Vacations are all fun and games until you check your bank account. That’s when reality sinks in. $150 for Ubers. $500 for the hotel. $650 for plane tickets — the list goes on. Yet, one Twitter user challenged himself to spend less than $250 during his week-long vacation in Los Angeles, and if you think he’s nuts, you’re not wrong. But after phoning a few friends, Julius Stukes was able to succeed.
Clue us in on how you did it, Julius. We’re begging you.
On June 17th, Stukes, who goes by @juliusstukesjr on Twitter, told his followers that he was on his way to L.A. for an eight-day stay, and he planned to stick to an overall budget of $250. We can’t even keep to that kind of budget staying home for eight days. He used the hashtags #LAJulius and #BudgetJulius to help his followers keep track.
“My Budget for this L.A. Trip is $250,” Stukes tweeted on the 17th. “I’ll Be Staying for 8 Days. Follow the Thread.” And you bet we followed that thread like our lives depended on it.
Stukes’ first stop was to a local L.A. Target, where he picked up some essentials for his trip. He shared a photo of his basket along with proof of purchase — a pic of his receipt.
His essentials haul consisted a jug of water, a bottle of sangria (agreed), and a toothbrush. Stukes also picked up some tortilla chips, salsa, and baking soda, all of which cost roughly $18.
Next, Stukes stopped at another grocery store and picked up some $9 sushi. It was a salmon-avocado roll, to be specific.
Grocery store sushi is always a bit risky, but he seemingly made it out alive.
I think he dead from that S&F sushi https://t.co/7Wr1wI8AHY
— Piddy D (@jbo_919) June 18, 2019
For breakfast that next morning, Stukes had himself a free breakfast. He wrote that it was “someone else’s expense,” so we can only assume that someone covered the bill for him.
He then invested in some marijuana. Hey — when in Rome, right?
And at the end of his first full day in Los Angeles, Stukes treated himself to pizza and sliders, which cost $15.61. A fantastic first dinner in the City of Angels, if we do say so, ourselves.
That brought his two-day total to $74. At that point, he had $176 to spend.
On day three, Stukes made it clear he was in L.A. to have a good time. He had a coworker cover his drinks and a shrimp cocktail.
Pardon — two shrimp cocktails.
Then it was back to Target to pick up some $13 rum. Gotta love Targets that sell alcohol.
By this time, Stukes was on day four of his trip, and was on track to stick to his budget. So, he celebrated with a quesadilla.
And he also saw the Mary J. Blige concert… for free.
On June 21st, Stukes somehow got ahold of some “free” chicken. We don’t like the sound of that, tbh.
And he managed to pick up lunch for free with a Levy Convention Center voucher. This is where we learned that Stukes was seemingly in L.A. for the BET Awards.
He also grabbed some chicken tenders with that same voucher. Not too shabby.
By his sixth day in L.A., Stukes had only spent $94.73, leaving him with just over $150 left in his budget. We’re already amazed.
After mowing down three tacos, indulging in a free breakfast buffet, and a free lunch buffet, and a free dinner buffet, Stukes finished off his trip with a burrito and quesadilla, which his coworker bought for him. Incredible.
He did have to pay for his own sparkling water, though. So there’s that.
The astounding part of this entire budgeted trip was that Stukes ended up spending way less than he predicted. He gave himself $250 to spend, and only ended up spending a total of $119.27.
Thank goodness for those coworkers, right? Lol.
*Cost without co-workers - $1,799.99
— August🌱 (@heyitaugust) June 26, 2019
That means he has enough money left over to go on an eight-day trip to L.A. all over again. This time, can you take us with you, Julius? We need to learn how to save from the master.
