My spending preference has always been on experiences over things. I would choose a trip over new clothes or home furnishings every day of the week.
I love planning my vacations almost as much as I love going on them. That includes having a spending plan before I go and keeping to it once I am there.
I keep travel journals that include descriptions of the places that I visited, the people that I met, and the experiences that I had but on every page, you’ll also see numbers. When I re-read my old travel journals there are pages of handmade ledgers where I tracked my daily expenditures and compared them to my actual money spent.
You may think that this daily tracking of my money would be stressful but in fact it has always allowed me to have a stress free holiday. It is a tool I use when making decisions about excursions or purchasing souvenirs. Most of all, it gives me the peace of mind that there isn’t a visa bill waiting for me upon my return and that is the best feeling. A pre-paid, on-plan vacation is the most relaxing holiday of all.
Please feel free to drop me a line to let me know what you think of planning and tracking your money while on vacation. I would love to know about the tools that you use and/or how I could improve mine.
Speaking of mine, I would like to share my vacation spending tracking spreadsheet with you to help you in planning for your March break next year or any summer plans that you may have. It is also a tool to keep you on track while you are travelling. Just provide your name and email below and I’ll send a download link right away.
Spreadsheet no longer available here. Just get in touch and I’ll send it along.
