Couples Travel Budget Spreadsheet [Free Template]

Before you decide when and where to travel together as a couple, you’ll need to know what your joint travel budget is and how much you can each realistically afford to go over budget if you need to.

It also makes sense to record your individual travel expenses. One of you might want to buy certain souvenirs while your partner may want to try an activity or excursion you’re not interested in.

This is where a couples travel budget spreadsheet comes in. It’s easy enough to create a simple Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheet to record your expenses – before, during and after your trip.

But if you want to get even more organised with it and see at a glance exactly what you’re spending your travel budget on and where you can afford to spend more, then we’ve created a free template to share with you.

This blog post will take you through how to download the free template, how to use the travel budget to record your expenses and some top things to consider when agreeing on your travel budget together.

Couples Travel Budget Spreadsheet [Free Template]

First things first, you’ll need to download our travel budget spreadsheet and free template via the form below or this link right here. You’ll also get access to other useful tips and resources for planning a trip together.

Don’t forget to come back to this blog post so we can share some tips with you on how to get the most from the template.

How To Use Our Travel Budget Template

Once you’ve downloaded our travel budget spreadsheet (you should be able to use it in Excel or via Google Sheets), take a look through each tab to get accustomed to what we’ve included in the template. Here’s what you’ll see…

Tab 1: How To Use This Budget Tracker

This is a list of quick tips on how to use our budget tracker. We’ll run through each of the other tabs together and how to use them now.

Tab 2: Budget Overview

This information is automatically populated once you start adding your data into the “Joint Travel Budget” in tab 3.

It will show you your joint travel budget at a glance, how much you’ve spent on what and how much of your budget you have left to spend (as a percentage) and on what.

If you make any changes in the “Budget Overview” tab then you may break the calculations and charts, so we wouldn’t recommend editing this tab without first making a copy of it.

Tab 3: Joint Travel Budget

This is where you’ll record your joint travel expenses such as flights, accommodations, food, activities, transportation, essentials such as visas, vaccinations and travel insurance and any other miscellaneous travel expenses.

In this tab, there are automatic calculations to help you understand how much you’ve spent and how much of your travel budget you have left – in total and for each type of expense. Don’t edit these calculations or you’ll break the reports.

You only need to enter data for the following: list of expenses, estimated costs for each expense, actual costs for each expense, notes and your total budget for each category. Everything else is automatically calculated for you.

The “Totals” columns should be left blank for each individual expense. These are just to show how much each category of expenses is costing you.

Tabs 4 & 5: Your Individual Travel Expenses

You can use these tabs to record additional expenses for each person such as souvenir expenses, separate tours and activities you’re going to take and any other expenses you don’t wish to share between you.

Note: The information in these tabs doesn’t affect the “Budget Overview” tab since that only shows your joint travel budget.

Notes

If you need to, you can add additional rows to the reports in tabs 3, 4 and 5. The calculations should take these changes into account.

We’ve used a GBP currency in the spreadsheet as the majority of our readers are based in the UK (as are we!) You can easily amend the reports to reflect the currency you’re using.

Of course, should you have any questions or feedback about our budget tracker, please comment on this blog post or send us a message. We’ll be happy to help!

Things To Consider When You’re Agreeing On Your Joint Travel Budget

Finally, if you’re after some tips on how to plan your travel budget as a couple, then here’s what we’ve got for you.

Start early

Before you start planning your trip together or filling out spreadsheets, you should agree on what your ideal budget looks like and how much you can both realistically afford to go over it should you need to.

You should also decide whether you’ll stay in hostels, mid-range hotels and B&Bs or luxury accommodation and how you’ll get around during your trip (e.g. public transport and tours versus hiring a car).

You’ll also want to consider what’s most important to you. Is there anything you’re happy with spending less on so you can spend more in other areas?

For example, Scott and I would happily stay in a 2-star hotel (just as long as it’s private and has its own bathroom), so we can afford to spend more on activities and experiences.

These are all things you’ll want to discuss with each other before agreeing on your travel budget as they’ll help you narrow down where you can afford to travel to and when.

Be flexible

Once you’ve agreed on a realistic budget for your trip, be prepared to be flexible should prices be different from what you originally thought.

To keep costs down, you might want to consider travelling outside of a destination’s peak travel season. There are also plenty of destinations around the world offering affordable luxury to help make your trip memorable without costing you the earth.

Bali, for example, is very affordable – especially compared to Western Europe, the US and Canada. During our honeymoon, we stayed in 4-star resorts, which we would never do here in Europe. One of the villas we stayed at even had a private pool and garden outside every room!

Splitting travel expenses

When you’re filling out your travel budget spreadsheet, you’ll also need to confirm with each other how you’re splitting travel expenses.

Scott and I have a joint bank account, so we usually go halves on things like flights, food, hotels and tours. And we’ll keep our expenses separate when we buy souvenirs or gifts.

Other couples might split their expenses differently. One of you might pay for the accommodation while the other pays for the flights, for example. Or one of you might buy dinner one night and the other person the next night.

You can also use apps to help you split your travel expenses. A couple of good ones to consider are Splitwise and Venmo.

We actually have more to say about budgeting for travel as a couple, so you might want to check out this blog post too.

Discover More Couples Travel Planning Tips

If you want even more help with planning your trips together, then you might enjoy some of our other couples travel blogs, such as:

• The Complete Travel Planning Guide for Couples
• 25 Easy Ways To Spend Less On Travel As A Couple
• 50 Best Travel Destinations For Couples
• 13 of the Best City Breaks for Couples in Europe
• Best Road Trip Destinations For Couples (+ Road Trip Tips)