The gap between what you've saved and what you need (and how to close it)

13 August 2026

Inside this newsletter👉

• The two real ways to close your Big Lap savings gap
• Why your departure date has to be locked in first
• The other option some families use when they haven't saved it all
• Need to grab the budget spreadsheet that does it all? ​

Hello from cold Adelaide!

Last week, we took the van out for its very first night away! whohoo!! Some call it a shake down trip, some call it the first trip - whatever it's called, we're slowly getting used to our new home on wheels.

Video on that coming soon... and some of the things we found out along the way.

But for now, a common question we get when it comes to budgeting for the big lap (or any long trip, really) is what happens when what you need to save looks huge?!

Here's a few tips:

Get your real number first

Before anything else, you need a tangible budget figure that's actually yours, not an average off the internet, not a guesstimate. Pair that with a locked-in departure date and the weekly maths becomes simple: gap divided by weeks until you leave.

To get that figure, here is the spreadsheet that we use and many others use to make life easy

Watch the video here:

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Two real levers if that number looks impossible

You can move your departure date — mindfully, as a family decision, not a drift into nothing.

Or you can lower the total budget: more free camping, caravan parks a little further off the beaten track, fewer kilometres. Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for some further info on how to get that cost down.

But... if you choose to move the departure date, please lock in a new one right away! (I've seen it happen too many times where the date gets moved to thin air...)

Either one (or a mix of both) brings that weekly number down to something manageable.

A quick word from our sponsor today:

Something else:

Plenty of families (us included, on our last trip) depart without the full amount saved, relying on ongoing income, work on the road, renting out the house, etc to help cover the gap.

It's not winging it, it's a calculated, deliberate plan B, but again, it needs to be done mindfully.

If you would like some info on working on the road, check out my Skool Plan.Save.Travel where I have a bunch of info about that.

Have a lovely day
Margie

PS if you want to work out your own real weekly number, grab our Big Lap budget calculator here​