Do you track daily spending?
 

Now that the time to travel is nearly upon us I was wondering what others do to watch daily expenses.
In the past I have always written each expenditure down in notebook as we spend and then tally up at the end of day to make sure we are on budget. With the euro/dollar exchange I need to do this somehow so I don't go wild.
What do others do? ~o)

I'm afraid I don't track it at all. After all the budget planning beforehand, once I'm there, I just do what I like. I'm not into shopping when I'm away anyway, so there's a limit to what I might spend - all my money goes on food, drink, entrance fees and taxis, and I figure that I'm going to spend that money whatever, so I'd rather than count it til I get home.

That's not to say I don't have SOME idea of what I've spent - I generally withdraw, say, 200 euros at a time, so I know what's disappeared from my wallet.

I get a certain number of Euros or pounds or krone and watch them dwindle, recounting the total left whenever I feel like it (obviously not in public). I know others have had no problem with credit cards, but after a few experiences where I was going to be charged a surcharge or was told that the credit card machine didn't work, I just started using cash all the time.

I plan such a detailed budget (down to bus fare and the price of audioguides at museums!) ahead of time that we don't really track on a daily basis. We have always come within $100 of my budgets, and always on the low side :-)

Then again, we are both tax accountants so we might subconsciously be keeping some sort of track as we go through our trip. "Numbers person" doesn't really do justice to DH ;-)

While I do have a budget planned out before I go on a trip, I do write down my daily expenditures. I can be a very big impulse buyer and sometimes I figure small amounts here and there won't make a difference. For me, it helps each day to see where my money went. It also helps with impulse buying and realizing those small amounts do add up quickly!

We plan a budget beforehand and keep small notebook or the receipts for day. That evening, tally up our expenses and see how we're doing on our budget. Some days, we do go a bit over, but others, we are definitely under as well, and usually end up within $100-$200 of our target. If we spluge on night on dinner, we may picnic the next day to make up for it.

Jazzyred,

I plan an overall budget and do not keep daily expenditures. I keep receipts for most items but usually throw them away at home.

I do keep a travel journal that has some continuing value for future trips and friends' use.

I also do not go out of my way to track my expenses. As in past years, this year I have made out a fairly detailed budget, so I have a good idea what I will be spending. Only if something turned out to be dramatically more expensive than I was expecting would I start bean counting. I usually do a mid-trip status check just to make sure nothing is askew.

Hi J,

Being a carefree soul, I just keep spending until the ATM machines and the credit cards refuse to give me any more money. Then I go home.

((I))

No, I don't keep track of daily expenses. I use an ATM every couple days and am not an extravagant spender.

After a trip I usually do a VERY general tally of what the trip cost total (airfare, hotels, pocket money), just for my own future reference in planning.

Ira's method sounds like the most fun. :)

However, TexasAggie's method sounds almost exactly like mine. I prepare this hyper-detailed budget before I even leave on the trip, researching entrance fee costs (or estimating to the best of my ability if I can't find information), estimating how much I'll spend per day on food, souvenirs, etc.

Then once I go, I don't really worry about it. While I don't write down all my expenditures, I hang on to my ATM slips and charge slips just to verify when all my bank statements come in later.

Some days I know I'm above budget, and some days I fall below and it all evens out on its own. At the end I've found that I've always spent less than I budgeted for the entire trip.

I agree with Ira! Once I have my r/t air tickets and hotel in place ... I worry about little else. I am not rich but I like to go on vacation without keeping a record ... I do keep checks from restaurants but mainly to see where I have eaten when I return ... sometimes I even put notes on the check since I don't keep a log of my daily movements around wherever I happen to be ... just enjoy and worry later!!!

I also do a detailed budget ahead of time, separated by category...so much for meals per day, so much for transportation, etc. I keep track of every expense. Things like entrances and train rides can be figured exactly ahead of time, so I am mainly watching my meal costs. Then I know that if I have splurged on a very expensive meal, I need to spend less the next day...and if I have spent less than budgeted on meals, I have more for shopping! ((K))

Well, I need to be more careful reading that smiley legend chart...meant to do one that I now realize doesn't completely show on the list. :-d

We try to take care of as many expenses as we can before the trip (hotels, cottage, rental car, airfare, tickets, etc...) With most of the big things already taken care of, I don't worry too much about what I'm spending while I'm there. I'm not an extravagant spender and look for deals when I can, but I like to enjoy my vacation without thinking too much about the cost.

I just make sure I know how much I have available in my checking account for ATM withdrawls and use a credit card for larger purchases.

Once I'm home, if I have the stomach for it, I'll take a look at my Visa and bank statements and see what things cost. But I've never actually added everything up and figured out exactly what a trip cost. I think that's just one of those things it's better not to know. :)

I'm a planner, so I create a detailed budget in advance and then try to write down every expense at the end of each day, once I'm on my trip. It's amazing how those postcards, snacks, and trinkets add up when you aren't keeping track. I don't curb my spending to try to stay within budget (I'm pretty conservative in my spending), but I just like to know what I spent so I can make a more accurate budget next time. I also post travel reviews and include my expenses which has been helpful for others who are planning trips.

Oh keep these ideas coming . I love hearing them.

Ira, you always make me laugh, I love your retorts but I am such am impulse buyer, I could be home before you know it! ~o)
Thanks

I have logged travel expenses in the past, and I probably will again in London in May. If I don't, I will fritter away money on this and that without realizing it. :) It's one thing to do that at home, but it's another to do it in a country where everything costs twice as much!

From experience. we have a pretty good idea of how much our trips will cost but have no budget. I can't imagine keeping a daily tally of expenditures.

All of our major expenses (airfare, hotel, car rental, train tickets, museum admission, meals and other things I can charge) go on a CC which I faithfully enter into Quicken on returning home.

On our last two trips of two weeks each to the UK and France we used the ATMs for about $500 each trip. That's only about 10% of the trip cost and I couldn't be bothered keeping track of such a minor amount. I do know it went for Tube and Metro, taxis, water, postcards, etc.

Over the years we have made some acquisitions that weren't planned: furniture in Copenhagen, lithographs in Paris, antique prints and books in London. These were never budgeted for but seemed the right thing to do and still do.

If I'd have to stay strictly within limits I'd calculate how much per day I can spend and put exactly that much IN CASH in my wallet in the morning.

I had to do it to my children when they were small. It was easier for them - mommy's wallet seemed bottomless anyway :)

I with the "budget while planning" folks-- Most the our major expenses are paid/accounted for in advance-- plane, car, train, hotels, major sightseeing, and I usually know metro costs will be, etc. Then we take a set amount out of the atm, and pay cash for food and such, so that keeps control of what we spend there, but we are fairly cost conscious people in our everyday lives, so that's easy. We don't tend to make many major purchases, but we don't worry about every little thing either- we always send postcards to close friends and family, and bring some small trinkets home for specific people, and usually a couple of bottles of wine from a vineyard we have visited etc.

I do keep all of the receipts, and some times we keep track of them in our travel journal and sometimes we don't, depending on how we are feeling.

But, it is a vacation, and we try to relax, not stress ourselves, and we don't make any outrageous purchases that we wouldn't make at home, so... I would rather do without another cute pair of sandals or handbag when I get home than sacrifice an amazing meal while I am on vacation.
But that's me. :)

What Ira said :)

No, I am not a planner, so I don't do a budget; I just know approximately what I will pay for hotel, flights, car. I don't track my expenditure, because I find it will only put a damper on the holiday.

If I go to the ATM and it refuses to give me money, then I know I have overdone it! I then move on to my VISA.

Basically, I am tooooo fiscally irresponsible to be allowed out on my own!

Regards Ger

I normally dont, especially now that the dollar is so low, it would depresse me just thinking about of how much this vacation is going to cost me...
I told my daughter and grandaughter to buy just simple, economical souvenirs for their friends..
I dont shop for clothes or shoes in Italy or France..especially know that I dont work anymore, I dont need sophisticate clothes and dress very comfortable...

Sort of. I get a receipt for (or write it down if none available) every purchase and add it all up when I get home.

I then keep a record for later when planning the next trip.

Once I pay for plane tickets and hotels, my expenditures on vacation are very similar to those at home. I don't really think about what I'm spending because I'm spending about the same amount for the same services as I would if I were home living my regular life. (That moderate restaurant in Rome costs the same or less than my local moderate restaurant in NYC.)

I'm not an extravagant spender at home or on vacation. I buy whatever I want, but I don't usually want to buy many things.

I do keep reciepts, but only so I can report back to Fodorites and friends on the places I've been.

Why did you ask this twice less than an hour apart?

Never! far too depressing. The only time I do is when I am on an expense acct... That being said, I easily know how much I will pay for a hotel, I have already paid for flights and trains. I then have an "allowance" for the trip and almost never go beyond this..as I want to have something left over for the next! I figure on a daily bais what my food and sightseeing budget is and have no problem living within it. Before I go, I have arough idea what the average meal cost is in a given city so it really isnt too hard.

I've already figured out about how much we'll be spending per day, and I do keep a journal, but after we track a couple of days expenses we trust our own judgement that we're not going to run out of funds, and just enjoy ourselves. Of course I may have to adopt another tactic over the next couple years as we settle into "retired" life...

Wow, some of you are super organized! I'm in the "pay now feel the pain later" category :) Like others have said, the major expenses like flights/hotels, are paid for in advance. After that I don't think about money - until my visa bill comes when I get home!

I am just like you whiskey "pay now, feel the pain later". But I have never really regretted the impulse buy on the postcards along the Seine River, or the teas at Whittards in London, or too many Dutch crackers. I actually wish that there are things that I bought more of 8-}

What I do when I travel is usually budget spending money for let's say 500 Euro per week, and then I'll try to use the cash to pay admissions, lunches/snacks, postcards, and even dinners sometimes. I do limit my spending at home: I reduce my trips to the malls, only catch matinee shows, cook more at home, etc.

No. I hate feeling pain while on a vacation. Having said that, and spending 10 years paying huge finance charges on credit cards, I wiped the slate clean a year or so ago on all credit cards (big bonus) and have tried the pay as you go method, so the 10 - 18% paid on credit card debt could instead be used to compensate for the falling dollar. Rather spend it on me anyway. This has worked, and I found it gives me more money to spend. Then again, we don't generally spend big bucks on fancy dinners -- we like the local places reeking with atmosphere.

I did not use to keep track of my daily expenses when I traveled. In some occasions, I thought I had lost money or overpaid for something only because the money had disappeared a lot faster than I had anticipated. In order to alleviate that feeling, in my last trip I started writing all my daily expenses down to 1 Euro. I was traveling alone and I enjoyed remembering the day every night when writing down the expenses while waiting for my dinner or afterwards. It helped quite a lot to know where the money was going and also keep to a certain budget. I had no idea so many others write down their expenses. It is great to hear that.

I am an obsessive planner so I write up an expenses list before we go. It has always been pretty accurate in the past. However, like Texasaggie, my husband is an obsessive accountant and keeping a journal on running expenses is actually an amusement for him and he reads it fondly, kinda like a diary, when we get home! We are not uptight about it though and would splurge when the urge pops up. Most of our friends are amazed and puzzled by our attention to detail, so it's good to know there's a lot more of you out there :-d

I keep a list of spending. After Bordeau in December when I discovered that I'd spent fully 25% of the cost of my trip on alcohol and foie gras, I gave up totalling my expenditures by category. :-D

indytravel: 25% on foie gras and alcohol is a LOT of foie gras - LOL!

I track EVERYTHING! I even keep the used metro tickets. It's a bad habit from work days when we had to submit expenses in order to get reimbursed. No receipt, no reimbursement.

It always gave me a fiendish kind of joy to submit a separate line item for a 10 cent ticket! >:) First we had to give the amount in the local currency, then we had to give the amount converted into US dollars. >:) >:)

I keep both a journal and a little expense book, where I record costs each day. That has become especially handy when sitting here posting on Fodors as I have often been able to tell exactly how much a meal was at a specific restaurant or exactly how much the taxi from an airport was.

I keep all this on my PDA (encrypted, password protected). You can enter expenses as you go, or from your receipts at the end of the day. Each account is separate, so you always know your balance (available credit, too). I add a separate account for Customs (you can add a transaction to two accounts at once)for filling out the form on the plane. And, you can convert each transaction from Euros to dollars as you go, even figuring in those pesky "currency conversion" fees.

Before the PDA, I'd print out a daily itinerary from my PC calendar program (one day per page) and carry just the one page, making journal entries on one side and expenditure notes on the other.

I'm with Kay, though. I take care of the major expenses from home (where practical) and calculate transport passes, museum and other entrance fees, etc., ahead of time.

Then, we have an idea of the max we care to spend on breakfast, lunch, dinner, though we typically end up having only one major meal per day and another much lighter one. And, typically we spend a little more on some and a little less on others. There's always the real steal, or the big splurge.

We don't do much shopping - that's pretty much limited to special and unique items that will remind us of our trip.

We like to pay for, or at least budget the cash, for as much as possible before leaving home, so we're not paying for the trip too long after we've returned. That way, we can get started planning the next excursion.

If you're using credit cards, it's a good idea to hang onto all your receipts until you receive your statement, just to ensure that everything is recorded correctly and there's nothing unusual. Same goes for your ATM withdrawal receipts.

I do carry a zippered plastic envelope and tuck all the various ticket stubs, business cards of hotels and restaurants, receipts, postcards, I collect along the way into it. I have often used this record to be able to answer a quesion on Fodor's.

Why worry about that and ruin the vacation I am on ? Just wait until you get home & the Visa folks are happy to bring you the bad news. I do, however, know how much cash I have (all the time) & know ahead of time how much will be spent for transportation, hotels, etc. I am seldom surprised, but we are not shoppers either.

I set up a spreadsheet with a column for each day and row for common categories (including VAT refundable and Customs Declarable).

Other rows have confirmation numbers, train and flight numbers and times, and sightseeing plans in each column.

I also keep notes at the bottom, so in a single document I have a record of the entire trip at a glance.

It just takes a moment to record each expenditure, and I have a running tally of how much more I shouldn't spend.

If you don't have Pocket Excel in a PPC or the equivalent, this doesn't apply to you.