A Fully Funded Adventure in Costa Rica: How I used YNAB to Save and Track my Spending.
This month, I had the absolute pleasure of traveling with my two kids, ages 10 and 14, to Costa Rica. It was an amazing 10 day trip with many highlights including plummeting through the jungle canopy on zip lines, wildlife spotting, dipping in hot springs, snorkeling, and horseback riding. We had the best time and it was totally worth the time, effort, and money that went into it. Costa Rica sure had an impact on us and I can’t wait to go back someday!
Horseback riding near the Arenal Volcano - a highlight!
In this post, I wanted to take the time to capture some lessons learned from using YNAB to save for the trip and track my spending along the way. I also have some key travel and money takeaways to pass along.
Before I dive in, I want to acknowledge that I am writing this post from a position of privilege. I have a good job plus a side hustle that allowed me to save for the trip above and beyond all of my usual monthly and yearly expenses. I realize that not everyone is in the same position and I was hesitant to even write this post in the first place. That said, I am motivated to pass along a few little tidbits that might help someone else planning a trip like this and the writing process helps me remember my takeaways for next time (and there will definitely be a “next time” 😀). As a money coach, I also wanted to walk through a tangible example of how you can align your spending with your priorities.
Saving for the “Big Trip”
About three years ago, I started to feel a really strong pull to take my two kids on an adventure trip outside of Canada. My daughter is a teenager and I had been feeling like time was ticking by a little bit too quickly. It was time to have an amazing experience with them in another country.
I remember creating a vaguely-titled new category in YNAB called “Big Trip” and setting up a “monthly savings builder” target. This type of target prompted me to add the same amount of money to the category each month. This was a great target type for this phase of the process when I had a vague idea of a future trip in mind, but nothing was set in stone.
Over the next many months, I added as much money to this category as I could. I couldn’t meet the target every month because of other life priorities, but this was fine. Those of you who use YNAB know that when you’re not able to fund the category to the target amount the category will turn yellow. During the months I wasn’t able to fully fund the category, I learned to (I had to, really) “embrace the yellow”. Note: there is a handy “snooze” button in YNAB now that can turn off that yellow warning to recognize a deliberate decision to not meet a particular target that month.
After a while, and I don’t remember exactly when, I started to research flights, trip options, and costs. My heart became set on Costa Rica. I used Google Sheets to create a rough estimate of the trip costs, destination ideas, accommodation options, and a “to do” list. As the trip started to become clearer in terms of timing and costs, I changed the target type in YNAB from a “monthly savings builder” target to a “needed for spending by date” target (so in this case the target was xxxx dollars by March 2024). I also changed the name of the category to “Costa Rica 2024”.
These subtle moves in YNAB really made the trip feel real to me. If I wanted to have a fully funded trip (that is, to not incur any debt), this target type would help me get there. Switching to a “needed for spending” target also worked well because spending towards the trip along the way (like on flights and pre-paid accommodation) was accounted for in the overall target for the trip.
About one year out, it was game time. Time to buckle down and make sure that I was going to meet the target. I assigned any “extra” money beyond my usual monthly income that came into the category (for example, money from my coaching business, overtime pay, months with three paycheques). By the time I started booking our flights and accommodation last summer, I knew that I’d have a “fully funded” trip.
Time to Spend Some Money
As the folks at YNAB like to stay, saving is really just future spending. I decided to keep things simple and keep the one “Costa Rica March 2024” category in YNAB and spend from it along the way. I really liked this approach because it was simple during the trip to assign all of the spending to the one category. Quick and easy. The downside to this approach and not dividing the trip up into different more refined categories within YNAB (dining out, activities, gas etc..) was that I would generally have to divide up the money left in the category in my head between the various elements. But I think that while I was in vacation mode this was the easiest approach. No need to fret about which category the 5,000 colones (around $10 USD) I spent on a parking and beach chair would fall under. It also made the daily YNAB routine quick.
The sunsets were dreamy ..
I did keep YNAB up to date during the trip. This only took a few minutes a day and by doing this I was able to keep a general handle on how the spending was going vis a vis the budgeted amount. I used my credit card for most purchases and I found that the exchange rate for pending transactions was slightly different by the time the purchases cleared so I would have to update the transactions manually with the final amount. I didn’t bring my laptop with me and used the mobile app. The mobile app isn’t my favourite but it did the trick.
I ended up spending pretty close to what I estimated overall. We changed a few of the activities around and added on an expensive but well worth it trip to some hot springs to meet up with some dear friends. Our food costs were a little higher than I estimated too. I ended up going about $500 CAD over budget. After the trip and once all of the transactions cleared, I covered this overspending from a few other categories.
A Few Key Takeaways
As promised, and in no particular order, here are a few key takeaways from my experience saving for and spending on this trip:
Research, research, research. Put together a good estimate of how much your trip is going to cost by reading blogs and using online spaces like Reddit and Trip Advisor. For many destinations, it is easy to figure out the costs of various activities online.
Once you have a good idea of your total trip cost and when you are going to go, use a “Needed for Spending by date” target set for the end of month of your trip. This way, any spending you do pre-trip will count towards the final amount.
Add a buffer to the total estimated cost amount of your trip, say 15-20%. It is impossible to price a trip down to the penny. Give yourself some wiggle room even if it might take a bit longer to save this amount. This will give you the ability to add on that extra activity that you didn’t think of and account for any unforeseen expenses. This is something that I didn’t do that I will do next time around.
Keep YNAB up to date during your trip. Some may not love this approach but I was happy checking in with my budget every day to enter transactions and reconcile. It also gave me reassurance that things were generally on track.
Travelling with kids? Give them some cash in the local currency for their spending money. I gave each of my kids 25,000 colones each (about $50 USD) for their spending money and we kept these amounts separate from my cash. Anything that they wanted to buy above and beyond that amount came from their own accounts. It was a great way for us to keep track and the cash in Costa Rica is just so colourful and fun.
Final Thoughts
Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
Embarking on our Costa Rica adventure was not just about the destination; it was a journey of careful planning, budgeting, and ultimately, unforgettable experiences with my children. I don’t know if I would have been able to pull this off without YNAB. The travel bug has now firmly taken hold and I can’t wait to start planning for our next adventure. It will take me several years to save enough for the next “big trip” but I almost enjoy the planning and budgeting part of the journey as much as the trip itself (those who know me know that this is a true statement and not tongue in cheek, ha). Pura Vida!
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