Budapest budget breakdown

This expense report begins with a lament: I lost my cell phone!

The moment I realized a taxi in Budapest, Hungary was driving away with my device, I knew I was in for a headache. Indeed, my ‘online life’ has been completely upended for the past few weeks.

(It was a cheap, 3-year-old, Samsung/Android model. And I did make out a police report – hoping the taxi driver might turn in the phone. But now, three weeks later, we’ve moved on to Poland and I’ve given up.)

Regarding our expenses; the daily spending records for Budapest disappeared with the phone. We faithfully input our daily costs into the handy “Spending Tracker” app — but I did not use the cloud backup feature.

Nonetheless, I’m determined to provide a Budapest budget breakdown for our stay. So here is what we spent in Budapest from June 10 to July 9, 2025.

Despite losing the phone and daily expense records, I’m quite sure the figures below are generally accurate. Read on for more details.

$2,879 — Charges on credit card

$853 — ATM cash withdrawals

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$3,732 Total: 29 nights, 2 people

Category breakdown:

$1240 — Housing (Airbnb)

$545 — Restaurants

$422 — Travel (airfare & Uber)

$378 — Supplies

$373 — Charity/Gifts

$351 — Groceries

$227 — Excursions

$115 — Beer

$81 — Local Transit

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$3,732 Total

As you can see, it was pretty easy to get the grand total for all our Budapest spending. We only used one ATM card (Schwab High Yield with ATM fee reimbursement) and one credit card (Chase MileagePlus Explorer). A quick check of the online statements for each showed all the withdrawals and charges for the period.

The categories breakdown as shown was more difficult – but still fairly straightforward. All credit card purchases were precisely detailed on the statement. And we could recall some of the bigger cash spends; monthly bus/metro passes, walking tours, second hand clothes shopping. I even checked the photos we take every day – which ARE stored in the cloud – to jog my ‘spending memory’.

Other items like ‘charity’ are recurring. And my monthly carry-out beer expense is usually $100 or so.

Separating the amounts and adding up each category took some extra time (this is what the app does). Then subtracting all the ‘known’ cash expenses from the ATM withdrawal total left $480 ‘unaccounted for’. Obviously, this is the amount we used on mostly food related cash buys; cafes, meals, picnics and snacks, grocery and market purchases, coffees, drinks, impulse items, tips.

I took the liberty of dividing the $480 remainder into the food categories based on the general percentages from some previous recent months breakdowns. I can’t imagine any Budapest category could be off by more than $20 or $30. Close enough without the phone/app.

Here are links to a few of those previous spending reports: Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan.

Regarding the Budapest monthly total of $3,732; not exactly a ‘low budget’ sum. But we know and accept that anywhere in Europe costs way more than developing Asia. Food and lodging are not cheap. Our ‘Supplies’ category was way high; we both got new shoes, Ellen got her hair done. Plus, my siblings and mom joined us from the USA for a few days at the end of the Budapest stay – and we celebrated and spent freely.

In sum, while it is possible to monitor/review one’s travel spending via other means, it sure is convenient to have an app on a phone that compiles the data and provides real-time readouts.

Moreover, in the weeks after I lost the phone – and was NOT doing the daily record keeping – I’ve felt less disciplined about our spending overall. Entering expenses daily helps keep a focus on each spending decision. In my opinion, using a credit card and checking it weeks later invites complacency – and budget excess.

Finally, while some of the password and verification hassles related to the lost phone continue, I am glad to say I now have a new cheap Samsung device and we are back to our daily habit of recording everything we spend in the Spending Tracker app.

As always, be thankful and generous, happy trails & more beer.

Life is NOW!