Over Budget... How Do You Do Budgeting When On The Road?

I had a budget of 10,000 yen(100yen/1USD, give or take) for my four-day ride trip over the last weekend. Guess how I did? I couldn't believe myself. 

Here's a list of the expenses:

<2017 Golden Week Ride(4 days 3 nights) expenses>

Daiso(Dollar Store) camping goods = 1080

Himalaya(Outdoor Gear Store) food = 906

Tobishima bridge toll = 560 X 2 = 1120

Fuel = 2016 + 1500 + 1895 = 5411
(I do have more than 3 quarters of fuel left when arriving home though)

Ferry = 1420 X 2 = 2840

Lunch Sukiya(traditional Japanese fast-food chain) = 500

Dinner Marunaka (localsupermarket) = 563

Lunch Aeon(local supermarket) = 291

Breakfast(convenience store) = 338

Lunch Udon(traditional Japanese noodle) = 700

24HR Sauna(one night of room, dinner and car park) = 2950 + 500 + 700 = 4150

Total = 17,899

Over budget by 7899 Yen = roughly 78 USD

The biggest chunk of money was spent on fuel. Next is transportation (toll and ferry), followed by a room at night. 

So, where did my budgeting go wrong? 

For one, I didn't plan on staying at the 24HR sauna. That would have had saved me 41 dollars if I chose to camp. However I did go there because I had to. I guess in the future I would need to take my health condition into consideration when allocating budget for lodging. It's only a night but it more or less blew my budget. 

Next is the fuel. To be fair I was almost right about it but I played safe by refueling for the third time. If I hadn't done that it would have saved me another 18 dollars. As for the toll and ferry rides, there's no way I could do away with them. In fact, they are significantly cheaper than the highway. I am glad I took that ferry.

All in all, even if there was no surprises in this trip, I would still have had over budget for about 30 dollars. 

What I took away from this is the lesson whereby:

1. I need to allocate my budget in a more realistic manner

2. I need to allocate a "OTHERS" category for emergencies

3. Make my budget and stick to it. When all else fails, just accepts it and move on.

So, what's your story in budgeting? 

Cheers,

CK