Travel Budgeting Calculator - Compare at CreditCard.com.au

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Who is it for?

Anyone – travelling anywhere!

Are you planning some sort of trip or journey? Moving your life to somewhere new?

This guide is for anyone taking a trip – whether it’s overnight out of town or a year-long holiday on around the world.
Whatever your trip, total costs of a trip can always bring as a surprise – especially when you forget to budget for something and have no choice but to pay it on the spot.

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What it does

1. Work out total likely costs for your trip

The travel costs sheet means you can add in all likely costs to see exactly how much it will all cost – and then decide if you can afford it all. Go back and change things if you need to fit your budget.

The list contains ideas to remind you of what you will likely need to pay for, and also gives plenty of free space to add in other personal costs you might want to consider.

2. Shows how long it will take to pay off any borrowings or credit

If you need to borrow any money the calculator will help show how long it will take to pay off, and also any interest charges you might have.

If you need to use credit you can see likely interest charges. If you’re borrowing money with no interest you can work out how long it will take to pay it back.

How to Use it

Sheet 1: Expenses List

The expenses sheet will calculate the total cost of your planned expenses. When you finish and see the total amount you can go back and adjust the list if necessary.

1. Fill out the number of days of your trip. (If not relevant leave blank). You can then see how much you will spend each day – such as likely spend on food for your trip.
2. List your essential expenses. These are ones you know you will definitely need to pay for – such as flights to get overseas, hotel costs, rough budget for food. (for ideas see help section below)
3. Add non-essential costs that are likely but not fixed yet. These could be costs such as taxi or coach fares, the entry fee to a museum, etc. (for ideas see help section)

Travel Expenses Screenshot of travel calculator

List all your travel expenses, be sure to add new rows or delete ones you don’t need!

Add any other costs you can think of to the blank spaces – perhaps personal costs such as medical supplies you might need, extra shopping spends, tour guides, mobile phone roaming costs etc.
Check out the Total cost at the bottom of the sheet and see if its within your budget – if not, ask yourself if there are costs you can remove and not spend, or change to a cheaper alternative. For example – public transport might be cheaper than a taxi.

Sheet 2: Travel Costs Calculator

The calculator will calculate how long it will take to pay off the total spend and how much interest will be charged (if applicable).

The amount to spend – the calculator will show the total cost from your expenses list. If this is not the amount you need to borrow, change it to the amount ($$$) you need to borrow.
Add in any interest rate on the borrowing. This might be your credit card purchase rate, loan interest rate. If there is no interest rate – change it to 0%.
Add in the amount ($$) you can afford to pay towards the borrowing each month.
The calculator will show the number of months it will take to pay the cost off + the number of months it will take to do so. To compare repayment terms and interest charges, change the spend amount or repayment amount. If you need to reduce your total spend amount go back to the travel expenses sheet and see if you can reduce your costs.

The calculator will show the number of months it will take to pay the cost off + the number of months it will take to do so

Examples of use – Planning a weekend away

Jack and Jenny planned a weekend trip to Melbourne to stay in the city, and drive out one day to visit wineries out of town. They wanted to spend no more than $1,000 in total, but also eat and drink well, and stay in a good hotel.

example of using the travel expense

They used the calculator to work out they could pay off the total cost of $990 over 3 months, paying $400 each month and paying $20 in interest charges.

Example of the travel calculator in use

Help Section

Essential Costs – you will need to be able to get to your destination, you will need food and shelter when you get there! If you’re driving there consider the cost of petrol. If you’re staying at a friend’s place you might like to give them a present to say thank you – put that in there!

If you need help on projected costs for flights – do an online search for flight prices around that time and use that figure. The same applies to hotel costs. If you have no idea how much to budget for things like food, taxi’s in a foreign country try checking out the Lonely Planet website or a similar travel site. These sites usually have practical information for each country which will suggest typical costs of local food, taxis, sight-seeing – even sometimes foreign exchange rates.

Non-Essential Costs – try to think of everything you might need or want to buy while you’re away. For example the cost of petrol in a hire car, the costs of roaming on an international tariff on your mobile phone – all costs you could reduce or maybe even go without if you need to cut down your total costs. There may be costs that you don’t think of until you’re away – the attractiveness of a once in a life time experience will be higher when you’re there, and wondering if you’ll ever get a chance to do it again! (Think hot air ballooning, visiting a wonder of the world, seeing a rare performance).