Track Your Travel Budget
One of the most useful things Smooth Traveling does is give you a single place to track everything you spend — and everything you plan to spend — on a trip. The Budget tab separates your estimated costs (what you expect to pay) from actual costs (what you've already paid), so you can see both your projected total and your real spend as the trip evolves.
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Set a trip budget
When you create a trip, enter a total budget figure. This becomes the ceiling shown in the Budget tab summary. You can change it at any time from the Overview tab if your plans change.
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Add budget items
In the Budget tab, click Add item. Give it a name (e.g. 'Return flights', 'Hotel Barcelona 3 nights'), choose a category (Flights, Accommodation, Food, Activities, Transport, or Other), and enter an estimated amount. If you've already paid, enter the actual amount too. Leave the actual field blank for things not yet purchased.
Tip: Log everything — even small daily allowances for food and transport. The small amounts add up quickly, and having them in the tracker stops budget surprises. - 3
Read the summary
The top of the Budget tab shows your total budget, your total estimated spend, and your total actual spend. The remaining figure is your budget minus the estimated total, giving you a clear view of how much headroom you have left.
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Review by category
Below the summary, items are grouped by category with subtotals. This breakdown makes it easy to see which category is eating most of your budget — and where you can trim if needed.
Tip: If you're travelling with multiple people, log the total group cost and divide mentally — the app shows per-person cost in the summary when you've set a traveller count. - 5
Build budget from your itinerary
Already added estimated costs to your itinerary items? Click Build from itinerary in the Budget tab toolbar. The app reads every itinerary item with an estimated cost and creates matching budget entries automatically — no need to enter the same amounts twice.
Tip: Run Build from itinerary again after adding more items to your plan — it only creates new budget lines and won't overwrite anything you've already edited.
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