How a 3 Night Stay in a 2 Bedroom Duplex and Winter Fun Cost $259.00 vs $1225.00

My husband and I just got back from a great 4 day/3 night winter vacation! We had a blast! Check out the great accommodations! 

 The total cost for this trip was $259.00. Normally, this trip could have cost us about $1225.00. First of all, I am signed up on www.groupon.com. This is a great site that gives great deals on things. All you have to do is sign up and get email notifications. The resort we stayed at was offering a $705.00 vacation stay for only $149.00 plus a $50.00 coupon dinner voucher. This time, there was a catch. We had to sit through a 90 minute timeshare presentation. There was an income requirement and a few other minor requirements. You may feel that you wouldn't want to do that, but we look at it as being paid $556.00 for 90 minutes of our time, which is a great rate of exchange! We did learn a lot about timeshares but we didn't buy. We learned enough in that timeshare presentation to now research timeshares and see if we can't find a great buy on a used one though. They wanted about $13,000.00 for a timeshare but after we left the presentation, we saw there are timeshares for sale on ebay for $1.00 so if we were truly interested, we could buy one on the used market. There is no obligation to buy. Anyone can sit through a presentation and say no if they want. The company is giving the great deal because they are taking the risk you will want to buy. Timeshares bought new are usually not a good deal. Buying timeshares on the used market might be for the right person. Sitting through a presentation is like taking a class if you are interested and, if not, you got a great vacation for 90 minutes of your time. If you are someone who can't say no, this is probably not something you want to do.

We had an awesome meal with the $50.00 voucher for dinner. My husband had Canadian Walleye and I had Shrimp Scampi and we split with each other so we could each try both. Total cost for this meal to us was $12.97 with taxes and tip. For our other meals, except one, we had a full kitchen so we brought food and ate in. We spent about $25.00 on food whereas if we ate out we may have spent about $125.00 or even more for the trip (I figured it at $125.00 for the larger trip cost). We did eat at one local place on the way home. We could have gotten $1.00 burgers at McDonalds but decided we could both have a nicer meal and support a local restaurant at the same time, so we decided to do that. That cost $20.77 with tip.

We trailered our snowmobile up and had fun riding it! This cost us more in gas than driving our car. We spent about $46.50 in gasoline altogether. If we had rented a snowmobile, it would have cost us $249.99 for 2 days.

 We had buy one get one free Dairy Queen Blizzards because I had a coupon. This cost us about $4.00 instead of $8.00.

We went cross country skiing/snowshoeing. We went on free trails rather than the ones you had to pay for saving us $24.00. We also brought our own equipment so we paid nothing for those (except initially). Rental would have been $40.00.

We love massages too! A massage for both of us for 30 minutes would have cost us $100.00 but for us it was free because I simply brought a bottle of oil and we gave one to each other! Very relaxing after using the Jacuzzi tub in the duplex!

So, we had a great time and with a little forethought it cost very little. The prep work on this didn't take too much because all I had to do was buy the groupon and get the dairy queen coupon off my email (I am signed up to their website and they give deals regularly.) I don't think I spent anymore time prepping for this trip than I would have otherwise. The only real work put into it was bringing the food and preparing it. The only way it could have been better is if the friends and family we invited could have made it!

So, sitting through a timeshare presentation can be a great way to get a great vacation for 90 minutes of your time. Just be prepared and if you are someone who can't say no, this vacation could cost you a lot so think it through before you sign up.

Happy Savings!



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