Annual Expenses To Keep In Mind – Budget Buster
Annual expenses can creep up and bust your budget easily! I shared my worst budget buster with you yesterday. So I thought today would be a good opportunity to share with you a type of budgeting I used to be bad at. I have over come this bad habit and budget buster by planning, planning, planning!
Annual Expenses (or Quarterly Expenses) That Could Bust Your Budget:
(…and have busted mine several times!)
- Home Insurance
- Auto Insurance
- License Plate Tabs
- Property Taxes
- Memberships
- Homeowners Association Fees
- Credit Card Fees
- Holidays or Special Family Occasions
Phew…obviously there could be several more depending on your personal and family circumstances. However, the list above is applicable to many people.
Preparation For Paying Annual Expenses
I have a budget spreadsheet and if you don’t, I highly recommend making one. If that isn’t your style there are many tools and apps out there that work too. Find a way to work these expenses into your budgeting system so you can keep them in mind easily. I find it is easy enough to list them off to the side.
My personal method of budgeting these expenses is to add up the total for the year and divide it by twelve. Each month I take that amount out of our incoming money and set it aside in our savings account for these expenses and then when they come up, I have it set aside.
There are better and worse, simpler and more complex systems, but I find this one is just right for me. I have read many accounts of people actually setting aside a monthly or weekly amount for every single item, but that is too stringent for me.
The most important thing is coming up with a system that works for you and not allowing these annual expenses to bust your budget. It can be hard to remember to save up for these, but you can often get better deals or discounts for paying expenses annually. Happy Budgeting!
