One month down, six to go. Pedant that I am, I like to record all the details, especially if it’s about money, my money. So here’s breakdown of my first month of backpacking. The good news is that October came down to amazing £750. That includes all daily costs, such as travel, hostels, food, visas, entry fees etc. but excludes the pre-booked RTW flight ticket, insurance and other preparation costs. The bad news is that it’s only going to go up, as SE Asia is one of the cheapest and easiest places to travel. Where else can you stay in private air-con room with breakfast and free wifi for $5 a night.
Travel took up the biggest chunk of the budget, with 27%, consisting mostly of bus and train rides around the region, plus one return flight from Bangkok to Burma. Transportation costs are very low across the region, although service and quality for the same money differs dramatically. If in Thailand for £10-15 you can get very comfortable overnight sleeper bus with breakfast included then in Cambodia for the same money you can get a deluxe VIP (no kidding) bus that is 30 year old scrapyard relict, is lauder than a fighter jet and as comfortable as wheelbarrow on dirt road.
Accommodation was second biggest expense, though with average cost at £6 a night, with most of it in private rooms, I could hardly complain.
Food was about as much as accommodation, but again eating out tree times a day for six quid a day is not bad. In UK, that would get me one rice dish on lunch deal, in Asia I get three good meals, ha.
Other costs include all random stuff like visas, departure tax etc. SE Asia is bit of a pain on that, as pretty much every place needs a visa so I spent around £100 on visa fees while various exotic stamps colonized my passport.
Entertainment was mere 9% of my budget, a massage here and there (no ‘happy endings’), bike rentals, day trips and a few tours. Again all of this is extremely cheap, you can get a good one hour massage for £3.
Enough with the dry stuff, I’ll follow up soon with some Thailand pictures and stories.
Posts Tagged 'budget'
Show me the money – Part 1
Published November 5, 2010 Life , Travel 2 CommentsTags: budget, costs, monthly, rtw, sea asia, Travel, trip
Show me the money
Published July 29, 2009 Statistics 1 CommentTags: budget, management, money, monthly, Statistics
Today I’ll talk about money, my second favorite subject after travel. Monthly budget management allows me to monitor and plan bigger purchases (such as long haul travel tickets, new camera lenses etc.) without such painful consequences as high credit card fees or living on baked beans last dates of the month. Here is how my average monthly budget looks like (in %):
To be able successfully manage my budget, first I need to know how much I’m spending every month and on what. Second, I separate fixed vs. flexible costs. Third, I constantly (1 a month) optimize and review if allocated proportions still meet my needs. A bit like planning a search campaign:)
First I identify all fixed outgoing payments that I can predict with certainty every month, such as rent, bills, transport that total around 1/3 of my monthly budget. It is all set up on direct debit and synchronized with salary dates, so I’m sure everything is paid on time with no late fees. Next up is my savings, fixed to 1/4 of my monthly income, going into high % ISA. Savings I also see almost as fixed payment, as I would only skip that in case of real emergency.
That leaves me with around 40% of flexible outgoings, that I can play around with. Allocating weekly/monthly allowance for certain things helps, e.g. I set aside fixed money for weekends going out, weekly food shopping and monthly clothing/grooming budget, totals around 1/4 of my monthly income.
Out of flexible outgoings around 12% on average goes to travel, this is one area that can vary dramatically from one month to another, in real terms from 5% to as high as 50% of monthly budget, but I try to keep it in line with average monthly allocation. In typical year I would have 2 long haul trips, 2 weeks each + 4 short haul trips, 3-4 days each, totals around 40-45 days a year for travel, that includes public holidays and weekends. Trips are evenly spread out across the year to plan for a break every 2 months or so.
Finally as in every budget, I have 5% contingency to allow for any unplanned expenditures such as last minute birthday gifts, fixing the water boiler etc.
Hope you found it useful and have a great day!
