photo: Jess1820

Las Vegas is hardly the first destination to come to mind if you’re planning a romantic getaway — on a limited budget, at that — but if you can control the urge to gamble away your hard-earned savings while you’re there, you may be surprised.

Sin City has plenty to offer besides casinos, from entertainment to food, to very reasonably-priced luxury accomodations, that it’s worth considering it for your Valentine’s day travel plans even if that might require coast-to-coast travel. (And if things go well, there are so many wedding chapels… Well, let’s not get carried away.)

Things to do

Las Vegas (Entertainment Capital of the World!) offers many free attractions, mostly of the stop-and-gawk variety and mostly in the evenings. At the Mirage, experience the 12-foot fireballs of the famous volcano, which erupts every 15 minutes from dusk until midnight, to a choreographed audio/visual program created by Mickey Hart, legendary Grateful Dead drummer. Further down the Strip, check out the fountains at the Bellagio, the sirens of Treasure Island and the “Show in the Sky” at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

Seeing a show while in Vegas is a treat, and does not have to break the bank. From Carrot Top at the Luxor Hotel to the Blue Man Group at the Venetian, there is something for everyone. Check out Tix4Tonight for discount tickets; coupons for discounts on service charges are available online.

If you have a car,you can take a day trip to one of the nearby natural attractions  on less than a tank of gas, including Red Rock Canyon (15 miles west), Valley of Fire State Park (55 miles northwest) and Mojave National Preserve (60 miles southwest). Or check out the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake (35 miles southeast).

Restaurants

One thing Las Vegas is known for (well, besides the gambling and Elvis impersonators) are cheap all-you-can-eat buffets. The new thing in town is all-day buffet passes, which allow you to enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner, all for one set price. At the Excalibur Roundtable Buffet, you can buy a “Buffet All Day” pass for $ 25, which includes unlimited reentry to the buffet line. And the Harrah’s Entertainment group offers a 24-hour buffet pass that is good in seven different restaurants around the city.

Many hotels and restaurants hand out coupons for reduced or 2-for-1 meals at their buffets – Planet Hollywood is well known to offer coupons at the entrance. Browse the magazines and flyers in your hotel room for coupons, or pick up a local newspaper and scan for ads. Another trick for buffets, called roll-overs, involves arriving at the buffet 15 minutes before the meal before ends, taking advantage of the lower price and enjoying the buffet as it switches over to the next meal. Many of the top-quality buffets offer this, as they don’t have time for a break between meals.

But, buffets can get old and sometimes you just want to sit down for a romantic meal for two. Yelp user Blair B. has put together a list of places in Las Vegas where you can eat well on a budget, which includes several lunch spots, vegetarian, fast food, and pizza places. For something a little more upscale, Zagat’s recommends Steak House ($ 58/person average tab) and Bouchon ($ 62/person). A less-expensive option is Lotus of Siam, an authentic Thai restaurant with a great wine list ($ 31/person).

Hotels

Michelle Snow at Uptake Lodging has put together a list of 6 affordable Valentine’s Day hotels in Las Vegas, offering deals starting at $ 90. And if you are looking to spice up your romantic vacation, check out the Palms Casino Resort with their collection of fantasy suites, including the Erotic Suite with eight foot round rotating bed! (Suites start at $ 169/night).

While booking your flights to Las Vegas, look into adding a hotel to your package – very often the deals make the hotel rooms very inexpensive, saving you $ 50-$ 100 on your trip. Using Expedia or Travelocity, compare prices and reviews of several hotels along The Strip. For more savings, look for accommodations slightly off The Strip, which may offer more space and amenities, to boot.

Ah, budgeting. New year, same old goals? While I’m not one of those people that think everyone needs a detailed budget, I do think everyone should track their spending at least once a year or so. This way, you have a real snapshot of where your money is going (which may just surprise you). Writing down every little transaction on a piece of paper or even tapping it into your smartphone can get really tedious. So here’s what I do to manage it in 15-minutes a year.

Put All Your Spending On A Credit/Debit Card

The main idea is to put all your spending in an electronic format so that a bank keeps track of all your purchases for you instead of little slips of paper. If you don’t like credit cards, use a debit card. But credit cards offer superior consumer protection features, so I prefer them. You don’t need to put it all on one card, but it does make things simpler.

Now, do this for a month, and avoid paying cash whenever possible. Don’t change your spending behavior, and there is no need to record anything.

Sign Up For Mint.com

Next, you should sign up for the online aggregator tool Mint.com. I also like versions of Yodlee, but it looks like their development has slowed significantly. To start, all you need is your e-mail address and the login details for your credit card website.

I know that many people are wary about giving out their login credentials, but in my opinion your credit card login is not as sensitive as say, a bank login. Credit card companies make so much money that they are happy to refund any fraudulent charges immediately. It is in their interest to make you feel very safe about using credit cards.

Anyhow, Mint has improved their back-end system so that most credit card information syncs up fairly quickly. Click on the “Transactions” tab on the top of the page, and you should see all your recent purchases. You can wait until after a month of spending on the card, because Mint should upload all your historical transactions within the last few months.

Categorize Transactions

Without any input from you, Mint will have tried their best guess for the Category of each of your purchases. They’ve gotten better, but there will likely still be a few that are incorrectly categorized or simply left labeled as “Uncategorized”. In addition, some of your purchases from a megastore like Walmart/Target/Costco might be “groceries” or it might be “electronics”.

Use the the pull-down menus and spend a little time “teaching” Mint the proper categories that you prefer. If you want all future CVS purchases to be under “Groceries” instead of “Pharmacy”, you can click on Details and make a rule that will do that for you automatically. This saves lots of time in the future.

Finally, if you have certain transactions that you wish to have Mint ignore in your budget calculations, use the “Exclude from Mint” category.

Pretty Pie Charts!

After all your transactions look nice, click on the “Trends” tab on top, and check out some pretty pie charts created from your spending history. The charts are very interactive, click around and drill down into your data. You might need to go back and re-label some expenses to get everything to sort nicely.

Now you should have a clearer idea of where your money goes. If you have bills that you had to pay by bank account, you’ll want to account for those separately if you don’t want to sync it up with Mint. If you make some small cash purchases, just track your ATM withdrawals. I just made a rule that labeled all ATM withdrawals “Dining Out”, since that’s usually where it goes.

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Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips roundup! Today, we share the financial mistakes to watch out for, how to make your own glitter flats, and simple ways to spend less on produce.

The Top 5

8 Financial Mistakes to Avoid for 2011 — It's all too easy to forget about recurring and automatic payments — that's part of the convenience, after all. However, it's important to evaluate these payments periodically to make sure the services are still worth the cost. Not Made of Money

Make Your Own Glitter Flats — Glam up an old pair of flats (or really cheap new ones) with just a few coats of Mod Podge mixed with glitter and finished off with clear glaze spray. We Are Not Martha via The Consumerist

Ten Quick Tips for Cutting Your Produce Bill — Use as much of your produce as you can: "Peeling removes much of the flesh and the vitamins too." Cooking Manager

How to Update Last Year's Wardrobe for this Season — Sometimes, all it takes is a few accessories to update a wardrobe. Look for new ways to mix, match, and layer! Sharon Harvey-Rosenberg via Currency

Santa Cookies On a Budget: 4 Shortcuts That Will Save You Time and Money — Start ...

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Here we look at basic information regarding short term disability insurance to determine if this is something you may need.

What is short term disability insurance?

Short term disability insurance provides a level of protection against the loss of income should you find yourself unable to work for several weeks or months as a result of injury or illness.  Considering the fact that 1 in 7 workers find themselves unable to work for five years or more as the result of a disability, this is a very important insurance to consider.  Short term disability insurance will provide a percentage of your salary while you are unable to work.  The amount paid is usually between 40 and ...

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Personalized Present Sets

Present sets of toiletries are often offered to females based on the assumption that you cannot go wrong with bath stuff. I’ve been guilty of performing this myself on numerous events with no actual believed for regardless of whether the recipient will actually use the contents. Following an enlightening conversation with one specific friend, it dawned on me that I was effectively losing my money by purchasing her gift sets when she was only ever heading to use the shower gel (she’s not one for baths). With these gift sets not becoming particularly cheap unless of course you can get them when they are on sale, I wanted to find a way to purchase something that would be much better received without breaking my meager presents spending budget.

My answer has been to put with each other personalized gift sets of toiletries that I know the recipient will definitely use. Over the last six months or so, I’ve been taking advantage of in-retailer and on-line provides on toiletries like shower gels, bath foams, and body lotions, and putting them aside for presents. The idea is that I’ll only purchase objects that I know will be used, and simply because I’ve spread the price all through the yr, it is a a lot much more monetarily manageable way of performing issues. As soon as I’ve got everything I want to consist of in the gift sets, I place the objects in a large sheet of cellophane wrapping and scrunch the top with each other to produce a gift package (occasionally with a pretty ribbon or bow to finish the appear).

I lately got the chance to put this to the test with a friend’s birthday gift and she was thrilled that I’d taken the time to put with each other half a dozen objects that she truly enjoys utilizing. I was at first anxious that she’d think that it looked ...

Spread the phrase. Prior to you head off to college, make everyone that you know aware that you're on the lookout for affordable dorm furnishings. Chances are that someone will have at least one merchandise that they'd be happy for you to take off their fingers, if not for free then for a inexpensive cost. Note: Some college dorms will be 100% furnished so make certain you appear into this prior to you make investments in any furnishings, although often there will always be at least a couple of things you will require to add.

Look for bargains. Even if you're not restricted by budget, the open nature of most dorm rooms means that it doesn't make sense to fill your out with costly objects that could potentially be trashed or stolen. Verify local classified adverts for second-hand bargains or even appear ...

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Photo by paalia via Flickr

Sexy and confident in that new pair of shoes?

Sated for a moment by the Starbuck’s latte?

No one makes a purchase that isn’t a necessity unless it’s something that makes him or her feel a certain way. Problem is, the feeling never lasts. When you give into emotions around an object, you find yourself right back at the Nordstrom’s counter.

HALT: Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired

We can move past the feeling state to a state of action by stopping, taking a deep breath and taking a page from a twelve step program. In this 12 step programs, participants adhere to the acronym HALT: Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired, whenever they feel an urge to use. Have you ever bought a new outfit after a bad day at the office with the hope that it might put you in a better mood? Try HALT before you even walk in the store.

If I feel the urge to buy something outside of my budget, the first thing I think is, “When was the last time I ate?” If you’re hungry, eat something. If you’re angry, let it out to a friend. If you’re lonely, reconnect with your people. Make a call. Or walk to your neighbor’s. Take a nap if you’re tired. If you address basic needs first, you will be less apt to “use” your wallet.

Whenever ...

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips roundup. Today, we offer some insight on living on one income, how to cook up some amazing pasta puttanesca, and how to replace the air filter in your car!

Top 5 Articles

Living on One Income — I love this account of one blogger’s experience with downsizing to one income. The perks may be worth considering — even if it means a tighter budget! The Centsible Life 

What You Need to Know Before Co-Signing a Loan — Whoa! This is serious business, but many times, people just don’t seem to know what they’re getting into. Learn the facts before you sign on the dotted line. Generation X Finance 

Three Things the Amish Taught Me about Money — This is one of those you just have to read to understand. Great food for thought! Get Rich Slowly 

Pasta Puttanesca — This very affordable dish is simply mouth-watering! Get the recipe here. Cooking With Amy 

How to Replace the Air Filter in a Car — A simple, easy fix that can keep your car running for years, this is super-affordable if done from your own garage. 20 Something ...