Plan the best trip and handle the financial portion seamlessly with the vacation budget template free download!
A big part of being able to travel so much is being able to PAY for it. We prioritize travel in our household, so a large chunk of our budget goes to travel! Having a great budget is key for me to feel confident in booking that next trip. When I have an idea of where we want to go, I immediately start thinking about how much it will cost and how long we need to save.
I’ll get right to it. Today, I’m sharing my vacation budget planner template with you for FREE! I’ve been tweaking it for awhile to make sure it’s great for you and I hope you love the outcome!
Table of Contents
why you need the vacation budget template
Having a plan is key to being able to travel more. And once you have a plan you need a way. And the way is money.
Let’s face it: vacation ain’t cheap. But it is NOT worth it to rack up a credit card bill that you can’t pay off. It’s really hard to truly enjoy vacation when you have to come home to a mountain of debt.
How to solve this? Plan ahead! The budget planner can help you see in a more visual way how much you need and have left for that epic trip you’ve been planning.
You are able to make multiple copies of the template for ANY vacation. I personally don’t make budgets for short weekend trips but I do use the template for any of our bigger trips requiring flights, hotels, etc.
Having a budget for vacation provides:
- freedom to spend in the way YOU want
- discover priorities and cut in categories you don’t care about
- spend more thoughtfully
- travel more (yes, really!)
There are so many great benefit to using a budget for vacation… guilt free travel? Yes, please!
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Download the free vacation budget template here!
how to use the budget planner
The vacation budget planner has sections for transportation, accommodations, food, activities, souvenirs, and miscellaneous items. Each section is also further sub-divided into sections, if necessary!
You can EITHER start by putting in estimated amounts in each individual category OR putting the amount you have saved for your trip in the yellow box.
There are benefits starting with both. Starting with your estimated amount is a good strategy if you are still saving and have plenty of time to save the needed amount. I recommend starting 1-2 years before a big international trip and 3-6 months before a shorter/domestic trip.
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how to create a budget that works for you
If you want to start with your total amount, this helps make sure you can stay on task as you begin budgeting things. I recommend doing this first if you already have certain amount saved up and don’t have much wiggle room to save more.
Then you can move on to the fun part–spending! There is a section for expenses on the right side of the template.
Just be sure you do have a SET budgeted amount in the yellow box before you start plugging in your expenses.
The expenses section has areas for date, expense, category, amount spent, and remaining amount. The remaining amount is my favorite part because it adjusts as you put in your expenses. This makes it SUPER easy to see how much you have remaining and adjust as necessary.
You can change the amount in the yellow box as you save more and this will adjust your remaining amounts as well! I’ve tried to make it as simple as possible for you!
three steps to using the vacation budget template
There you go! Only 3 steps to creating the perfect budget for vacation:
- Establish your total budget
- Plug in your expected spending in each category
- Add your expenses
I truly hope this vacation budget template helps you as you plan vacation. Understanding the cost and making a proper budget is so crucial for being able to travel more! Dream it, plan it, do it! (Is that cheesy? Maybe. But I’m ok with it.)
I hope you love this template and use it for all your vacation planning needs! As always, drop a comment or email me at hello [@] ashleyonthemove.com if you have any questions!
Happy planning!
Need more financial travel planning help? Check out these posts
Finances 101: How to Make Your Budget Work for You
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