Hey, overthinkers! Last week we walked through blocking out time for vacations and trips. Now, it’s time to talk about how we budget for these trips.

I’ve mentioned budgeting here and there like in “How Much is a Trip to Disney World?” but realized I didn’t have a blog post dedicated to general budgeting for trips.

It’s important to make a budget to manage your financials and spending. You can afford any place you want to go it just takes a budget and time to save up for it.

Here are some tips when it comes to budgeting

Start a Vacation Savings Account

First, open a savings account dedicated to vacations. It needs to be separate from your emergency savings. I am NOT a financial advisor however, if you’re saving for vacation you should also save for emergencies.

Quick Story Time: Quite literally two days before I left for my trip to New Orleans last year, there was a leak in one of the pipes outside my house. Without saving for emergencies like these I would’ve had a big expense to pay in order to fix it which would cut into my trip money. Thankfully, I had funds in my emergency savings to cover it and my trip money was intact.

Save a Certain Amount on a Regular Basis

Now that a vacation (and emergency) savings has been established, determine the amount you want to put in per month or per paycheck. Even it’s $10 it’ll eventually add up.

Based on how much you save each quarter or each year, you can plan a trip around that amount of money. Example: If you save $150 per pay check and you’re getting paid twice a month, you’re saving $300 per month which turns to $3,600 for a year. That could be for one long trip or used for two or three short trips.

Optional: Get Travel Credit Card

An optional thing I’d suggest is to get a travel credit card. Depending on the travel card, you can use those points/miles/cash back on hotels or flights. That’s less money for you to pay on one of your trips!

Note: Only purchase things you can afford and pay back before interest accrues. That’s a way to keep out of credit card debt.

Costs to Consider

When looking to plan your trips and the costs, there are few things to consider:

General Budget Items

These are items everyone should think to account for all trips when making your travel budget:

• Transportation to get there (plane, train, bus, driving/renting a car, boat/ferry)
• Transportation in the destination (rideshare/taxi/public transportation/renting a car)
• Accommodations (hotel, hostel, Airbnb, vacation rental, cruise etc.)
• Food (3+ meals a day, maybe 1-2 snacks a day)
• Activities (museums, amusement parks, attractions, etc.)
• Spending money for shopping/souvenirs and tips

Additional Budget Items

These are items that may or may not apply to everyone:

• Pet sitting/boarding
• Child care (if you aren’t taking your kids on the trip)
• Airport parking (or other forms of getting to the airport)
• Travel insurance (if not getting annual travel insurance) highly suggest getting travel insurance
  • Covers incidents like missing luggage, delayed flight/transportation, health and family emergencies etc.

Prep Items

These are items I wouldn’t necessarily include in my trip budget but they’re still costs for the trip:

• Buying outfits or luggage for the trip
• Buying specific packing items for the trip (example: buying winter gear for a trip to Iceland or Antarctica)
• Getting hair, nails, eyelashes, eyebrows done for the trip

Yearly/Multi-year Items

These are items that wouldn’t apply to every single trip but costs that go towards traveling:

• Annual travel insurance – price varies (suggested if taking three or more trips in a year)
• TSA Pre-check (good for 5 years) – $78 for new applicants, $70 for renewal online
  • Allows you to get through airport security faster.
• Clear Plus (good for 1 year) – $189
  • Allow you to get through airport security and verifies you faster.
• Global Entry (includes TSA pre-check, also good for 5 years) – $100
  • Allows getting through customs faster, suggested if going on multiple international trips in the next 5 years.
  • UPDATE: Fee will go up to $120 on October 1st, 2024. Please visit the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website for more information.
• Passport (good for 10 years) – $130 (plus $30 if it’s your first time getting a passport)
  • Allows you to travel outside the country (although some countries may require both a passport and travel visa, so definitely check your destinations)

This might be another case of overthinking but I think it’s helpful. It calls out all possible costs to consider when putting together your travel budget.

Travel Budget Template

Here’s a graph for travel budgeting that you can use or fill out.