s h o p g i r l s t a r

It's been a long time since I've updated. Truth be told, I'm completely out of the deals loop lately. April was a terribly bad month for deals. I mean there wasn't anything worthwhile at any store! May isn't proving to be much better.

Beginning of April we hauled our stockpile and various other items to a friend of a friends house for a yard sale. Over the course of 2 days we made just under $900. My goal was to go over $1000, but no such luck. The Friday sale was extremely busy and the best day. Saturday was slow and disappointing. There were about 10+ other yard sales on the same road. I always thought Saturdays were best for yard sales, but I think it's Thursdays and Fridays.

One night in April I was talking online to a friend of mine and half-jokingly mentioned taking a vacation and going to Universal Studios. He jumped at the idea. Within a week we had it planned and a condo booked. I guess this can be included in the 'deals', so I'll go ahead and ramble about it.

A few years ago we took a similar vacation with other friends of ours. We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and had VIP passes for Universal Studios. I wanted to have the same exact vacation, so I checked the prices for the Hard Rock and nearly died. For 3 nights it was $1300.00 for a 1 room with 2 queen beds; no kitchen. What??!?! That's insane. I checked out several other hotels and their prices weren't much better.

So I took a different approach. Renting a home or condo. I found a gorgeous 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo with it's own private pool (not community). So for a 6 night vacation, it's costing under $300 per couple! It has a laundry room and a full kitchen as well. We plan to get groceries and avoid eating out often. Including tickets to Universal + gas + groceries + spending money, we're estimating to spend less than $1000 total (I'd say $800, but added an extra $200 just in case). I'm quite excited not just about taking a real vacation that's NOT on a boat, but that I was able to find some amazinlgy affordable!

Once we get back from vacation, I'm hoping to get back into deals and coupons and all that fun stuff. For right now I'm taking a short hiatus to focus on other things. :) Have a happy May everyone!