IDEAS ON BEST WAY FOR RECORDING TRAVEL COSTS??

Hi, just goin,
I did this when we travelled Europe/USA back in 2002 and it worked well, but one has to religiously update it every day.
Before we started, during the planning stage of the trip, I created a daily calendar in the first column, then set up columns for predictions, both income and various outgoing categories (accom, fuel, food, transport, misc, etc) then put in estimates for daily expenditure. When broken down into categories, it's not too difficult to estimate. This told us whether we were going to go broke or survive over the next 4 1/2 months!
Then, for the actual trip, I had more columns to be entered each day for actual expenditure, and of course for actual income. By applying formulae, it showed us whether we were on track or not (and whether we could eat out or only afford bread & dripping).
I used the credit card mostly, and used the spreadsheet to calculate the monthly debit total at the monthly cutoff date, then transfer that value down to the pay-by date so we knew how much to put in to the bank to pay the card off on the pay-by date. This way, we didn't have to keep checking the internet banking to see what the balance was. We always overpaid a bit in case there was some small error.
After a bit of fine tuning along the way, I got all keen and created graphs on a linked page, showing in living colour our financial progress. I recall I had 3 linked pages on the spreadsheet; one for estimates, one for actual and one for graphs.
Interestingly, at the end of the trip, there was a $100 error somewhere, which I couldn't pinpoint.
Too much trouble now....
cheers,
Gerry

My spreadsheet summarises the daily expenses for major items on a summary sheet and splits them up between cash and credit card.
It also has an itinenary sheet and a budget plus fuel consumption

If you joined exploroz you could send me a pm and i could send you the spreadsheet.

Pedro

Unless you have the computer on all the time (eg. running OziExplor or sim.), you'd be better to carry a little notebook & pen (you know, the old fashioned spiral bound one!) and you can keep it in your pocket and just write things in straight away.

Next time you've got the computer on you can update your spreadsheet which can categorise and total the amounts far quicker (ie. how much did we spend on accommodation, food, fuel, etc.).

Unless you carry a little pocket notepad, you could easily forget to include those ice-creams for the kids, or gas bottle top-up as whatever you don't end up with a receipt for... (not sure how worried you are about a few little things you may miss?!)

Have a look at Nomad Notes, there is all sorts of input areas. Barnray

Don't, it will scare you too much with the amount you are spending.

We tried it a few times and gave up after a couple of days.

Our credit card company keeps a good record of what we spend.

A notebook is the most practical way, then input into a spreadsheet if you wish later. I travel a lot for work and use a notebook all the time, then into the PC when I get home.

Stevesub

I keep seperate sheets for fuel usage which includes distances, travel time (and a host of other 'irrelevant' items!) and expenses (where I also record the $ amount for fuel). The expenses one I categorise items into broad categories (fuel, accomodation, groceries, take-away, etc) and use a pivot-table to add them up. You can get as anal on the categories as you wish!

For example, here's the summary from our biggest trip...

Category : Amount : Share
Petrol : $5,256 : 29.6%
Accomodation : $3,052 : 17.2%
Groceries : $2,543 : 14.3%
Tours : $2,530 : 14.2%
Evening Meals : $953 : 5.4%
Miscellaneous : $674 : 3.8%
Souvenirs : $662 : 3.7%
Lunches : $506 : 2.8%
Equipment : $392 : 2.2%
Snacks : $315 : 1.8%
Car : $300 : 1.7%
Correspondence : $164 : 0.9%
Presents : $157 : 0.9%
Park Entry : $99 : 0.6%
Clothes Washing : $89 : 0.5%
Internet : $41 : 0.2%
Ice : $40 : 0.2%
Total : $17,772 : 100.0%


Cheers, Nige

Hi,
The wife & i have always kept a diary that we completed every evening with where we had been & what we had done that day, in a side margin we record all of our expenses be it for fuel or entry fees etc for tally up along the way.
we also included all of our kilometer readings etc to work out the vehicles economy over the various types of terrain which assists for future planning. even a few years on, the diary makes for a good read and brings back alot of memories. also another tip if you dont download your digital photos often is to make a note of pictures you have taken during the day..

G'day just goin,

We have just gone, left last week for a lap around the block ( about 12 month's).
I have been keeping a daily log book of all expenses spent in a day.
I then tally them up each day and also at the end of the week.
I write down every thing we spend, from a cup of coffee to filling up the tank.
I can then work out what every item/items are costing. etc food, fuel,accom.
This also lets me know how the budget is going every month.
Some weeks are good, other weeks not so good, but it all evens out.
This might sound like a bit of a bore but it takes me less than 5 mins a day, and the log book cost me a couple of bucks.

Hope this helps,
Might see you on the road somewhere.

Happy days and safe travels.

Waltersonwheels