The budget

Eek... the budget. Not something one wants to think about when planning a month long trip, but here goes...
The three of us have committed to being very cheap travelers. According to our research, we can realistically do Thailand on 30$/day without forcing ourselves into starvation or sleeping on the beach. This price includes accomodations (we will be staying in hostels and guesthouses), food and drink.

So, if we assume we will be gone for 30 days, this brings our day to day budget up to 900$. Of course, we will obviously be splurging from time to time on side trips, gratuitous purchases, and travel costs once we're in Thailand, so I would expect to spend anywhere from 1500-2000$ over the course of the month.

Here are a few sites I browsed while trying to establish our budget:
http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-guides/southeast-asia-travel-tips/
http://travelhappy.info/thailand/bangkok-on-30-dollars-a-day/
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006050218997

After comparing the prices of a few of the major airlines, I have come to the conclusion that the round trip will cost anywhere from 1700-2400$, depending on the deals available when I am ready to solidify my plans. We are going to make an honest effort to travel by foot or bike whenever we can (we are backpacking after all), but from time to time we will need to make use of public transit. I have incorporated these travel costs in the day to day budget.

All things considered, this trip is going to run each of us anywhere between 3200-4400$. Personally, I have been putting 100$/month into an account for the trip. When I have more steady employment in the summer, I will try to put aside even more. Hopefully by August 2013 I will have the money saved up.