First time going,how do i budget?

I found over the years of attending conventions, things I always spent the most on food. So what I would do to help save some cash is to sometimes pack some of my own food for the convention. This helped me save a good chunk of cash. 

So you can spend a bit more at the dealers den. 

If your parents are going to be taking care of hotel costs, that is already a big monetary burden off of your shoulders! Will they be taking care of the food, too? Those things (that and travel) are normally the biggest part of a trip's spending money, so if they're taking care of all three, you can pretty much use that $300 for buying goodies for yourself from the Dealer's Den, Artist Alley, and Charity Auction :3 If they are not taking care of your food, then $20 a day is enough for two good meals a day and snacks in between (Furnando's, hint hint), though I do recommend bringing your own snacks to help offset those costs.

EDIT: Thanks to BlackJack for reminding me of the ever-so-important registration fee XD Yes, $40 is the cheapest you can get for pre-registering, which is going on right now if you want to get that taken care of.

I also recommend staying at a close-by hotel called the Hampton, which is only a 5 minute walk to the convention center, which has free breakfast in the morning

Subtract the cost of registration.  The earlier you register, the cheaper it is. It will go up to $50 at the end,

but it's $40 right now. (You can save $10 by acting now.)

In case you think $50 is a lot, I've been to conventions where the registration is $200,

and that's the BASIC registration.  (AC sponsor levels are higher but are optional.)

If you keep to cheaper places to eat and drink, you can keep your cost for eating 3 meals below $35.

(I end up eating 2 big meals and 1 light meal.snack unless I'm really up a long time.)

That's leaving out all the fancy places to eat, and sticking to places offering AC specials (Fernando's)

or buffets (Golden Palace.) 

BTW, traditional breakfasts for reasonable prices are limited. Hotel restaurants in the area tend

to run pricey.  The current best place for one is the Smithfield Cafe, which is not open Saturdays

or Sundays.   There will be other places open to serve at breakfast, but not the traditional

platters of eggs, pancakes, whatever.  They're fine, and cheaper- just not traditional.

I'm presuming you already figured in TRANSPORTATION to the event. The cheapest thing to

do is to travel to a convention hotel, and remain within walking distance until you leave for

home. (This is easy to do, and easier if you're in the Westin or Courtyard-but the Courtyard

is a little more expensive per night.)  If you're arriving by Amtrak, Greyhound, or Megabus,

your vehicle will drop you off near to the Westin/Convention Center, walking distance to all

the hotels.  If you're flying, you'll need to follow the instructions here for the bus that gets you

to the hotels most cheaply from the airport.  If you're driving, you'll need to figure on the costs

for parking, which I know nothing about.

A lot of other things depend on how well-prepared you are when you arrive. If you pack everything

you need for the con other than food and the convention, then you're in good shape. Otherwise,

I'd recommend a walk to a nearby Rite-Aid or CVS to stock up on what you need.

(I include a 2-liter bottle of soda and cups for my room, so that I don't spend money on small

sodas all the time when I'm not eating a meal.)   There's also things like the charity show ($12? $10?),

and all the stuff in the Dealer's Room.

 You'll probably also want to buy an art-badge. The convention badge is given when you get your

registration packet and is mandatory to wear when attending convention events.  You can pay an

artist to draw you a "badge" that shows your fursona.  The most reasonable prices will probably

be in Artists' Alley once it opens. (That's where the "starving artists" tend to set up work, and the

skilled artists without reputations.)  That may run about $10, or more if you don't shop around.

If we had more specifics about how you were getting there and back, I could get more specific

about additional costs.  Everything else is optional (transportation, registration, hotel room, food

are necessary.)

I'm also new and starting to work out my budget for con.  I'm doing the whole thing on my own dime, so if I can ask you guys to throw out a couple other numbers and some info that would be awesome...

1) Hotel rooms.  Assuming a quad occupancy, can someone ball park what the price was in 2010 for the main hotels?  I'm aiming for the Weston.

2) Nearby grocery stores.  My favorite way to do con food is a cooler and hit a grocery store the first day in to buy sandwich stuff, fruit and breakfast materials, saving the eating out for suppers mostly.  Can anyone name me a nearby grocery store thats decent?  Google maps looks like we're pretty central in downtown, and experience with other cities says grocery stores can be harder to find there.

3) Is parking included in the room costs for the hotels, or is that handled seperately?  We're roadtripping down so we need a place to store the buggy until its time to go home.

Thanks muchly!

You're a scholar and a patron of the arts, thank you!  I realize the new rates probably won't be listed until closer to the time the rooms are available for booking, but if I know last years rates, I can make a decent call on how much to squirrel away between now and then.  Even if the rates go up a bit, I'll still be most of the way there.  A later change of $20 a night is far less distressing if everything else is already taken care of. 

Boo hiss on the grocery stores, I was afraid of that.  I`ll be taking a closer look at our path to furry central and see if I can sweet talk the others in our car into stopping before we get downtown proper.

Thanks for the parking costs as well, this is a huge help in figuring out how much I need to enjoy the trip!  The last thing I want to do is spend money earmarked for art on such trivialities as food and lodging!

>Editted for spelling because the mistake was dumb and irritating me<

As for grocery stores, you have a few options.

The Kwik-E-Mart across from the Westin isn't a bad place to get beverages for the first 1/2

of the convention. Eventually it begins selling out of stuff.

For those people staying in the Doubletree, there's a 7-11 store in the lobby open early

and late (but not 24 hours.)   Otherwise, I'd do a little walking- which I do each year.

There's one street convenient to the convention that has places to eat on both sides,

and a few blocks down (not very close, but not far at all) on the left is a CVS Pharmacy,

next to a Rite-Aid Pharmacy.  Those are stocked with a little of everything, so you can get

2-liter bottles of soda, smaller milk containers, cups, plates, toiletries, snacks.  I like to

go there early in my trip and get all the stuff I need for my hotel room. My hotel room needs

2-liter bottles of soda and cups- but the hotel supplies ice.  :)  That way, if I'm in my room,

I have cold drinks.

Under the Westin, there's also a few stores open that sell light foods and so on.

(I found them convenient when getting ready to go home, since they were open VERY early

and nothing else was open.)

Me and a few of my friends. (two are 16 three are 17 including me) We are saving all our money so if you only have only 300$ for your self then you could always save so you have more. Our way of getting there is by driving for one reason. We won't be in the mood to deal with the TSA agents. However taking a ferry is much more expensive. (around 2000$) With the fact that we might have to leave three weeks in advanced but is wort it. Plus gas and food but I have done the math and as I see it if the five of us save every dime we might just barely have enough to survive. (that is also adding me getting a new fur suit) So you can't go wrong with saving a little extra.

I wont be able to attend this year, due to monetary issues, but next year i am sure i can. If i do not have a budget already set, how much should i stock up? (Given gas money, food stuffs, and hotel bills) if i travel all the way from Mississippi? (Im moving soon... I hate to leave Georgia....)

But still, how much should i save?

Thank you very much. Im applying for a new job, so i should hopefully be getting money and such to save to go to the con. I think i should have enough time to stock up loads of money (i would hope)

And once again, thank you very much. :3

From Experance:

I tend to budget about $50 a day for general walking around money, (Food, cab fares, TIPS to the hotel staff, soda etc) with a seperate amount budjeted for dealers room/con store/artist's alley for the run of the convention.

I also figure to save about $50 a day for your hotel stay. (yeah I know for 4 people it's closer to $35 but that way if someone backs out at the last minute you still have enough wiggle room saved to still go.)

My 2 cents.

Chanur

If you're on a budget, I strongly recommend you hold off on any fursuit.

Less than 15% of convention-goers wear them.

Those that wear them, can't wear them all the time (Pittsburgh in Summer is not a good time

to wrap yourself in fur and cover your head. That's like bundling up for Winter during Summer.)

Those that wear them have to pack them.  Those of you young folk who are still growing

will outgrow the thing.  Finally, the things tend to cost over $1000, which is more than my

entire budget for AC each year. 

Haha i am 6 foot 2 and i am apparently still growing. Also, with my current state on money and such, if i really tried to save my money, my budget would be 45 hundred dollars... more than enough. But i doubt i need any of that munnehz. I just need money for the con and room and foodz. :3 still, i enjoy a fat wallet for a hard worker.

Im in. Course, if we are carmates and/or roomies, how am i gonna pick you up?

A word of experience about driving to AC. From upstate NY to Pit, I burned a tank and a half of gas driving one direction. It was only a 5 hour drive with a 4 cylinder and a 10 gallon tank. Know how far you can drive on a tank of gas. When you get down near a third of a tank, start looking for a gas station. When I was driving to Pit I ran across well over a dozen closed down gas stations. (Thank you George W. Bush) So I was almost on "E" when I found an open station. Also bring a spare set of car keys. I suggest you wear a spare door key on a string around your kneck, under your shirt. I got stuck at a rest stop for over 2 hours because I locked the keys in the car.(both sets) Luckily The maintnence guy was very helpful. He was able to pop the lock with a coat hanger. You are not always going to find anyone to help you if you have any road side problems.

^ is really helpful. I would love to be in a world full of furries... We are such an understanding and nice people. I LOVE FURRIES!!! (and i love being a part of us)