The Tool I use to Budget for Trips - and NOT get into Debt!

https://www.vertex42.com/Files/exclusive/travel-budget.xlsx

Click the link above to download the Excel spreadsheet that I use to budget every single trip I go on. This is my travel bible... it's what I go by!
So when I'm planning out a trip, I immediately open this budget spreadsheet, and start punching in the costs of everything I'm planning. I'll start with flights (or gas if you're driving) hotel costs for the number of nights I'm planning to stay, I'll use Uber Fare Estimator to see if all the places I'm planning to go would make sense budget-wise to use ride-sharing apps or if it would make more sense to just go ahead and rent a car (don't forget parking fees at hotels and destinations!) I even look up all the restaurants I anticipate eating at, and get an idea of what I think I'll order, what my husband will order, and what our estimated final bill might be after tip. I'll punch in the costs of tickets for any entertainment we'll explore, souvenirs we might want, and any other costs we might encounter. 

Then I get my finalized total. Let's say for example, the trip I'd like to plan will cost $800 when all is said and done. I'll budget $400 for me, and $400 for my husband, and then calculate how much money I'm willing and able to put aside each week between now and when it's time to go. For this example, let's say both my husband and I are running on a tight budget... and we can only afford to put aside $50 per person out of our paychecks per week. I've now figured out that we can afford this trip after 8 weeks. So if it's early July, and I'm trying to plan this trip for September, I now know that this is more than feasible for us to save this amount and be able to afford this trip. So then I go ahead and book it! 

If the trip is $800, and we can only put aside $50 per person per week out of our paychecks, and we want to go at the beginning of August... well, we'll need to re-adjust to either plan the trip for later, or find a way to earn extra money/or be able to put aside more money to shorten the time we'll need to save. 

I hope this helps for all you travel budget planners out there!





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Earn the Companion Pass on Southwest Air

Image
(some details of this article have been updated as of 2025) Ok so people ask me all the time how I've earned the Companion Pass on Southwest Airlines SO many times... Here's an overview.  What it is: Southwest Airlines Companion Pass allows you to designate one person to fly for free with you EVERY SINGLE TIME you fly (yes, you heard it right, there's no limit, no cap, no "one time per year"... if you take 30 flights that year, your companion can come along for free* with you on ALL flights) *you are still responsible for taxes and fees. Domestic flights = $11.60 roundtrip in taxes and fees. This (INCLUDES HAWAII & PUERTO RICO!) International flights = varies... Puerto Vallarta might be $112.37 for taxes/fees. Belize might be $83.77 for taxes/fees. Etc. You are also allowed to change your companion up to 3x in a calendar year. You are also allowed to book YOUR flight on points (and just pay taxes & fees) and then add on your companion for "free" ...
Read more

Earning the Companion Pass Pt. 2: Making the Points Make Sense

Image
So we're coming up on the end of 2022 and I'm looking at how to keep my Companion Pass for 2023. I have used my Southwest Credit Card for nearly all purchases this year, registered for a couple of the Promotions that Southwest runs on their site (like this one pictured below):  And I am still about 48,313 points shy of earning the Companion Pass for next year: What's a girl to do? I'm not gonna lie, I've had a very difficult time this year finding hotel stays that will either give me enough points for the money spent, or make sense to stay in for the trip (location-wise, budget-wise, or quality-wise). I've booked approximately 3 hotels out of the 9 hotel stays I've done this year on the Southwest website to earn points off of... and even still those only got me maybe 1,000 points here, or 2,000 points there (not much to speak of). I've got 3 trips left on the calendar for the rest of the year, and 2 of them already have hotels booked (both done through ...
Read more

How I do Disney on a Budget

Image
  Ah Disney... they most magical place on earth. And also one of the more expensive.  I'm going to share my tips for how I budget for my Disney trips, and we'll start with the most expensive: The park tickets. Unfortunately Disney has gotten INCREDIBLY greedy (Thanks Bob Chapek  Edit as of Nov '22: Welcome back Bob Iger!!) and their prices for park tickets have gotten very expensive over the last few years. And not to mention that it's basically an extra dash of salt in the wound when you go to buy your tickets online and see this: "Oh look, tickets for $109." Think again. Most tickets for weekends and during "nice weather" average more like $139-154 BEFORE taxes. (Add on about $10 per ticket per day for taxes) So unfortunately the park tickets don't see really any discounts (and even for military, it's only a couple bucks for "weekend warriors") though they do offer better discounts for 4-day tickets with park hoppers:   vs the reg...
Read more