How to track your budget while in the parks?

[Sadie22]

Quicken has a mobile app that I have yet to try. Would it work for this sort of thing?

 

[pinkprincess30]

When we went last year I created a google spreadsheet to track. I simply put the formula in so as I added things we bought/spent my bottom line number left would tell me what was left for spending.

Before we went I had budgeted out our overall spending/tip money to bring. I tried to overestimate. I tracked as we bought using my phone. It was super easy and only took a second each time. It made us think about our purchases, and we actually came home with some of our spending money in our pockets

Keeping track as we went along vs end of day removed any money stress from the trip for us.

I am going to try this. I think I'm the same way as well... being able to track as I go will really help my stress level. It's not that we can't go over budget but I don't want to go WAY over budget either if it can be helped. If we find we're spending less than we thought we may ditch the picnic lunches for convenience sake, but if not it will be no big deal to just pack a lunch a few days too. Thanks all!

 

[eliza61]

Hi all! Well, we are about 7 weeks out from our trip and I am starting to finalize our numbers! I was wondering how you all keep track of your budget while on vacation? The cost of food is my main concern.

I have planned and planned, so do I just let it go and wing it once we get there?How do you track how much you've spent on food each day? Do you just keep a mental tally?

I don't plan to pinch every penny but I know how these things can really add up and if we start to get off track it would be nice to know so we can do a little course correction!

As far as souvenirs go we each have our own $50 Disney GC. Any other methods you employ to keep it in check??? Ideas welcome!

TIA

Oh lord, with my brain cells if I tried to keep a running total, I'd be washing dishes at the end of the night.

LOL,

Now I do have some idea of how much I'm going to spend going into it. For example, at most restaurants I've looked at the menus and I can gauge what it will cost.
I use my chase rewards cc for absolutely every thing. every night the info dumps automatically into a spreadsheet.
I don't take a bag into the parks with me (love being able to skip the bag security check gate)so I don't want to collect receipts unless it's for a souvenir that may need to be returned.

 

[eliza61]

Quicken has a mobile app that I have yet to try. Would it work for this sort of thing?

I don't know about the mobile app Sadie, but quicken is what I use. I have my cc connected to it and every night I "dump" the information into my quicken spread sheet.

 

[eliza61]

I am going to try this. I think I'm the same way as well... being able to track as I go will really help my stress level. It's not that we can't go over budget but I don't want to go WAY over budget either if it can be helped. If we find we're spending less than we thought we may ditch the picnic lunches for convenience sake, but if not it will be no big deal to just pack a lunch a few days too. Thanks all!

Ok I have a very funny "blowing the budget" story also.

The very first year we went we were in full disney mode. we brought mickey ears, light up toys the whole nine yards. we had no idea we'd fall in love with the place.
Anyhoo, every night we would end our nights with ice cream desserts, usually from beaches and creams.

Well around night 5 my husband said..."you know we've been spending around 40 bucks a night on ice cream" I screamed, we've spent 200 bucks on ice cream!!! needless to say our ice cream consumption went down drastically after that.

 

[angierae]

On my saving budget spreadsheet I have money broken out into categories:
Souvenirs at Disney
Souvenirs at USO
Extra drinks/snacks
Meal tips
Airport meals/snacks/expenses
And then a line for "Unexpected expenses DO NOT TOUCH"

I spend from each category, it'll be subtracted.

 

[Sadie22]

I don't know about the mobile app Sadie, but quicken is what I use. I have my cc connected to it and every night I "dump" the information into my quicken spread sheet.

I use Quicken too! I've just never used it on a mobile phone.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

My DH takes all the receipts and writes them down in a notebook. He adds that up. Then we compare how much money we have left to what we started with.

 

[MichelleVW]

I just add each purchase I make onto a note app on my iPhone. At the end of the night I add it up, move it to a weekly tally note, and start over the next day. Takes me two seconds at the time of purchase and then I can see if we are in line with what we are intending to spend or if we need to scale back a bit.

Yep.....that's what I do!! Nice to keep track!

 

[pigletto]

Ok I have a very funny "blowing the budget" story also.

The very first year we went we were in full disney mode. we brought mickey ears, light up toys the whole nine yards. we had no idea we'd fall in love with the place.
Anyhoo, every night we would end our nights with ice cream desserts, usually from beaches and creams.

Well around night 5 my husband said..."you know we've been spending around 40 bucks a night on ice cream" I screamed, we've spent 200 bucks on ice cream!!! needless to say our ice cream consumption went down drastically after that.

Awww yes.. the moment when logic permeates the newly minted magic bubble and you realize you could have bought a weeks worth of groceries for what you just paid for that one mediocre meal.

What you needed was snack credits and the trusty DDP to help you forget how much you were spending on ice cream.

 

[MillauFr]

I don't worry about it and just set my budget for about 3 times what I will likely spend. When I come in under budget every thing is awesome.

 

[mountdew1]

If you are staying on property and using gift cards for souvenirs, you can charge all the food to your room and then get a print out of your spend so far each day.

 

[taymaesmom]

OP another option is to do what my mom would do... 4days so 4 envelopes, $200 in each envelope... Once it was gone it was gone!

This is what I do, I put the days budget in an envelope and when its gone, its gone. Most days I have extra and move it forward throughout the week. For each TS meal I put that meals money in its own envelope too. I do carry my credit card just in case of emergency but have never had to use it!