Your trip
Sample trips
Samples are 2026 planning splits, not live quotes. Category actuals are what you type. The day log is the receipt trail.
Planned is the budget. Actual is what hit the card. A 10% buffer is the ceiling.
Multi-day log
One line per receipt. The log is the trail. It does not overwrite category actuals.
Start a blank trip, or load a sample. Then log the first expense to see under plan, inside the buffer, or over the ceiling.
Optional
The number is on the page. The email is optional.
The download below has no email gate. If you want the Tuesday brief — one real trip with the math worked out — leave an address. We will not sell it.
Trip expense tracker — common questions
What is a trip expense tracker?
It is where you log what a vacation costs against the plan. This page does that in the browser: categories, a receipt log, a chart, CSV, and a link you can send. Load a sample or start a blank trip. The spreadsheet further down is optional.
What is a vacation budget tracker?
The same tool, aimed at the trip budget rather than a household budget. Planned and actual sit side by side for lodging, flights, food, tickets, transport, insurance, tips, and extras. A 10% buffer is the ceiling unless you change it.
What is a trip budget tracker?
It compares what you planned to spend with what you actually spent. This page does that in the browser by category, with a multi-day log, a chart, and a CSV export. The Excel workbook further down is optional.
How do I track planned vs actual vacation cost?
Enter planned and actual for lodging, flights, food, tickets, transport, insurance, tips, and extras. The result is under plan, inside the buffer, or over the ceiling. Day-log lines are the receipt trail. They do not replace the category actuals until you edit those numbers.
Can I track a vacation that is not Orlando?
Yes. Load a Caribbean cruise, Hawaii, Europe, a Cancún all-inclusive, or a Smoky Mountains drive. Or start blank. Samples link to Trip Plan or the page that published the cost band. Before the trip, turn the total into a monthly target with the vacation savings calculator.
Do I have to download the spreadsheet?
No. Copy a trip link or export CSV from the result. The .xlsx is the same idea for Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets, with no email gate.
What's the over-count buffer?
A buffer, 10% by default, sits on top of the planned total. The ceiling is plan plus that buffer. Change the percent on this page. In the workbook the same idea is cell D5 on the Plan sheet.
OPTIONAL WORKBOOK
The same tracker as a spreadsheet
Use this if you want the file. The browser tool above is the trip budget tracker. Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, LibreOffice. No signup.
Download the .xlsxWhat's inside
Six sheets, designed to work together. Edit any number — every total updates live.
Start Here
Trip name, destination, travelers, dates. These feed every other sheet automatically.
Plan
13 default categories with Disney starter numbers. Edit any cell. Buffer (default 10%) is configurable.
Trip Log
50 rows ready for daily expenses. Category dropdown, automatic per-traveler split, who-paid tracking.
Dashboard
KPI cards for planned vs actual, conditional formatting (green = under budget, red = over), by-category table, who-paid summary, and a live chart.
Categories
The dropdown source. Edit, add, rename. The Trip Log dropdown updates automatically.
Methodology
Nine FAQ items covering the buffer math, named ranges, and what to do if a formula breaks.
What it does
- Adds a configurable buffer (default 10%) on top of your plan — biased toward over-counting so you don't get surprised
- Calculates per-traveler costs everywhere — change the traveler count once, every per-person number updates
- SUMIFs the Trip Log into Dashboard categories automatically — log a $42 expense, dashboard updates instantly
- Conditional formatting on the dashboard: red text + pink fill for over budget, green for comfortable, plain for in-between
- Dropdowns on Category and Split columns so a typo can't break the math
- Tracks who paid (Card A, Card B, Cash, Other — rename to match your actual cards) for easy reimbursement math
- Personal vs split expenses — set the Split column per row, per-person share adjusts automatically
- 50 expense rows ready, easy to add more without breaking formulas
- All formatting, dropdowns, and the dashboard chart preserved across Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice
The pairing that works best:
Run a website calculator first to set your plan numbers. The Disney, cruise, all-inclusive, road trip, and theme parks calculators all give you sourced 2026 line items in 60 seconds. Drop those into the tracker's Plan sheet. Then log actuals as you go.
Workbook questions
Does the file work in Numbers and Google Sheets?
Yes. Numbers opens the .xlsx natively. In Google Drive, open it with Sheets. Formulas, the dashboard chart, and dropdowns come across. You do not need the file to use the tracker on this page.
How is this different from the calculators?
Disney, cruise, all-inclusive, and Trip Plan estimate a trip from 2026 prices. This tracker is where you put that plan next to what you actually spent, including days that were not in the estimate. Use the “compare” links on the result to jump back with the destination filled in.
How we built it
Every default number in the Plan sheet matches the same sources we use for the calculators: official 2026 Disney pricing, NerdWallet, AAA, Touring Plans, and cruise line tariffs (updated September 2026). The buffer is deliberate — we'd rather you over-budget and have money left than under-budget and panic. All formulas use named ranges so they survive when you add or rename rows.
READY?
Download the workbook
Optional. The planned-vs-actual number is already on this page.
Download the .xlsx