Greetings fellow travellers!
Budgeting, pleasant or not, is a key aspect to going anywhere. If you have no budget, things can go out of hand really, really fast. Nothing is easier than spending too much money in a foreign country.
Trust me.
Which is why being able to come up with a budget (even a rough one) before you go somewhere is a good idea.
Today, I’ll be walking through my ‘step-by-step’ budgeting process for my next trip.
I’m going to Germany with my brother and his girlfriend in May for a ten day excursion.
Now just a heads up, if I were going by myself, I might budget a little differently, but it’s pretty much the same process.
I always like to do my budgeting on a white board, but I’ve done a lot of trips just on the back of a scrap piece of paper. For the sake of illustration, here’s an image of my whiteboard with my budget with little numbers next to each of my steps. I’ll go into more detail below.
Step 1: So, first thing’s first. Make sure you know where you’re going. I know it sounds stupid, but depending on where you’re going, you will need to budget differently. Some countries are more expensive to go than others, and that’s all there is to it. Don’t just pick a country, pick a city. It makes life a lot easier.
Step 2: Pick your dates. The longer you’re away, the more loosey-goosey you can be about your return, but because I’m going on a shorter trip with two other people, I need to make sure I keep everything organized. Keep in mind that dates can change, but it’s easier to plan when you’ve
got an idea of when you’re going and how long you’ll be staying.
Step 3: Come up with a number. I always try to overshoot when I first come up with a number for a budget just because I find it easier to work when you have more wiggle room. But ALWAYS MAKE SURE THAT YOU CAN AFFORD YOUR MAXIMUM BUDGET. If something happens–an emergency, injury, theft, whatever–you want to be able to afford an emergency train ticket, bed for the night, or something to eat.
This number is not set in stone, but it can help give you a rough idea of how expensive everything is going to be vs how expensive you may have thought it was going to be.
Step 4: This is the fun bit–or the nightmare, depending on your perspective. Here is a chart of immediate expenses. It will be tailored to your own individual trip, there are other expenses, but they can be added in later. This list is what you know for certain you will need or be doing. So, because I’m creating a budget for 3 people, I made the budget according to the individual. As a suggestion, I would recommend first
making sure you have the prices for your plane ticket, where you’re staying, and how much you’d like to spend on food. Without these three aspects, you’re not going to be able to do too much.
Part 5: This is what I call the ‘To Do, To Go, To See’ section. It’s where I make a list of other things I’d like to do while I’m away. This is where I add prices (if necessary) and get a final sense of how much extra money I will be spending. I only add a few extra things on the list so I can keep my options open. Then, when I arrive in Munich, I’ll be able to keep my
options open and include other things in my schedule.
Part 6: Your final price. I overshot at the beginning, my max being $3000, but seeing as it will be just over $2000, it gives me a lot more wiggle-room. This price is made of the prices of everything in my lists, and if there’s any range in prices, I go with the middle price and add it to my final price (ex: if something could be $80-100 CAD, I would add $90 to my final price. Now, I always like to add at
least an extra $500 to my final price, so my final budget per person would be approximately $2500 CAD.
Budgeting isn’t all that bad. Sometimes it feels like a nightmare, but if you leave yourself some time to plan, it’s not so bad. Also, the earlier you book plane tickets, for example, the less expensive they are, and sometimes it depends on what day you book them, too.
Just keep in mind your own expense limits, consider where you’re going, and always make sure you have a bit of extra cash in case you need it.
Peace! : )
Anna's Travelling Antics 
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