Creating a Road Trip Budget You Can Love

“A budget isn't about restricting what you can spend. It permits you to spend without guilt or regret.” Once again, know that budgeting habits increase your freedom, power, and ease in life.”  - Dave Ramsey

Last week we dove headfirst into creating our Treasure Map, step one to building the Summer of Wonder!  I hope you’ve brainstormed and dreamed a map full of the promise of adventure.  If you missed it, you can find the blog and video here.

Once I settle on my main destination for any given journey, I consider my budget. I firmly believe that budgeting for each of my trips is as important as any other decision I make regarding travel. I realize that, for many people, the mere mention of the word “budget” makes them want to hide under the covers, or at least put fingers in their ears and scream until it goes away. Please don’t. It’s not a bad word. It’s a blessing.

Having a budget for any venture is freeing. Having a budget for travel, if thought through properly, contributes to a trip that can be both guilt and carefree. Knowing where your money is going builds confidence, and we all want to feel unflappable and self-assured in our travels!

How are you going to pay for it?

Whether you have plenty of cash on hand now or you’re starting at zero, I highly recommend devoting time to planning what you can afford to spend on your trip, and then, if necessary, saving up before you go.

As a starting point, consider which of the following currently applies to you:

1. I need to save up before I can travel.
2. I have enough “play” money without saving.
3. I’m charging everything to a credit card and paying later.
4. I haven’t thought about it.

Knowing how you intend to fund your trip leads to realistic expectations. If you answered “d,” no worries! This section will help you get there.

My Favorite Travel Card

If you do plan to use a credit card and then pay it off, please let me recommend a wonderful travel one for you!  The Chase Sapphire Preferred card has been my faithful companion for several years now, and I love it.

While there’s a small yearly fee, it’s completely worth it.  Every purchase earns points, and many travel purchases, along with some other categories, will earn you 3x and 5x points that you can use for flights, hotels and other travel expenses.  I use mine for all my monthly spending (and pay it off 100% at the end of the month to avoid any fees).  I haven’t paid for a flight for several years now, and often have enough to splurge a little on hotels. 

The very best part?  If you use my link and meet the spending requirement, you receive 60,000 points!  (That's equivalent to up to $750 to spend on travel!)  Want to know more?  Check it out here.  (Note:  WonderBing Travel may receive a commission from card issuers.)

Whatever method of payment you decided upon, be deliberate. Think through your options and decide in advance how you plan to fund your fun! If you need to save, be patient and offer grace to yourself in the process!

How Much Money Do You Need?

For first-time road trippers, it can be tricky to feel confident about how much you’ll need to finance your adventure. You won’t do a perfect job of it, but if you’re used to budgeting at home, you know that with each passing month you get better at predicting your spending. Before we begin crunching numbers, consider the three primary areas of road trip expenditure.

1. Pre-trip planning
2. In-trip purchases
3. Emergency fund

A note of encouragement before we dive in. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to be a wonder-seeker! There are infinite ways to keep costs down and save money during the planning process as well as mid-trip. You can be frugal without sacrificing adventure and safety.

Pre-trip Purchases

Before we jump ahead to the trip itself, there are plenty of pre-planning budget considerations. For your first road trip, it’s likely you’ll be in the market for some bigger item (or items!) before you pack the car.

When I first began driving long distances, my budget was squeaky tight. I wanted to give camping a try as that seemed most cost-effective, but I didn’t want to invest in a tent, partly because I wasn’t convinced I was ready to camp alone. (Now I highly recommend it!) That first year, I made no significant purchases because I couldn’t afford anything extra. Instead, I tricked out my SUV to some extent and slept in it. I have incredible memories of these nights, and they represent some of my earliest moments finding freedom and wonder on the road.

At this point, you may not know what purchases you actually need to make before you depart. (You may, however, know that under no circumstances will you ever need a tent!) It will become clearer as you plan. Know this—you’ll probably need to stop at a Walmart within 24 hours of leaving home. I almost always do, no matter how well I plan. Don’t worry about not getting it all right the first time, because you won’t!

Below, I’ll share a few bigger items I’ve budgeted for over the years.  Yours may be wildly different, depending on your style of travel.

1. Clothing and shoes
2. Coolers
3. Car maintenance
4. Packing containers
5. Tech items
6. Pet-related prep (if you travel with your pooch!)
7. Camping gear
8. Hiking gear

One other consideration regarding pre-travel expenses: while food and lodging tend to be two of the largest in-trip expenditures, most of both are actually paid for in advance.

In-Trip Purchases

While you can easily manage your spending prior to your adventure, it can be a little trickier once you’re on the road, especially the first time. How to know how much you’ll spend on food? Entertainment? Gas? It is possible to set reasonably accurate expectations! Once you consider the suggestions here and conduct a bit of your own research, you’ll be able to confidently create a reasonable budget for what you plan to spend during your adventure.

How you travel will dictate the areas for which you need to budget. For most road trips, the biggest outpouring of money is for “the big three”—food, lodging, and gas.

Categories

1. Food
2. Lodging
3. Gas/tolls
4. Entry fees
5. Keepsakes
6. Additional fun!
7. Emergencies

Emergency Funds

It can be scary when things go wrong, and occasionally something will—you can count on it. In some cases, problems come with price tags. Whether it’s a fender bender or a lost debit card, at the very least you’ll be inconvenienced, but being in an unexpected situation with no ability to pay can be downright frightening. You can’t anticipate every circumstance, but budgeting in advance for the unexpected always pays off. Think of it as an insurance policy—you may or may not need it, but it will provide peace of mind as you wander. And if you don’t need it, you come home with extra money for your next road trip!

When you create your budget, be sure to include a line item for emergencies. Some of this will be cash, but not all. In the chapter on safety, we will discuss scenarios regarding lost or stolen money, credit cards, and phones. For the moment, our attention is solely on the budgeting aspect of potential emergencies.

There are two varieties of emergency funds. Hopefully you won’t need either, but plan for both.

1. Keep some money (I suggest between $100 and $300) hidden in your car for emergencies. An alternative is to store away a smaller amount of cash along with an extra credit, debit, or prepaid Visa card. A good rule of thumb is to have enough money for a hotel room, a meal, and the purchase of a disposable phone and/or a tank of gas.
2. For bigger issues such as major car problems, it’s best to have enough saved in your bank account to cover expenses as opposed to carrying significant amounts of cash with you. It’s likely you won’t need to access it, but there’s peace of mind in knowing you have the emergency fund if it becomes necessary.

 I learned the hard way to plan for missteps and ensure my emergency account is funded. No doubt I will encounter unplanned exploits for as long as I travel. Hopefully very few of them will be costly, though it’s likely my emergency fund will take a significant hit at some point. There’s great peace in knowing the money is there should it happen.

You may find yourself in other unplanned situations during your time on the road. I’ve been there a few times, and while I’ve learned from those mistakes, chances are I’ll create new blunders in the future. There’s grace for all of it, and there’s no earthly way to know what’s around the bend. That very feeling is why I love road-tripping. We’re not promised an adventure with no glitches, and the joy far outweighs the messes!

I hope you feel empowered and inspired by our conversation here today.  Don’t be discouraged!  No matter how tiny or unlimited your budget may be, there is room for wonder.

Giving yourself permission to create a budget for your road trip will give you space to relax and enjoy and truly seek freedom and wonder on your road trip.

Take some time in the coming days to brainstorm and build your road trip budget, and check back for the next step as we build our Summer of Wonder road trip - Bing's Best New Road Trip Gear for 2024.

For much more detail on planning your budget and learning how it connects to all the other pieces of planning for your road trip, get the book! 

Don't have your copy of there's Wonder Around the Bend yet?  No problem.  Pick it up here 👈.  The Kindle is just $2.99 for a limited time.  Also available in paperback and hard cover.