Budgeting & My Plan

I leave the USA in just a few days now and have been busy as ever finishing up last minute packing and errands. One of my main concerns while I am gone is how I am going to be wise about my budget and how expenses will be within reason. After some thought, I have decided to set a monthly budget that I need to stick to and be cognizant of while I'm in England and elsewhere. As I discussed the way in which I was going to visually divide up funds for each month with my friend, she decided she was going to use my method as she studies in the UK, too! This prompted me to make this post and share what my plan is with you - as it might help others studying or traveling abroad.

As you can see in the image above, I have sorted a collapsible coupon file envelope into 5 main sections. The first four slots of the envelope are labelled Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4. I then have sorted my maximum weekly budget of cash notes into each week's respective slot. Visually separating my monthly funds into a weekly allotment will make each week's spending be more planned and hopefully make everything run smoothly, as each week's allotted spending is more generous than it technically need to be, in order to allow for "fun" expenses, etc.

I know some of you might be wondering what I'd do if I go under my weekly budget on a given week. In this instance, I will use my designated slot labeled Left Over in the back. My plan is to add about £20 or so to this slot each week. That way, at the end of the month I will have a nice "bank" to pull from if need be or for extra travel expenses. I know some of you might also be wondering what I'd do if I go over my weekly budget. Simple, I won't. Okay, but on a serious note, I really do not intend to go over my weekly budget. If that were to happen, I will pull from my Left Over slot and/or use my regular bank card, which is where back-up funds will hopefully stay.

Anyway, I hope this post has helped some of you who might be in a similar traveling situation get ideas for how to be a reasonable budgeter. Happy travels!