Every family comes home from vacation wondering how much it really cost, and every time the answer is buried in card statements, crumpled receipts and flights booked months ago. Tracking trip spending in three stages, before, during and after, keeps it accurate without spoiling the vacation.
1. Before you leave: log what's already paid
A big share of any trip is paid before you set off. Leave it out and you'll convince yourself the trip was cheaper than it was.
| Item | Example | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flights, trains | Round-trip flights for 4 | Two months before |
| Accommodation | 3 hotel nights | One month before |
| Insurance, passes, tickets | Travel insurance, theme park | A week before |
Create a Trip sheet and log these first. Date, Merchant, Amount, Currency, Category and Paid with are all the columns you need.
2. During the trip: photograph receipts each evening
Nobody wants to do bookkeeping on vacation. Instead of logging every purchase, keep receipts in one wallet pocket and photograph them all each evening. Moving the photos into a trip album on your phone means a lost receipt doesn't matter.
- For taxis, entry fees or tips without a receipt, jot the amount in a phone note.
- Thermal receipts fade fast in heat and sun, so photograph them the day you get them.
3. After the trip: turn photos into rows
Once you're home, add the receipt photos to the receipt tool to get the date, store and total in a table. Paste the rows into the Trip sheet and use "Add row" for the cash amounts from your notes. Receipts printed in English read on this page, while Korean receipts should go through the Korean version of the tool.
4. Keep foreign amounts in their own currency
Receipts abroad show local currency. Don't convert them as you type. Keep the original amount with a Currency column, and work out your home-currency amount in a separate column.
- Card payments: once the statement arrives, use the amount actually charged. It includes any foreign transaction fees.
- Cash payments: use the rate you got when exchanging money. Put the rate in one cell (say
H1) and use=D5*$H$1.
5. Check against your card statement
When the statement covering the trip arrives, compare those charges with the Trip sheet. Purchases without receipts, hotel incidentals charged after checkout and foreign transaction fees all show up here.
6. Use a daily average to budget next time
Split the total into two parts on a Summary sheet.
| Part | Amount | How |
|---|---|---|
| Paid in advance (flights, hotel) | 2,480.00 | Total paid before leaving |
| Spent on the trip | 1,316.00 | Total spent while away |
| Daily spend on the trip | 329.00 | Trip spending ÷ 4 days |
| Daily spend per person | 82.25 | Daily spend ÷ 4 people |
When planning the next trip, flights and hotels are easy to look up, but daily spending on the ground is hard to guess. Build up a record of daily spend per person and you can budget a trip from little more than the destination and the number of days.
Summary
Track vacation spending by logging advance payments first, photographing receipts each evening while away, and turning them into rows and checking your statement when you're back. Finish with a daily average, and budgeting the next trip gets much easier.