5 Steps to Budgeting a Memorable Road Trip
Road trip planning can be an adventurous and entertaining experience that will create a lot of memories. But when there is no proper control over the budget, expenses begin unexpectedly and what is initially meant to be a fun holiday can turn into a nightmare.
So when planning your next road trip, consider these five steps to ensuring that your budgeting is on point and that you create memories that will last a lifetime.
Step 1: Follow these simple steps to estimate your miles and fuel costs using this fuel cost calculator template:
The first element to use in the budgeting process is the fuel. Begin with plotting your route and add up the total number of miles you anticipate to travel. If you do not have access to your company’s yearly mileage report, estimate the total annual mileage by multiplying the total number of miles your car has been driven by its average MPG rating to arrive at the estimated gallons of fuel used.
Then estimate the current average price of gas and multiply the price by the amount of fuel that you expect to use to get the average spending on gas. For this reason, you should adjust this figure upwards by 10-20%, in case you experience a few more twists and turns, or drive more than expected.
Step 2: Check for Accommodation Costs and Food Prices
Subsequently, estimate the amount you will spend for accommodation and meals. Check on average the cost of hotels, motels, Airbnb, and campgrounds where you will be passing through to determine how much you will spend on accommodation.
Based upon today’s restaurant menus and grocery store prices allocate reasonable amounts of money for daily meals. You should set the overall budget of your trip as well as the per day budget for accommodation and meals to ensure that you meet your planned overall budget for the trip.
Step 3: Far from being an isolated practice, the factor in Misc is arguably the most important factor of the building
You also need to factor in other miscellaneous expenses as well when creating your budget. These can include things like the fee for entering a museum or some attraction, shopping for souvenirs, cost of parking, toll roads, etc.
It is recommended to look at the travel forums and other similar platforms in order to find out the approximate prices for certain activities and areas. And set aside some provision for a little extra spending money for fun moments on the way.
Step 4: Now is the time to add up your total budget
In this section, you will find information on how to determine your budget and ideas for budgeting.
By estimating the amount of money needed to fund the gase, lodging, food, and miscellaneous expenses, then sum up all the expenses to arrive at the total trip cost.
If it goes beyond your reasonable budget capacity, you should consider cutting some spending, for instance, opting for cheaper accommodations, eating out less often or visiting fewer paid attractions. It is possible to bring the total cost to a level that would be acceptable to the company.
Step 5: A good way to manage your cash is to track your spending as you go through the week or the month
The last one is the most challenging: to follow the money trail once the road trip is under way. Keep daily and total/overall expense records of the trips in a basic format using a spreadsheet or a notebook.
This will make it easy for you to note when you exceed your allocated categories in terms of spending and then make corrections. Again, it is better to be frugal rather than cheap when it comes to spending money.
Conclusion
If you want to go on a lifestyle that will make your road trip as epic as possible, then you have to follow these steps that will enable you to have your adventure without having to part with so much of your hard earned money. These five budgeting steps of estimating for miles and fuel, researching for lodging and food, adding miscellaneous and emergencies are doable.
Checking off items, calculating overall cost, and tracking them further, you will be set for the road trip. Therefore, invite your friends, set your budget, stuff your car and go for the ride of your life so that the memories made will linger as long as the trip that was made.
