I have been attending tournaments for 10 years straight, without a break, and I can promise you that even if I had to pay venue fee, I wouldn't be spending much more than $300 a weekend. I always carpool, I always split a room, I make SURE of it before I go. That's part of budgeting.Why are you defending shitty behavior?
The problem with budgeting so low is that things undoubtedly happen. You paid one guy for your rides for a weekend, but suddenly he leaves early due to XYZ and then you're stuck. You were promised a spot on the floor of a room for $30, but some random 15 year-old ended up puking all over the floor and then passing out in the middle of it. You *promised* yourself that you weren't gonna go out and spend too much money, then suddenly you're getting blowjobs in a strip club. The fact of the matter is that tournaments are fun, but fun 99.9999% of the time costs money. If you're going to be budgeting as low as $200, then you better be making concessions like bringing your own bread, peanut butter, chips, and soda, because otherwise you might be screwed when shit hits the fan.
Based on Saturday/Sunday
Split a 2 day room with only one other person = ~$120 (for one of the two days)
Venue fee = up to $40
MK9 = $10
Food = $100
Chip in gas = $50 (generous?)
Total = $320
This weekend cost me roughly $250 because I don't pay venue fee since I'm a TO, I even saw a movie and stayed 3 days. I've never brought more than $200 cash with me to a tournament. If you budget for $400 for a local, driving only required tournament, you should be fine.
Edit:
The funniest thing in this thread so far is "you rigged the brackets" - ROFLMFAOOMGWTFWTHROFLCOPTERBBQ