $18. Totally worth it to save $100. Net savings – $82!

Uber: $18. See above.

Gas: $60. We filled up the rental car tank twice while we were there. We made a 4 hour round trip to Sedona one day and that took up a lot of the gas. We also did a lot of shorter distance driving to hit all those cities.

Food: $450. We did really great on the food budget this trip but it was more due to the circumstances of our trip then it was due to good planning. We had dinner at A’s family’s house on Saturday. They generously provided food and we brought tequila. (It’s kind of our thing. Also hi Aunt K!) On Sunday we ate dinner at the wedding. Then on Tuesday we ate with A’s family again. (Thank you!!) Otherwise we were absolutely on pace to blow the food budget. We spent $55 on lunch/dinner as soon as we arrived. We also spent $35 on lunch the last day eating at Monroe’s Hot Chicken. It was super pricey but our second favorite meal of the trip. If you go to Phoenix, I would definitely check it out. Our favorite meal of the trip was Taco Culichi and it was super affordable and delicious. You can see some of the yumminess on their Instagram @tacos_culichi. But I wouldn’t look at it unless you are prepared to eat tacos soon after. It will make your mouth water.

Fun: $50. We did a lot of fun stuff but the only thing that cost us anything other than gas was going to the Desert Botanical Garden. Two tickets to get in was $50. If you want to see a lot of desert scenery for free, there is also the Sonoran Nature Preserve. Or the Desert Botanical Garden has free admission on certain days. I didn’t find out about the preserve until we had already gone to the Botanical Gardens. We drove to Sedona on Tuesday and spent a couple hours there walking around on trails. That’s where this post’s picture is from. Here’s another for good measure:

We just found a random trail and started walking. It ended up taking about 2.5 hours but we saw lots of great scenery.

In home dog sitter (😂): $100. When we go out of town, my mom watches our two dogs and cats. She doesn’t technically charge us for it but I always try to leave her money for gas, groceries and shopping. She really deserves more but she wont accept it so that’s where we end up. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Total trip cost: $1,581. I had budgeted $1,500 for this trip but I was willing to go up to $1,800 if i had to. I’m glad we didn’t need the extra but I’m also glad it was there just in case!

My next trip is Disney World in Florida with my mom for her birthday! I’ve already started saving. #momandcharlitakefloridapt2

In other budgetary news, I’m still playing with different budget apps. I didn’t actively use Dave’s in May but my free trial of You Need a Budget is over. I might go back to Mint after it’s all said and done but at least I gave these other apps the good ol’ college try…