Philippine Budget-How to Keep Track of a Budget on Trips+A Giveaway

There are so many different types of travelers and traveling styles. There are people who go all out on vacation and do not spare any expense. There are the budget travelers that try to get the most bang for their buck. And there are the backpackers who try to stretch their dollar as far as it will possibly go. There's absolutely no wrong way to travel, it's all simply based on preference and budget.

Without a doubt, Jeremy and I fall into the budget traveler category. We like to enjoy ourselves, will splurge from time to time, and try to overall travel comfortably. But for the most part we try to just get the best deal we can and save as much as we can. We figure that the cheaper we can go, the more we can see, longer we can go for and the more often we can go. Win win right? 

I have talked before how Jeremy and I have somewhat specific roles while traveling. He books everything from hotels to airline tickets, and I plan what we are going to do and keep track of the budget. I can be quite particular about this and actually have a notebook that I always carry with me while traveling. It's to write and document but also to keep track of our spending on a day to day basis. I fill in the sheets of paper like this:

DAY OF THE WEEK

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Dinner:

Snacks:

Entertainment:

Transportation:

Extra:

Then, each time we spend something, I put it in the correct spot. It doesn't take long and it's a great way to keep track of your spending. If we see that we're under our budget for that day, then we know that we have extra money to use towards something else, or do something extra on the trip. 

It's also a great reference for future trips. A lot of our trips recently have been around South East Asia. So if we save our detailed budget from Thailand (which we did) then we can pretty accurately plan our trip to any of the surrounding countries as well. 

So in hopes of helping some people out in their planning and budgeting process, I've decided to post our spending for each trip. Obviously from what we spend, you could easily spend a lot more or a lot less depending on your personal preference. Also, it's safe to say that depending on your starting point, plane tickets are going to fluctuate a lot. However, once you make it to South East Asia, you can stay pretty cheaply. 

Here was our total spending for our three day/three night trip to Moalboal, Philippines. The numbers include the price for both my husband and I. 

*I just had to share the $1 bike repair in the budget because I'm still in shock at just how inexpensive things are there!

Was this helpful for anyone? Would you like to see more of these?

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This giveaway is loong overdue! As promised, I have something to giveaway from a trip we took. And even though we had a short three days in the Philippines back in June, I still managed to find something to bring back and giveaway at the last minute!

On our two hour drive from where we staying in Moalboal, back to the airport, in Cebu City, we came across this small handicraft market. The owner has a small operation where she makes bags, placemats, baskets, hats and more all by hand. She told us that she actually produces some baskets that are bought by a company in Cebu City and then exported to Targets in the states. So if you ever see any of these baskets, please let me know! I quickly spotted this handwoven purse with wooden handles and thought that it would be a fun addition to any wardrobe. 

Enter below for your chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rules

1. Open internationally. 

2. Winner’s entry validity will be verified by me and if an entry proves to be invalid, you will be disqualified.

3. Giveaway ends on the  14^th of September at 12:00 AM EST. Winner will be contacted by email no later than the 17^th of August. Winner has 48 hours to respond, if the winner does not respond, a new winner will be picked.

4. Please note that Lost in Travels Blog is responsible for the payment and shipment of won items but not responsible for any packages lost in transit. 

Budgeting and the Envelope System

I'm one of the weird ones that absolutely loves to budget and one of my favorite budgeting tools has been the envelope system. I love budgeting because I love seeing how if we stick to this amount of spending, how much we can save by a certain date. Which inevitably leads to the discussion with my husband about where we are going to travel with said savings. Because one of the main reasons why my husband and I got serious about budgeting is because the better we budget, the more we can travel, the more we can do and the more often we can go.

There's been a lot of buzz about the envelope system recently and I've gotten a few emails asking about it so I thought I would take this opportunity to tell a bit about it and why we love it so much. I'm also teaming up with Nicole from The Treasure Tromp where she's telling her experience with starting to use the envelope system. So be sure to check out her page and read about her experience!

So let's get into it.

Background History
The envelope system is strongly promoted by Dave Ramsey who is a financial guru of sorts and also runs the Financial Peace University; a great place to start if you're serious about getting on a budget. As with all advice, take everything with a grain of salt. This is what works for us; but take the time to research and try some different methods to find what works best for you. Jeremy and I started using the envelope system shortly after we were married about three years ago and after a few months of trial and error, we found a system we were happy with and have been doing it ever since.

What is it
The envelope system is a budgeting tool where you calculate how much you spend each month and divide it into categorized envelopes. For example, you decide how much you want to spend on groceries, take out that amount of cash and stick it in an envelope titled 'groceries'. Then, for that month, you only use the cash that is in the enveope. Once the money is gone, it's gone. You have to wait till the next month to spend any more.

How we use it
-We have figured out how much we spend in a month and divide it into a different envelope for the following categories: entertainment, groceries, household, Jeremy's spending and my spending. Choose which areas you want to include.

-We decided that we wanted to put each of our personal spending in there for several reasons. I always hated the thought of having to discuss personal purchases with each other. If we split up our spending, there's no discussion necessary. If he wants to buy something expensive, and he has the money saved up in his personal spending, he can go buy it. No questions asked. And vice versa. We don't care what the other one spends because it doesn't come out of our mutual spending account and it doesn't hurt our savings for that month.

Why we love it
-When we spend money with our credit or debit card, we would lose track of what we were spending and found that we bought more because we didn't have a visible limit like we would if we only brought cash with us.

-We have found we have saved more money because it is a constant and visual reminder of how much money we have to spend that month

-Budgets don't have to be constricting guys. If it's done well, and done to fit your lifestyle, it can be rewarding. Like when we cook at home more during a month and realize at the end that we still have a ton in entertainment money. Whoop! Date night!

Trouble Shooting
-So let's say you're on your way home from work and want to stop to get some groceries. But oh no! your envelopes are at home. Don't worry about it. When this happens we just use our debit card at the grocery store. We have another envelope titled 'Deposit'. This is used when we receive cash for any reason OR if we use our debit card. We pull the money out of the envelope we spent from and put it into deposit to take to the bank later on.

-You like to keep cash in your wallet for emergencies or unforeseen spending. This is also perfectly ok! We usually keep around $20 in our wallets at all times. This does not come out of any of the envelopes, just our mutual spending account. If we use that money from one of the categories, when we get home, we simply pull money out of that envelope and use it to reimburse the money kept in our wallets. 

-Now this one, not everyone will agree with but it works for us. If we have a really big personal purchase (for example, my husband bought his own dirt bike a few months back) and we don't have the money in our personal accounts at the moment, we allow ourselves to take 'loans' of sorts. So for the next few months following his purchase, his spending money was cut until his bike was paid off. 

I am by no means a budget expert. This is what we use and what works for us. So tell me, what is your best kept secret for budgeting? Have you tried the envelope system?

Traveling for Pennies

Ok, not really pennies, per say because who are we kidding? Traveling can be expensive. But it can still be affordable.

I was born with the travel bug. And as I've grown older, this has only gotten worse. I feel very fortunate to have been able to travel as much as I have been but it's not because we make a ton of money and it's definitely not because someone sponsors us to travel (even though I'm pretty sure this would be everyone's dream). We do three simple things to make our travel dreams come true.

1. We prioritize. Would we love to go out for dinner more often? Sure. But for us, saving for trips and being able to travel more often is more important. We also live very strictly off of the envelope system each month and this has helped us save so much more money than we would have otherwise. What is the envelope system? Well, we figure out what we want to spend each month on different categories such as groceries, entertainment, household, or our personal spending. Then we put that amount of money into labeled envelopes and once it's gone, it's gone! We have found that when we don't put money in there we're a whole lot more likely to go shopping and spend a few dollars here, a few dollars there, which can quickly add up!

2. We budget on our trips. For us, budgeting for everything on trips let's us do more, see more, and best of all, travel more often! I actually carry around a small notebook with me when we travel to keep track of our purchases, including meals. I know exactly how much money we have in our budget to spend each day so if I keep track and find out at the end of the day that we have some left over, we can save it for something in the future or go out that night for a nicer meal.

3. We use some tried and true travel tips. If we find something that works on a trip to save some money, you bet we're going to repeat it on every trip after that. Here are some that we've tried in the past that have worked for us:

.look at renting an apartment or house instead of a hotel. We like to search sites such as Agoda, VRBO, Gogobot, House Trip and AirBnB.

.book hotels and flights in advance. Booking in advance versus last minute has the potential to save you tons. Plus, I can't tell you how many people we saw walking around from place to place in Thailand looking for a place only to find that they were all booked. Larger cities such as Bangkok, you won't have a problem finding any place, it just may not be the one you want. However, smaller cities such as Railay, where there are a limited amount of places, you want to book before you go to avoid inflated prices and booked up hotels. Which leads me to...

.before you book a hotel give them a call and ask if they have any upcoming specials that may not be advertised yet.

.check to see when high or low season is. In high season, prices will of course be higher and book up faster. However, if you go just one week outside of high season, prices will be dramatically lower and places will be easier to find. We're actually going to Cambodia this summer during low season. Low season also means monsoon season. But after doing some research and talking to people that have lived there, they raved about this time of year. Sure, it rains. But not all day. Plus the pools at Angkor Wat are a vivid green this time of year. If your travel dates are flexible, it would be worth looking into going during low season.

.pick the cheapest room at a nice hotel. I have a friend who swears by this. They picked a higher end hotel which therefore had great service, amenities and food, but booked the cheapest room the place had to offer.

.you don't always have to eat at restaurants! While we were traveling in Japan we frequented grocery stores and shopping centers to eat meals. We often saved our money so we could eat at a little nicer spot for dinner.

.book early morning tours. Sometimes companies offer a discount if you book their first tour of the day. Why? No one likes to get up early. Unless you're my husband.

.check which companies your hotel is affiliated with. At our hotel in Chiang Mai, we got a much cheaper deal on zip lining than any of the other competitors because they struck a deal with the place we stayed.

.plan for everything, even the unexpected. In our travel budget we have a special category for the 'unknown'. You find an unexpected attraction you want to try, your clothes get ruined, you find a piece of artwork you just can't live without. These are bound to happen and it's nice to know you won't blow your budget on it.

.rent a car, motorbike, bicycle, walk, or use public transit. Many times, any of these are going to be cheaper than taking a taxi. We figured it out in Thailand that for the price of an all day bike rental, it cost us the same as a round trip taxi fare.

.get insurance. When you are traveling, the unexpected is bound to happen at some time or another. Lost luggage, canceled flights, rabid dogs biting you (actually happened to a friend of ours who told us about travel insurance!) You can never be too safe. We use World Nomads travel insurance. For the both of us getting advanced coverage (included scuba accidents) for two weeks, it cost around $100. The price depends on where you are going and where you are coming from but we also found some coupon codes online that helped us save money as well.

I hope some of these tips help you plan your next trip!

These thoughts and advice are based solely off of my own experience. I fully realize that everyone's situation and experiences are different. 

Linking up with  Carissa, Rachel, Logan, Leann, Molly