Travel Spending and Currency Conversion Log

Who this is for

What you spend abroad, in both currencies. Each purchase goes in at the local price with the exchange rate you used, and the log converts it to your home currency. Cash and card are kept apart, so you can see how much of the budget went each way.

Travellers spending in a currency other than their own who want to know what the trip is really costing while they are still on it, not when the statement arrives.

What this helps you track

• Every purchase in the local currency, with the date and a category
• The exchange rate you applied to each one
• What each purchase cost in your home currency
• How much went on cash and how much on card
• What is left of the trip budget

How to use it

1. Write the trip, the local and home currencies and your budget in home currency at the top.
2. Record each purchase as you go: date, what it was, category, the local amount and cash or card.
3. Enter the rate you are using, written as home currency per one unit of local currency; take it from your own exchange receipt, bank app or card statement.
4. The home amount, the cash column, the totals and the budget remaining are worked out in the browser and the workbook; on paper, multiply across and add down.
5. Fill the category summary at the end of each day or the end of the trip, then check card lines against your statement when it arrives.

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

Which exchange rate should I use?

The one you actually got. For cash, that is the rate on your exchange receipt; for card spending, the rate your bank applied, which appears on the statement. No rate is supplied here because it changes daily and differs between providers.

How do I write the rate?

As how much home currency one unit of local currency costs. If your provider quotes it the other way round, divide one by their figure first. Keep the same convention for every line or the conversions will be wrong.

What about card fees?

Enter any charge your bank adds as its own line with the category Fees, in home currency with a rate of 1, so the total reflects what the trip cost you.

How is this different from the holiday budget and spend log?

That sheet plans and records spending in one currency. This log is built for trips abroad: every line carries a local amount, the rate used and the converted figure, and cash and card are separated.