Spending, Food and Incidentals

[JessNewbs]

Hi again everyone! Just wondering, 2 kids and 2 adults for a month in America....what do you think food, comfortable spending and indcidentals would come to for our trip? I know your going to say "How long's a piece of string?", "Depends." and "As much as you can possibly take!" etc. But I would love somebody that is experienced to give me a rough suggestion on what you think is a decent amount I DON'T want to get stuck. We don't have expensive tastes and wont go "all out" all the time. We have One night in La (stopover), three nights in New Orleans, Four nights in NYC, 10 nights in WDW no dining but tickets are paid for, 4 nights in Santa Monica/LA, 4 nights in Hawaii. Thanks in advance!

 

[BecBennett]

We usually aim for $100 each per day. However there are just 2 adults in our group and I don't know how much kids meals cost

You could probably do $100 for each adult and then maybe $50/$75 each kid

We find this is a good amount because some days we won't go any where near $100 each, which leaves us free to get some more expensive items towards the end of the trip that we've had our eye on

 

[australiankaren]

yep...sounds about right

and we also buy kids meals, as they are so big..average cost around $6....so @ WDW if just doing counter service meals/snacks we budget ....$30 pp (but we have groceries delivered@ WDW to save on breakfast @$15 p day)

some days we buy nothing, other days (like outlet shopping days) we blow $1500+..but that is all in our budget.

great places to eat outside WDW denny's, taco bell etc have great kids meals deals....go online and print off the coupons...you can feed a family of 4 for around $20 at places like that...

so for a month/31 days.....family of 4 = food, plus spending + tours...so $150- $200 a day should be fine

$5000-$6000....rough guess

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Just read Karen's figures of $5000-$6000 for a family of 4 for a month in the US. Backing away slowly from this conversation .

My budget reads a little different to that but that could perhaps be a bad things

 

[JessNewbs]

Thanks everyone! We have $10000 put aside so far so I guess I shouldn't be freaking out as much as I am. All tours and tickets will be pre purchased with other money.

 

[australiankaren]

Just read Karen's figures of $5000-$6000 for a family of 4 for a month in the US. Backing away slowly from this conversation .

My budget reads a little different to that but that could perhaps be a bad things

I over budget and then under spend

thats how we ninja pirates roll...

BTW its yr 12 trials and they are driving me nuts

mickey give me strength

 

[viaggiamo]

We are a family of 2A2C, for the USA we budget $300 per day for food and spending.

All accommodation which generally includes breakfasts, tours, flights, tickets, car hire is NOT included in this budget.

The $300 is for shopping, extra tours we may like to do, food, tips.

We like to eat well, but don't drink. So we save there.

If we want to buy something large (like a camera lens, golf clubs etc) we budget this as extra.

This usually works for us as some days we spend $1000, others we spend $80.

We go to the USA for a month or more.

C

 

[Snickals]

We usually budget for $100 a day but then you sometimes get the unexpected things pop up, like last time baby girl and I both got sick and had to see a dr on two seperate occasions and that we had to pay $250 each time (thankfully insurance paid us back once home) but am glad we had a little extra to pay for things like that

 

[JessNewbs]

Thanks everyone! So I'm thinking $300 per day sounds the general concensus! Hopefully I can save more but it isn't my strong point!

 

[alicia1506]

when we go, we take $100/day per person for food which for us is overbudgeting and we take a flat rate of $3000 spending between the 2 of us.

we usually try to take a credit card with at least $2000 clear for any unforseen incidentals/deposits on rooms/extra spending impulse buys etc.

we usually take our food budget in cash, and our spending money on a travel card or prepaid card or credit card. if we need more cash, we just pull it off the travel money card.

YMMV though with kids... we haven't had that opportunity, so you might want to budget a little more or less depending on your needs and eating style (we're mostly quick service during the day and takeout at night with maybe 1 or 2 table service meals thrown in for 'fancy' days

 

[Melbourne5]

I guess no matter what you make it work.

I still remember fondly our first trip ever to DL and dropping $200 for dinner at blue bayou and loving every minute of it ( food and setting inside potc ride) and the following night sitting by the pool at the Sheraton eating a $30 pizza deal from a local pizzeria ( massive pizza, meatballs, bread, coleslaw and a 3lt diet coke) watching the fireworks...

My kids talk about both in equal and glowing terms....

 

[robynrainer]

The never ending question! Kids 11 9 and 6 have their own pocket money they have saved this year. $480. $ 463 and $230. It's been a big year for birthdays communion confirmation and the tooth fairy. The theory is they can spend it on whatever the like as long as its not a stuffed toy and they can carry it back in their carry on luggage. It has to last the three weeks we are away.
They each have a budget of $300 of my "pocket money" for clothing that I approve of. Once it's spent bank of mum is closed.

DH and I have our own set budget on clothes/shoes and then NYC is really only meals as NYpass covers touristy stuff and lion king tickets are paid for. DDP for WDW. And I'm working on $200 per day for what I haven't thought of for the duration.

Think that will be plenty. I'm not averse to cheap snacky meals for lunch in NYC and brekky we will wing with a box of cereal on arrival.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I don't do such a detailed budget as many but I loosely budget $1000 for everyday we are away and this includes flights, accom, transfers, tours, food, shopping, everything. That way so long as I have budgeted $1000 times however many days we are away we are well and truly covered. The last 2 times we have come back with $1000-$2000 each time.

On this upcoming trip, NYC blows that out of the water with 5 of our activities costing $2,500 before we've eaten anything.

We will be doing a private tour around Manhattan, 1 NY Knicks basketball game, seeing the Grinch at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular on Christmas day and then Newsies on Broadway a few days later. These work out to be big ticket items but this is the type of thing we love to do in NYC and I hate thinking about budgeting over Christmas.

The other legs of our trip won't be so "event" heavy so it should even out.

Shopping - we are going to be much more strategic this time in terms of buying sneakers a few sizes ahead, clothing for our son a few sizes ahead (DD14 changes what she likes too much to do this ). So shopping expenditure for us this time isn't really budgetted, it depends what we see.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I can't wait to hear what you all think when you have been here but we think prices have risen heaps since we were here last year, it's still cheaper than home but not anywhere like it was last time and no where close to 2010. Lucky for us we are getting such a good exchange rate. We have spent way more than I anticipated I thought we were going to go home with money in the bank

 

[viaggiamo]

We will be doing a private tour around Manhattan,

Would you mind sharing who this is through and which tour please?

C

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I can't wait to hear what you all think when you have been here but we think prices have risen heaps since we were here last year, it's still cheaper than home but not anywhere like it was last time and no where close to 2010. Lucky for us we are getting such a good exchange rate. We have spent way more than I anticipated I thought we were going to go home with money in the bank

Oh no, don't say it WAMUMOF4, this would make DH and I very sad. You are so right, lucky the exchange rate is so good.

Bummer that you won't be coming home with money in the bank.

Would you mind sharing who this is through and which tour please?

C

Sure. We have decided to go with Family in New York based on sensational reviews. Here is their website:- http://www.familyinnewyork.com/. Here is a link to their Trip Advisor reviews:- http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...amily_In_New_York-New_York_City_New_York.html

If you haven't been to NYC before but still would rather do something a little more private than a big bus tour, this is a good company as well:- http://www.realnewyorktours.com/. Here is their TA reviews:- http://www.tripadvisor.com.my/Attra...al_New_York_Tours-New_York_City_New_York.html.

 

[JessNewbs]

Wow everyone's budgets vary so greatly! I suppose I will just save like a champion and see how much I can come up with.

I have told my kids no stuffed toys but it seems they are already talking about spending their money on that as they are saving

It is so unclear what it may cost, my biggest fear is running out of money half way through the trip! I wasn't going to do any shows in NYC but am so tempted now, everyone seems to rate them! Wouldn't mind catching a baseball game if there's one on while were there just for the atmosphere because we all hate sports!

 

[BecBennett]

What's wrong with stuffed toys

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Wow everyone's budgets vary so greatly! I suppose I will just save like a champion and see how much I can come up with.

I have told my kids no stuffed toys but it seems they are already talking about spending their money on that as they are saving

It is so unclear what it may cost, my biggest fear is running out of money half way through the trip! I wasn't going to do any shows in NYC but am so tempted now, everyone seems to rate them! Wouldn't mind catching a baseball game if there's one on while were there just for the atmosphere because we all hate sports!

Jess, definitely do the baseball and a Broadway show if you can stretch the budget. You will never regret it.

 

[Beee]

We are in much the same boat, not really sure how much to budget and desperately hoping we'll not run out of money half way through!
I am working to $5000 for food and spending for 3 of us for 16 days and will have a credit card just in case. We haven't had a huge amount of time to save so its going to have to do.
It helps that the potentially most expensive part (disney!) of the trip is the first week so I'm hoping it'll even out and it just means less shopping in hawaii if we've gone too far over