Holiday budget checklist
Costed before booking rather than after, from the flights down to the currency card fees, so the trip that comes home doesn't cost more than the one that got planned.
15 items
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
The items
- Flights or travel costed, including baggage and seat selection add-ons
- Accommodation costed for every night, not just the headline rateCleaning fees and city taxes often aren't in the price shown first.
- Travel insurance costed and compared
- Airport transfers and local transport budgeted
- A daily spending amount set for food and drink
- Activities and excursions costed in advanceThe ones booked on the day tend to cost more than the ones planned ahead.
- Currency and card fees checked before travellingSome cards charge for every purchase or withdrawal abroad — worth knowing before relying on one.
- A contingency amount added for the day something goes wrong
- Gifts and souvenirs budgeted rather than left as an afterthought
- Pre-trip costs included: visas, vaccinations, kit bought specially for the trip
- Total cost split fairly if travelling with others
- Payment plan checked, if any part of the trip is paid in instalments
- Cancellation and refund terms checked before paying a deposit
- A running total kept during the trip, not just before it
- Money left in a joint account for bills that keep going while away
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- What's most commonly left out of a holiday budget?
- The costs before departure — a visa, a vaccination, kit bought specially for the trip — and the daily extras once there, like transport between the airport and the accommodation.
- How much should be set aside as contingency?
- Enough to cover one thing going wrong without derailing the rest of the trip — a missed connection, a lost bag, a closed restaurant that means an unplanned taxi.
- Should card fees abroad be checked before or after booking?
- Before. A card that charges on every purchase abroad adds up over a trip, and it's a five-minute check against a cost that otherwise only shows up on the statement afterwards.