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6 Expenses You Should Be Saving For

I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at For the Mommas about An Easy Way to Save for Irregular Expenses, and I’m excited to welcome Phoebe from Getting Freedom to Life Your Way:

Staying in control of your finances can be really hard, especially when you’re not prepared for the everyday. We’ve made countless monthly cash flow plans. Some we’ve used with great success, while others failed from the get-go.

The failures all have one thing in common–we failed to plan for any future expenses. Major budget fail!

Home Repairs

Even if you live in a new home, home repairs are bound to happen. They could be as small as repairing a hot water heater to repairing your roof. Something small can really throw off your cash flow plan if you’ve not allowed them. Our goal is to have the amount of our home insurance deductible in its own savings account.

If you are a renter with the goal of owning your own home, instead of saving for repairs that are covered by your landlord, why not put back money for your future down payment?

Car Repairs/Purchase

Think oil changes, flat tires, and windshield repairs.

I don’t know about you, but even with new vehicles, it seems car repairs are never-ending. If you find yourself drowning in them it might be time for you to start putting money in a separate savings account so you can buy a new vehicle for cash. While continuously repairing a car may be tempting, knowing when to draw the line is essential. A windshield replacement is one of the most common repairs that can become costly. If your car needs windshield replacement more than once or twice, investing in a quality windshield may be more cost-effective in the long run.

Clothing Purchases/Haircuts

The money we spend on clothing and haircuts is often overlooked since it isn’t a regular expense. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a real expense! When I’ve not set aside money for clothing and haircuts, I find that I rob another budget category instead. Not only am I not being honest with myself, but I end up having no idea what I end up spending, and in the process, I mess up another category. Which will inevitably end up in failure. Either a total budget failure or debt. Neither of which is pretty!

College

I know that there are varying opinions on whether to save for your child’s college education or not. My opinion:: If you’re in a position to save {even a little!}, go for it. At the average cost of $35,000 for one year of college, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be able to save enough for all four of my children to attend college. Every little bit does help and starting them out on the right foot is important.

Retirement

You do not want to be working for all of your life–so plan now! As a general guideline, if you’re looking to retire when you’re 65, you need 6 times your annual income set aside in a retirement plan. Basically, you’d have to set aside 13% of your income for 30 years to fully fund your retirement account. That may mean cutting back in areas now so that you won’t be working later.

Unexpected

Let’s face it, life is full of the unexpected. It’s better to just plan for it so you won’t derail your budget. A good round number for your emergency fund is $1000, although setting aside enough for 3-6 months’ worth of your living expenses is a safe way to ensure that if something were to happen to your income stream, your bills would still be paid.

See all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants here.

What other expenses do you save for?

In 2008, after discovering they were close to $40,000 in debt, Phoebe and her husband decided things needed to change.  She found it her mission to find every single penny in their budget, and get freedom from the lender.  Resources are slim in their rural area, so she’s had to get creative! Phoebe shares her joys of gardening, canning, cooking from scratch, and crafting {amongst other things} on her blog, Getting Freedom.