Caravan and Motorhome Trip Budget

Who this is for

One tour, costed before you go and checked when you are back. Site fees, fuel, ferries, tolls, gas and hook-up sit beside food and outings, each planned then actual.

Caravan, motorhome and campervan owners planning a tour at home or abroad, and anyone who wants to know what a week away in the van really cost once everything is in.

What this helps you track

• What you expected each part of the tour to cost before you set off
• What was actually spent on site fees, fuel, crossings and the rest
• The lines that came in over or under the plan
• What each cost line worked out at per night away
• The cost of the whole tour per night and per person per night

How to use it

1. Write the trip, the dates, the number of nights away and the number of people at the top.
2. Before you go, put a planned figure against each cost line using your own bookings, quotes and past receipts.
3. Fill in the actual column during the tour or from receipts when you get home; add lines of your own for anything the list misses.
4. The difference, per-night figures and summary are worked out in the browser and the workbook; on paper, subtract across and divide by the nights.
5. Use the notes to record what to plan differently next time, then carry the actual figures into the next tour's plan.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

What counts as a night?

The number you write in the nights field. Most people count the nights spent away in the van, including any on a ferry or at an aire. The per-night figures divide by whatever you enter, so be consistent from trip to trip.

Where do the planned figures come from?

From your own booking confirmations, ferry quotes, last year's receipts and a fuel estimate for the route. The sheet supplies no prices; the fuel stop and range planner can help put a figure on the fuel line.

How is this different from the motorhome running cost spreadsheet?

The running cost spreadsheet covers the year of owning the van: insurance, storage, servicing and depreciation. This sheet covers one tour and only what that trip spent while you were away.

Can I split costs between two households travelling together?

Enter the combined figures and the total number of people, and the per-person figure gives a fair share. For uneven splits, a group cost split sheet does the who-owes-whom arithmetic.