When I talk to people about setting aside savings or creating a budget, I often hear things like this:
“It’s pointless. Whatever I save gets used up by some unexpected expense.”
“Every time I try to live by a budget something comes up that throws the whole thing off.”
Unexpected expenses can throw a monkey wrench into anyone’s plans. They can be a big contributor to increasing debt.
What is the solution? Expecting more of your expenses.
If you sit down and think for a moment, you can likely predict the vast majority of your expenses. You won’t necessarily get a monthly bill for all of them, but you can manage them as if you did.
If you have a car or a home, you will have maintenance and repair expenses. If your health care plan has a deductible and copay, you’ll eventually pay something for a doctor’s visit. If you have family, you’ll buy gifts or travel to see them.
It’s a given. So you really can’t call these costs unexpected, though they may be untimely. Since they can reasonably be predicted you can set some money aside for them in your budget, even if none of these expenses are imminent. Here are a few tips for estimating what to include.
Car
To estimate how much you should save for maintenance costs, use the Total Cost of Ownership Calculator from Edmunds. There you can enter the make, model, and year your car was made to find out what you can expect to pay for maintenance and repairs for the next five years. If your car is expected to cost you $1,200 per year, set aside $100 per month in your budget.
Home
Typical home maintenance and repairs average about $1 per square foot per year. If your home has 1,500 square feet, you should be saving $1,500 per year, or $125 per month. You won’t necessarily pay that every year, but if you live in your home long enough, you eventually will. You should be saving at least that amount so you have the money available when a costly repair is required. You may need more if you know your furnace or roof is on its last legs.
Health Care
Health care expenses are a frequent cause of financial stress. In fact, medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcies in the US. To minimize your risks, work toward accumulating at least your plan’s deductible in savings. If your annual deductible is $2,500, to accumulate that in a year, you would set aside $208 per month. Your stretch goal is to accumulate your maximum out-of-pocket expenses over time.
Family
Birthdays, holidays, celebrations, and family gatherings can all put a dent in your bank account. But you know when they’ll happen, so plan for them. Decide now how much you will spend for the family obligations in your future, and set a bit of money aside each month to cover those expenses.
These types of expenses are part of your cost of living. They need to be part of your budget. If they are not, they will inevitably cause to you to blow it. Making the effort to predict your future expenses is the key to successful budgeting. Setting money aside for them in advance will allow you to stick with your budget and allow your savings for other things, like emergencies, and retirement, to stay saved.
Julie Grandstaff 