Gritty Globe

Managing Your Money

What is the most common complaint heard from travelers worldwide?

“Shit, I overspent.”

We’ll be honest – overspending is going to happen. It’s even okay, as long as you budgeted for it. Since all trips are not created equal, it’s really up to you to judge how much you can blow on hostels, eating out, souvenir purchases, renting canoes, hiring tour guides, etc.


Low Budget traveling usually consists of spending between $30- $50 per day, depending on the region. This is a feasible budget estimate for Latin America, for instance, but Western Europe budget travel could be between $40 - $70 per day. No matter what region you're in, low budget travel can be tough to achieve. Living costs tend to eat up the majority of the daily allotment (food and accomodation), and local transportation, entrance fees to local sites, the occasional souvenir purchases and miscellaneous costs more than cover the remainder.

It's best to be aware of the "additional costs" that accompany your trip. It's easy to plan for cheap hostels and maybe only one or two meals a day to cut costs, but unless you're planning on busking and hitchhiking to get around, there WILL be transportation costs. These tend to eat the biggest hole into a traveler's wallet, because sometimes there just isn't a cheap option between Mexico and Nicaragua or between Greece and Denmark.

Budgeting is in the eye of the beholder, however, so this ultimately boils down to how serious you are about managing your money and how much you actually have left in your savings account. Can you eat twice a day? Will you take the cheapest hostel? Will you only use the cheapest local transportation? Some people are able to get buy on almost nothing. Others can’t seem to keep the money in their cleverly hidden pouch.

A good idea for any traveler, on any budget, is to keep a money journal. Write down everything you spend, and take it a little further by writing down what you spent it on. This serves two purposes: you will know exactly what you spent each day and each week; and when your friends want to attempt a similar journey in the future, you can help them out by telling them what to expect, how much things cost, and how much you spent!

Setting limits for yourself is helpful, especially if you stick to them. Maybe you only spend $30 one day, or $200 in a week. Such limitations also force you to respond and behave creatively, which can add a new dimension to your trip.

Almost no backpacker is a stranger to hostels, and they are the tried and true method of cheap sleeping. Don't forget to look around, though - some hostels can be overpriced for what they offer, and if you're traveling with others, splitting a cheap hotel room might be the best option. Don't avoid hotels simply because it's not "backpacker-y"! If you find a cheap deal for a room and can split it three or four ways, you're doing the right thing.

An even cheaper way to get across a country is to Couch Surf. Couchsurfing.com is an excellent resource for finding people to stay with as you make your way across a country. It's great for visiting a foreign country where you don't have any international friends waiting to welcome you...and, of course, it's free. Be sure to offer up your own couch in return once you get back to your homeland.

Just so you know...

The United States Dollar is the currency in American Samoa (AS, ASM), British Virgin Islands (VG, VGB, BVI), El Salvador (SV, SLV), Guam (GU, GUM), Marshall Islands (MH, MHL), Micronesia (Federated States of Micronesia, FM, FSM), Northern Mariana Islands (MP, MNP), Palau (PW, PLW), Puerto Rico (PR, PRI), United States (United States of America, US, USA), Turks and Caicos Islands (TC, TCA), Virgin Islands (VI, VIR), Timor-Leste, Ecuador (EC, ECU), Johnston Island, Midway Islands, and Wake Island.

content from CoinMill.com

Know something about budgeting and managing your cash? Let us know!

Need ideas for making money right before you leave?
Read " Last-Minute Cash: How to boost your bank account before you board the plane" for some ideas on last-ditch efforts to beef up your savings.