Everyone has their ideas of what living life to the fullest is. For some it is doing things like traveling to other countries or things like skiing and surfing. For me and my family (and friends) we like to go to anime conventions. Depending on where we go it does tend to get pricey. Otakon, a convention is Baltimore was 70 dollars this past year. So what can people do in order to save money while attending conventions or in preparation for the convention.
One thing that we do when we are planning on a convention we look into if they need staff, volunteers, panels, or workshops. Most conventions tend to provide a free pass for those things. Anime USA reimburses it’s volunteers depending on how many hours they volunteered. I volunteered for 16 hours and got my ticket reimbursed and I still got to see the concert i wanted as well as met the voice actors I was wanted to meet and talk with. It not only saved me some money, but also helped the convention out with additional staff to help make sure the convention ran smoothly. There was even people who volunteered enough time to have their ticket, and room reimbursed. What a great way to save some money and do something we love doing.
When we plan for a hotel room, we look for anything Choice hotels to use our member card and since I have family who work for the company I also get the family and friends discount which helps alot as well. Before we book the room we see if there are other people who want to room with us. At Tekkoshocon we ended up with about 8 people in our room which helped bring the cost of the room down greatly. In a week we will be going to Setsucon and with the amount of people in one room, the cost is nearly nothing, about 10 per person. This leave more money to spend at the dealers room, or help us save money for bills or unexpected expenses like new tires. We also drive down together. Many people including my friends and I try to fit as many people legally possible in our cars, I always have 4-5 people in my car including myself. They all chip in for gas, meaning I pay nothing while I drive to where-ever the convention is being held.
We are a group who enjoy the art of cosplaying: costume play. We make our costumes, so since a local store: Giant Eagle has gift cards and fuel perks based on how much you spend, we buy gift cards for JoAnn’s fabric and then get the point towards a certain amount of money off of gas, so while we do spend some money on our costumes, we save some on gas for the trip and in general.. In order to save on food purchases during the convention we bring our own. Since there is generally a mini fridge or microwave (we check when we book the hotel) we bring things for sandwhiches or things we can heat in the microwave. This way we aren’t spending a large amount of money at the restaurants.
A lot of people have their own ideas of fun and living life to the fullest. My friends and I happen to enjoy anime conventions and meeting new people where ever we go. We have learned ways to save on our trips so that we can go to move conventions throughout the year and meet a lot of new people and make friends all over the country. When you look into your passion and see what places have to offer nine times out of ten there are ways to save money while you live life to the fullest.