I recently attended a conference in Las Vegas. It was the first time I’d gone to a conference that an employer hadn’t paid for, and I was shocked at the $600 price tag. This didn’t include lodging, and I was so bitter about the cost of the conference that I decided not to stay at the casino that the conference material recommended.

At $70, the rooms weren’t that expensive, but that was a little high for a weekday in Vegas. They’d also chosen a remote location, almost 30 minutes from the strip, so there were no other choices nearby. After my fruitless hotel search, I looked into AirBnB and found one just across the street for $35 a night. It wasn’t a big difference, but since I was staying six nights, it added up.

The other benefit to staying at an AirBnB was that I had access to a kitchen, which meant I wouldn’t be spending money at the casino restaurants. It also meant access to healthier food. Unfortunately, the closest grocery store was Walmart, still one mile away, but I was able to buy fruits, vegetables, and soup for the week, as well as a bottle of wine for a grand total of $40. That’s probably what I would have spent on just a couple meals at the casino.

We had some free time at the conference, and I wanted to go up to the strip. Several people were complaining about how far away it was and joined to share a Lyft. Having already taken the bus from the airport to my AirBnB, I knew it was the cheaper option. I also knew that it stopped right in front of the casino.

I had done a little research and found that if you bought the all day pass on the local bus, you could use it on the express buses as well. That meant, I paid $5 for a 24 hour pass instead of $8, much less than my portion of sharing a Lyft. I was even able to download the Reno transit app to my phone so I could purchase bus passes with a credit card for use on my phone.

Researching accommodations, minimizing food expenses, and taking public transit; all these were simple things, but they added up over the course of a week. There were a couple times it would have been more convenient to be staying in the casino where the conference was being held, but on the plus side, I attended a tax workshop that told me how I could write off all of the conference expenses I did have.