Unplanned, Unavoidable Expenses this year

[Teacher Terry]

Every year has lumpy expenses. This year for me it was the vet for 3k. When I moved my couch wouldn’t go in the elevator or up the steps so had to buy a loveseat for 1k. Some years it’s home, car or unexpected medical bills.

 

[W2R]

We always like to remind others to include wiggle room for lumpy expenses in their budgets, and often see folks projecting plans for retirement that seem to miss the irregular big things that can crop up. For us this year was a doozy. [...]

So... yeah. 15k of stuff we had no reason to expect on Jan1! (not the best year for me to have also decided to get lots of new furniture as well...)

Anyone else have some of these?

Unplanned and unavoidable expenses?



Well, I don't yet know what those weeks in the (Covid) ICU at those two hospitals in Arkansas will cost. Apparently some of the bills have been paid, and some are still being negotiated with Medicare (primary) and with my BCBS Standard federal retiree insurance (secondary). I'd like to be a fly on the wall in that room!

Anyway my best guess is that insurance will cover most of it, but who knows.

My hospitalization was definitely not planned! But it was necessary and hey, despite things being touch and go for a while, I got through it (thanks to the doctors and nurses at the hospital). I'm ALIVE and apparently not out of money so honestly I have no complaints.

 

[Sunset]

Not unexpected but dreaded for a few years, but we replaced the roof including all the plywood underneath this year for about $17,000. I think the radiant barrier osb plywood was about $5,000 installed by itself, but it had to be done. ....

I saw a neighbor do this, and I can't understand why it was necessary

Unexpected was the water heater died while the roof was in progress. Iirc another $1400 for that. Seems like there was another smaller thing, because things come in threes, but I forget, or am repressing that memory.

Maybe the 3rd thing is Alzheimer

 

[FIREd]

I'll answer that question in a couple of days, after my car's annual mandatory inspection .

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Pretty sure I have an A/C coming. Was low on refrigerant over Memorial Day weekend and rather than diagnose with an isolation test (3 days no A/C with a hot forecast) I elected for dye/sealant and fortunately it held all season. I plan to have them come out in January to check the system and hopefully fix the leak if not in the compressor. If it's holding pressure or the leak is in the line I'll probably try to get another year out and hopefully supply chain issues will be worked out some to maybe give me more options.



A/C sure seems expensive for what they are but at least I have a company that has earned my trust to call.

 

[JoeWras]

My pain this year was HVAC to the tune of about $9k.

 

[JoeWras]

Not unexpected but dreaded for a few years, but we replaced the roof including all the plywood underneath this year for about $17,000. I think the radiant barrier osb plywood was about $5,000 installed by itself, but it had to be done. While spending the big bucks we added a sun tunnel to the dark hall for about $700 more.

How's that radiant barrier OSB working for you? I'm considering something similar.

I saw a neighbor do this, and I can't understand why it was necessary

In my case, I have had seepage around some roof penetrations. I'll have to get at least 4 sheets replaced on my next roof job, which is going to have to happen sooner than later.

So, the question becomes, do I want to just go ahead and go with the radiant barrier OSB? I'm leaning against it because I live in a humid area and the barrier can condense water in the winter. This likely is not a problem in Reseda.

 

[goingtotravel]

The timing of these expenses were unplanned but after reading these forums for years we have a hefty 'unexpected/lumpy' expense budget to cover these type of issues.

1) About $3,200 in car repairs/maintenance since we put off buying new cars for a few years. Hoping car prices start to fall in 2022 so we can go ahead and replace at least one of our cars

2) New dishwasher $1,150

3) Two of our dogs passed away - about $2,000 in extra vet bills this year

4) New water treatment system (DIY) - $3,600. Been on a well for over 20 years. Had pressure tanks and well pump replaced prior to FIRE but still ended up having to replace the water treatment system too.

 

[jollystomper]

Our only "unplanned" expenses this year (so far) were about $3,000 in medical ( root canal for me, bone spur surgery + rehab for DW), $500 repair for our 8 year old refrigerator, and a $650 whole house duct cleaning (though many said this does not make a difference, we figured what the heck, and have noticed some environment improvements from it).

We had some legal expenses related to estate planning, but I knew we would have spend this going into retirement, so not really unplanned, we just decided to bite the bullet this year. Our auto maintenance this year has not been out of line from what we expected (things that require periodic maintenance like tires, brakes, filters, fluids), due to the age of our cars. We are waiting for some older appliances to move into "beyond simple repairs" mode, so replacing them will not be a surprise.

Even after upping our Christmas/Holiday gifting, our 2021 cash flow will likely be negative by just several hundred dollars. We are still spending less than we planned. Even is we had been able to spend our $20K allocation for international travel, we would still be below our extravagant spending level. We hope to work on that in 2022 .

 

[REWahoo]

This was our year for "waterworks" repairs and upgrades.

Spent a little over $7K in total for well repairs including replacing the submersible and pressure pumps, a new water softener and a new water heater. I thought it was way too much money at the time, but looking back at our budget and expenditures for the year we will end up spending less than 75% of our income, including taxes. Need some BTD initiatives.

 

[1242Vintage]

Pretty much rehabbed or replaced all the major home systems (roof, AC, kitchen/bath, water heater, etc) before retirement.

Had two unplanned expenses in the past few years. First was youngest daughters grad school costs. We encouraged her to apply to a top-tier school but were not optimistic about her chances. She got in. $100k per year X two.

Second was also from my daughter … before she went off to that spendy grad school …. and truly was a surprise. She flooded the second floor bathroom which cascaded through the ceiling for an hour and caused extensive water damage. Insurance covered some of the repair costs, but there were plenty of other costs that insurance didn’t cover.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

This year hasn't been terrible (2020 was NO fun) but not cheap, either.

2020 "extras" included almost 8K for pet care (3 older dogs including an expensive surgery) and 13K for work around the house (mostly tree removal/remediation after ice storm and subsequent snow storm)....so about $21,000 in extras.

2021 "extras" is about 9K in house issues (assorted issues) but pets have been more reasonable.

Adding insult to injury, had we remained in our rental house when we moved to flyover country (lived there about 6 months until we bought our current house for cash in late 2018) instead of buying, we would have had significant returns on that money. It would have been far, FAR cheaper to rent. Oh well...the American dream, right?

 

[pacergal]

About $2000 for unplanned travel to friends memorial service
$200 for DH broken tooth that was pulled and bridge made
About $3000 to help DS into apartment this year

 

[Scrapr]

It all started with good intentions. SO & I were at an charity auction. Attendance was about 25% of normal because Covid. As the auction is starting I tell SO I am just going to paddle raise for $5k and be done. She says why don't you get something for it? So I start in on a whiskey basket. Probably 15 bottles, plus cigars and other stuff. Bidding starts getting heated with one other bidder as I pass the $5k mark. I finally win at somewhere north of 5.5k. Great!

Take the bottles home & literally no place to store or display them. One of the bedrooms has a closet plumbed for a wet bar. Hey! Let's just pop in a wet bar. Cabinet, plumbing, electrical & granite top....and since you have to buy a full slab may as well do the extra bath nearby. And sinks & faucets. Plus furniture!

Aiyiyi. Good thing the market is kind

 

[Major Tom]

I'm having an unexpected tooth extraction (#2 tooth) in the next week or two. It won't cost much, but the bigger lumpy expense will come next year, when it is replaced with an implant. ~$5.5K if bone grafting is needed, and $4.6K if not. Although I would quite like to be a homeowner again, it's times like this that I am happy to be a renter. Not owning property sure does help to keep the unexpected big expenses down.

On the subject of unexpected and unavoidable expenses, I think a lot of the instances we are quoting aren't completely unexpected. We know that things like A/C's, roofs, cars etc are going to need replacing at some point. We just don't know exactly when. It was the same with my dental work. As much as I'd like to make it through the next few decades with just periodic cleanings, I know that's unrealistic. I spent $5K on my teeth about 5 or 6 years ago, and had a feeling another big dental expense would happen in the future.

Most of these expenses we call unexpected, are not really that - and that's why we save.

 

[tmm99]

I think stars aligned for this year to be a spendy year for us...

New roof (shingles flying off during a wind storm), a new fridge (old one broke), a new laptop (old one broke), a new car (old one broke, bought a 2017 car), and finally getting our wills drawn (getting close to being done.)

Seriously, all those unexpected but necessary expenses do not usually happen in the same year, but this year they did. I'm glad 2021 is almost over!

Yes, everyone should take into consideration that this could happen to them too and plan accordingly. Our expenses are relatively low every year (less than 3% WR although it will be slightly higher this year), so we can absorb this without any issues, so that's a good thing.

 

[marko]

On Jan 1,2020, DW and I had zero plans for any big expenses.

By March we decided that we needed to sell our forever home (neighborhood quality of life issues) and coupled to not knowing how bad Covid would be, decided to move quickly:

$11K to reno the bath to prep for sale (we had spent $40K on a new kitchen the year before)
$2K for house/attic/basement cleanout
$3K for asbestos mitigation
$6K for movers (had to store our stuff while the new house was being built, so two moves)
$14K for AirBnb because the house we were building wasn't ready for 4 months
$10K for deposits on two cars because our car leases were up
$6K for crowns, posts, etc for two of us
$8K for new appliances for the new house ( it came with some things)
$2K for 90th birthday party for mom
and......$150K to make up the difference between the sale of our old house and the cost of our new one.

Quite a year.

And now, with the "fine tuning" of the new house we've spent another $60K in 2021. New patio, new furniture, landscaping, irrigation, $8K for window shades! etc.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I have had a very predictable 2021. So far and knock on wood. Probably less than $2500 in unexpected spending. And $1750 of that was to address buyer’s financing requirements for a second home I was selling. I spent a lot more on optional things this year (like painting the house), but those were of my own choosing.

 

[ohiodep]

Son totaled our minivan and the used replacement cost $15,000 more than our insurance payout. (and now the unforeseen 3 years of higher insurance premiums.....)

Wife and son's dental work over $2k for the year.

It's just money, right?

 

[MC Rider]

I saw a neighbor do this, and I can't understand why it was necessary

Maybe the 3rd thing is Alzheimer

It's a 1956 house and when they removed the 2 layers of comp shingles on top and the layer of original wood shingles, all that was left was narrow boards with spaces between them. So, no choice but to do plywood first. The roof was I think 24 squares. Hard to believe they built it that way, but from what I have seen it was typical back then.



@Joewras


How's that radiant barrier OSB working for you? I'm considering something similar.


The radiant barrier is what looks like a layer of aluminum foil on the bottom side of the plywood sheets. I think this may be required here, but not sure. It is supposed to provide insulation. Hard to say how well it works. I don't live in the attic. But it can't hurt. I should probably insulate the attic too.

 

[RobbieB]

Oh yeah!

Blown in rockwool is cheap too and quick, be done in a few hours.

 

[MC Rider]

Oh yeah!

Blown in rockwool is cheap too and quick, be done in a few hours.

Also would hide the wood splinters and other debris from the roof tear off.

 

[NW-Bound]

On Jan 4th, we went out to buy a new vehicle and paid cash. Self-inflicted, and not totally unplanned, but it was somewhat on a whim. It turned out to be a good move, as we enjoy the car, and would have to pay more now due to the car shortage.

Other than that, nothing much to talk about. Take out the car purchase, and 2021 sees the lowest annual expense ever since I started tracking expenses in 2010.

Boy, I am deeply down the Bernicke slope, I am about to hit bottom on the spending scale due to no travel.

I don't see how I am going to spend less, despite the statistics showing that "spending needs at age 75 are 33% less than at age 65". I am already spending as if I were 75.

 

[aja8888]

I don't see how I am going to spend less, despite the statistics showing that "spending needs at age 75 are 33% less than at age 65". I am already spending as if I were 75.

If you two are still healthy at 75, don't believe spending will be that much less.

 

[2017ish]

It all started with good intentions. SO & I were at an charity auction. Attendance was about 25% of normal because Covid. As the auction is starting I tell SO I am just going to paddle raise for $5k and be done. She says why don't you get something for it? So I start in on a whiskey basket. Probably 15 bottles, plus cigars and other stuff. Bidding starts getting heated with one other bidder as I pass the $5k mark. I finally win at somewhere north of 5.5k. Great!

Take the bottles home & literally no place to store or display them. One of the bedrooms has a closet plumbed for a wet bar. Hey! Let's just pop in a wet bar. Cabinet, plumbing, electrical & granite top....and since you have to buy a full slab may as well do the extra bath nearby. And sinks & faucets. Plus furniture!

Aiyiyi. Good thing the market is kind

Love it! I can see that happening here. Hopefully, you'll have many years to enjoy the new wet bar and bathroom. (And, of course, the whiskey as well!)