Accurately budgeting a vacation is nearly impossible. There are almost always hidden charges and fees somewhere along the way.
From extra baggage fees to the “couvert” charge at European restaurants, travel is rarely cheap. Today, I’m going to show you how to keep track of your travel expenses no matter where you go using a simple Android app.
Step 1) Download and install an app called Trip Budget, which is free from the Google Play Store
Step 2) Open the app and play around with the budget information
All budget information is colorfully and beautifully displayed on your screen. The app is surprisingly aesthetically pleasing and breaks down your travel expenses into three different areas:
-Transport
-Accommodations
-Food
You can also break down each of these categories even further with subcategories like plane, taxi, bus, gas, camping, rent, insurance, and drinks.
The most useful part of the app, however, is the ability to distinguish between your planned expenses and your actual expenses. Planned expense totals appear in orange/yellow, while your “fact” expenses appear in blue.
This lets you easily see just how much you overspent (or, if you’re lucky, underspent) for every category. The total trip expense across all categories is added up at the top of your screen. Better yet, the app automatically converts your total expense amounts into your chosen base currency. So if you bought something in Euros, you can input it into your app in Euros and watch it show up as US Dollars.
There’s so much more to Trip Budget than just the main budget screen. You can view your expenses as a percentage of your total budget and describe further details about each expense – like putting “McDonalds” under your $7.00 dinner expense, for example.
You’ll also find an “options of my trip” section where you’ll find a number of different images you can use as “themes” for your app. Themes are of different travel spots around the world – from the Sydney Opera house to the Pyramids of Giza.
Adding expenses is easy, but you’re still going to have to take time out of your travel day to add up all your receipts and totals. However, if you’re strict about your budget, then all of your hard work will undoubtedly pay off. This is one app where its usefulness depends entirely on the info you put into it.
You can view the original XDA Developers Forum link here. Or, download Trip Budget from the Google Play store here.
