How To Travel On A Budget
There’s no question that budgeting is one of the most important steps to take before you travel, and hopefully you understand this.
Failing to set up a budget before embarking on a family trip simply amplifies the possibility that you will spend far more than you can afford, and while this may not seem like a big deal to you right now while you’re having fun, it’s certainly going to come back to bite you later.
The very last thing you want to do is do something now that you’re only going to deeply regret later, and with that in mind, here are the simple rules on how to travel on a budget:
Make Your Budget As Detailed As Possible
Many travelers who set a budget make the critical mistake of not making it specific enough. Instead, they make it very basic by making gross approximations, neglecting to include certain expenses, and so on.
Your spreadsheet when you set your budget needs to include literally every expense that you can possibly think about, which should include but not be limited to:
- Flights (if you’ll be flying, otherwise calculate fuel)
- Hotel Rooms
- Food (you can save money here by buying your own food at grocery stores)
- Money Conversion Fees (if you’re using a remittance service like Remitly)
- Travel Insurance (this can be a very wise investment)
- Public Transportations
- Entertainment
- Miscellaneous Spending (ex. Shopping, souvenirs)
- Emergency Fund
Make Your Budget Daily
This means that you need to figure out how much money you will need approximately each and every day, and this is why making your budget as specific and detailed as possible like we just talked about is so important.
Many people make the mistake of setting their budgets for the entire week or otherwise for every few days. Instead, you should make your budget a daily budget so you’ll know exactly how much cash you are allowed to spend each and every day.
Track Your Spending
Setting a budget is important, but following it is even more so, and the only way you can follow your budget is if you actually track your spending.
If you’re putting everything or almost everything on your credit card, for example, this means you need to log in to your credit card website to see how much you spent the previous day, and then compare that to what your budget allows.
Traveling On A Budget
If there’s anything that you take away from this article, it’s that setting a budget is one of the most important things you can do before you leave on your trip and following it is one of the most important things to do while you’re on it.
Regardless of how you go about actually setting and following that budget, just making sure that you do set and follow that budget to begin with is what really matters.