I tell people all of the time that, no I’m not rich, I just know how to budget. And it’s so true! A good plan and knowing how to budget can cut trip costs or help you prepare for the cost of a trip.

I believe that if you are passionate enough about traveling somewhere, you can afford to go there. It may be in 6 months, a year, or 2 years, but the more passionate you are about going somewhere, the easier it is to save money and visit sooner.

This will be a short and sweet blog about how I personally budget out my trips! I know that there is probably other, possibly better, ways to do this, but as someone young that has a fairly flexible schedule and likes to travel a lot, this is the easiest and most cost-effective way I’ve found to prepare for the costs of a trip.

The first thing you need to do is determine where you want to go. If you want to go to a national park, another country, or even just down the road somewhere, the best place to start is to determine the expenses of visiting that place. You don’t want to go on a trip and be surprised by unexpected costs, or stress about not having money for things you didn’t think about.

The easiest way to budget is to plan out your trip day by day. That way you know what you’re doing that will cost money. But even before planning your day by day itinerary, you can get a super good idea of what you would spend on your trip by establish your budget like this:

Establish Your Budget

Transportation

Transportation is the first expense I start with because you have to see how much it costs just to get where you want to go.

First, find out how you are going to get there and how you are going to get around when you get there. Is it a road trip that you just have to pay for gas? Are you flying and have to find a flight? When you get there do you have to rent a car and pay for gas? Are you using public transportation and taking a bus or train?

There are so many options for transportation. Don’t forget the little things that come with it like gas for your car or a rental car. Or how many subway tickets you’ll have to get or train tickets. Make sure you’re looking up the cost for every ride you will take if you are using public transport.

A lot of cities with metros, trains, and buses will have 1 way, weekend, week-long, or monthly tickets that help you save lots of money. I like to plan out my days and map out my routes to see how to take fewer trains or save money on gas. Make sure you’re looking up the cost of gas where you’re going and how gas efficient your car is. There are online gas calculators that help you estimate gas expenses that are really helpful.

For all of my friends out there that are under 25, renting a car can be really pricey, but if you have AAA you can have your underage fee waived through Hertz car rental. The app Turo is also a great alternative for renting cars, it’s like Airbnb but for cars!

Lodging

Lodging is one of the easiest to budget for because it is pretty set by the time you are going on your trip. We like to do Airbnb almost all of the time, but we will occasionally stay in a motel or hotel if need be.

The easiest ways to save money on lodging are staying with friends, sleeping in the car on road trips, or just getting the cheapest Airbnb (they may not be cute but oh well!).

Look for Airbnbs by price range and how many people you are going with and you can easily find something within your budget.

My rule of thumb is $30-$40 per person per night on a trip. Anything more than that is a bit expensive for us, and anything under that is a fantastic deal!

Food

This is going to be the biggest variable in your budget, food. You have to make a decision before your trip - how you want to eat while you’re away. 

Honestly, if you have a lot of dietary restrictions, I’m not super informed on how it is to eat while traveling. I personally eat pretty healthy but definitely love to splurge on food while I’m traveling.

With that said, though I love to splurge on what types of food I’m eating, I don’t like to break my budget either! We like to eat 2 meals “cheap” and splurge on 1 meal a day. For us, that means maybe making breakfast at the Airbnb, bringing sandwiches for lunch, and going out to a nicer dinner. Or we splurge on a big brunch and grab smaller meals the rest of the day. 

We love to “live like the locals” by going grocery shopping if we are in the same place for more than 3 days. This allows us to make more room in the budget for fun experiences! 

It’s always better to over budget for food rather than under budget. My favorite rule of thumb for food is $10 a meal per person per day. So $30 a day per person. This does end up being an overshot for us 9/10 times, but it is better to have the money saved than to go over budget!

We also include alcohol in our food budget, though we really don’t drink too much when we are traveling. We don’t even factor it as an extra to our budget. We like to keep it to 1 drink occasionally at dinner most of the time because we plan long days that would not be so fun hungover!

Miscellaneous

The last category to budget for, which usually adds up the fastest, is “miscellaneous”. I count any cost that is not necessary to be in a place as “miscellaneous”. This generally consists of admission fees, tickets for entertainment like shows, and shopping. We don’t do much shopping, and usually bring only a few small souvenirs back for our loved ones, so we usually don’t put any of the travel budget to shopping.

Admission fees can hit you big time though! It could be for city attractions, museums, experiences, tours, etc. Do your research ahead of time to find out what all of your top priorities are. For us, some attractions just aren’t in the budget yet, and we just promise to hit it the next time!

Most places have tons of free attractions, and that is our favorite! In Iceland, almost all of the main attractions are free or have small parking fees. This made our trip to Iceland so cheap when people have a misconception that Iceland is super expensive.

Look into City Passes or Day Tours to get the most bang for your buck in places where there is a lot that you want to see. We did the City Pass in Dublin, and we loved it! We got to cut all of the lines, included admission to lots of places, and we got to use the shuttle bus all around Dublin.

Create a Savings Plan

Figuring out how much you are going to spend is only half of budgeting! Once you know your dollar amount for your trip, you have to save up for it! I highly suggest working your butt off to travel. Don’t take short cuts by putting yourself into credit card debt to travel. 

As an example, if you budget out a trip and figure it is going to cost you $1000, figure out how long it will take to make that $1000. Put it in a separate bank account and don’t touch it! The only things you will have to actually purchase ahead of your trip are flights and lodging (sometimes). There are also some attractions that it is smart to book ahead to avoid it filling up like The Blue Lagoon in Iceland, but usually those aren’t necessary to book for about 2 months in advance max.  

First, I estimate my monthly income, I take out the money I need for bills and savings, and with whatever is left I use the majority of to save for travel. The monthly about can vary, but set a goal for a certain amount every month. It could be $100 a month or $50 a month. Either way, you’ll get an idea of how long it will take you to save up your money to go on your trip. For Iceland, we spent a little less than $1000 each. If you save $100 a month, you could go on a trip to Iceland in 10 months. If you save $200 a month, you could go on your trip in 5 months. But if you only save $20 a month you’re not going to go on your trip for more than 4 years!

It really is up to you and how dedicated you are to traveling. Think about how bad you really want it. I hate to hear people tell me that their dream is to travel, but they have no money or it’s too expensive. I’ve worked multiple jobs since I could remember so that I could travel. And I travel cheaply! My goal with this blog is to help others realize that you can do it if you really want to. You just have to want it enough to discipline yourself with your money, and save up!

I would love to help you budget out your dream trip, click the button below to send me an email so we can make a plan to get you on the path to your dream trip or vacation!