Are you ready to plan your next vacation, but not sure where to start? One of the first things most people think about is the cost. Can I afford this trip? How much is everything going to cost? How much do I need to save for vacation? And then once you’re on the trip, the question becomes, how much have we already spent?! Our travel budget planner will help you keep tabs on everything from pre-trip purchases like passports, flights, and hotel bookings, to every purchase during your trip. With this tool, it’s simple to log those big and small purchases for your vacation.
This travel budget planner isn’t for the Excel nerds (no offense! My husband is one and there’s plenty of travel apps for them.) But it’s perfect if you’re like me and love pen and paper for planning and tracking. All you need is your calculator, this travel budget planner, and something to write with. And don’t tell them I told you, but this is a great task to assign to one of your kids. They’ll think they’re in charge of the whole trip, and you’ve actually got them doing math on vacation. Win, win!
So, let’s check out what’s included in the travel budget planner…
Travel Budget Planner Pages
Planning and Goals
This page is all about your goals for the trip: your budget style, lodging preferences, must-do activities, non-negotiables, and flexible areas. Once you figure out your goals, you’re better able to budget for you trip. If you’re traveling with another adult or with the family, work on this together. Getting them on the same page is super important for a successful trip.
Trip Overview
This page is important before and at the end of your trip. Before your trip, you’ll estimate the cost of your entire trip for each category. After the trip, come back and note your actual spending. Hopefully, you’ve stayed within (or under) budget!
Trip Expenses
On this page of the travel budget planner, you’ll log your expenses for any travel documentation needed, transportation, and accommodations.
Payment Tracker
Keep track of all of your pre-trip charges, due dates, and payments on this page. You’ll also be able to note your credit card plan for your travels.
Daily Expenses
Each day of your travels, log your total expenses for each daily spending cateogy (meals, activities, shopping, miscellaneous). Calculate your total daily spending at the end of each day for easy calculations at the end of your trip. Staying on top of these little purchases is KEY to staying and budget and knowing what you’ve spend so far. Don’t wait until the end of the trip to tally your daily expenses up.
Food Spending
This page of your travel budget planner breaks down each day’s food expenses. Log the cost of breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks and snacks, so you can stay within your food budget. This page will help you on the previous daily expenses page.
Activities’ Cost
Use this page as you plan your excursions, tours, and other activities during your trip. It will help you keep track of what you’ve already booked, as well as help you keep a running total of the cost of all your planned activities.
Itinerary
Also included is a travel itinerary, where you can quickly jot down a brief overview of each day and make note of your lodgings at the bottom of each day. If you want to create a more detailed trip plan and itinerary, check out our free travel planner!
Download Your Travel Budget Planner!
Why Do I Need a Travel Budget Planner?
Maybe you’ve been traveling for years without a travel budget planner, and you wonder why start using one now? And if you’re staying on budget during your travels, then great! It sounds like you’re doing fine and you can skip on by. But if you’re like me, and not tallying up those daily purchases have you blowing your budget at the end of the week, then you need a travel budget planner.
It’s one thing to create a budget at the beginning of your trip. It’s another thing to stick with it. And I know, you’re probably thinking, tracking my budget on vacation will take away all the magic and fun of vacation. I just want to order my pina coladas poolside and not think about it! And I hear you, really I do. And if you have enough discretionary spending that you can do that then lucky you!
But if you’re like a lot of people and need to stick to a budget so you’re not in the hole when you get home, then you’ve got to pull up your big girl pants and track that spending. What’s worse, taking 5 minutes to track your expenses each day or paying 29% interest on those charges after you get back from your travels.
Think long term. If you want to travel regularly, you’ve got to budget! I promise you that it’s worth the little bit of effort it takes. Remember, anything not spent can go towards a future trip. Save now to play more later!
How Do I Save to Go on Regular Vacations?
Maybe you’ve been waiting years and years for this trip but would love to make travel a regular part of your life. If that’s you, you’ll want to read this post about how to create a vacation savings plan! It will give you ideas for saving money, making money on the side and how to let your spending work for you. You can read it here:
If you want score cheap flights and hotels, check out this post:
And for my top money-saving tips on food while traveling, check out this post:
Wrapping Up: Travel Budget Planner
Hopefully this travel budget planner will get you on the right track to tracking those travel expenses and staying on budget. That old saying your grandpa said bears repeating: “a penny saved is a penny earned.” That’s the truth, y’all. Staying on budget might not feel glamorous, but climbing credit card debt isn’t glamorous either. Stay on track of your trip spending and save your bank account and mind the stress of overspending. Now, just make sure you add your travel budget planner and pen to your packing list! Happy travels!
