Combine fuel cost with lodging and food per day to build a complete road-trip budget.
Overview
Trip budgets fail when they only count gas. Lodging and meals often dominate multi-day drives.
Enter distance, vehicle MPG, and fuel price for the fuel leg, then add lodging and food per day times trip days.
Rerun with carpool occupancy or a more efficient vehicle to see how fuel share changes the total.
Steps
Total trip miles.
Expected efficiency and $/gallon.
Number of days on the road.
Per-day lodging and food budgets.
Review fuel, lodging, food, and grand total.
Math
fuel = (distance / mpg) × fuelPrice; total = fuel + lodgingPerDay×days + foodPerDay×days
Gallons equal miles divided by MPG. Multiply by price, then add daily lodging and food across days.
Worked cases
Fuel≈(400/28)×3.50≈$50; lodging $240; food $120; total≈$410
About $410 total.
Fuel≈$182; lodging $400; food $220; total≈$802
About $800 total.
Fuel≈$15.9; food $40; total≈$56
About $56 total.
Why use this
Questions