Non-Recuring Recuring expenses

[Rustic23]

With half the year gone, I was looking at Quicken and saw several expenses that recure at some interval, but not monthly. So I thought I would share.

Auto Insurance - twice a year
Mail box fee - once a year
Auto registration - once a year
News Paper - once a year
Umbrella policy - once a year
Dentist - twice a year
Pharmacy - four times a year
Oil change - four times a year
Home Insurance - once a year
HOA Fees - once a year
Vet - once a year
Propane - 4 times a year
Property Tax - Once a year

There were other items that were one or two time events but they will not occur every year and have no set interval. Propane was iffy as it is really not recurring on a time interval. It occurs in four straight winter months.

 

[golfnut]

Not sure if you are interested in this but we have our auto, homeowners and umbrella insurance paid on a monthly basis thru Farmers.

Golfnut

 

[Rustic23]

Thanks, I could do the same with USAA, but choose to pay them when due.

 

[HFWR]

I keep a spreadsheet for expense, and for these type transactions, I just zero the months with no payment. The total column reflects the annual cost, and the average column gives me a per month amount.

 

[Rustic23]

I knew these expenses were there, and their total was in my budget, I had just never really looked at each one individually until I started using Quicken. I posted them just in case it might help others to think of some of theirs. A couple I had forgotten about, like the mail box fee, fortunately they were small. The Vet was another, we did not have a dog prior to retirement.

 

[KingB]

Disposal service: Quarterly.

 

[freebird5825]

Water bill : twice a year
School taxes (if separate from county property taxes) : twice a year
Pet licensing fees: once a year
Furnace/Hot water heater checkup: once a year
Auto inspection: once a year x # of autos
Holiday tip for housecleaner/hairdresser/yard service/paper carrier : once a year
Annual physical/screening tests co-pays: once a year
Club memberships: once a year

 

[flyfishnevada]

I think it was in Your Money or You Life that I read about stuff like that. You spend more than you intend because of these kind of "surprise" expenses. The book suggested that you stop looking at them as surprises and plan for them.

I hate our propane bills. You can't guess when they will come out and they always seem to come out the months when we already have to pay registration or right before Christmas. They have a sixth sense.

 

[Amethyst]

Quarterly estimated taxes: Quarterly, duhhh? Well, not exactly. They are due in January, April, June, and September.

Amethyst

 

[W2R]

Auto Insurance - twice a year
Mail box fee - once a year
Auto registration - once a year
News Paper - once a year
Umbrella policy - once a year
Dentist - twice a year
Pharmacy - four times a year
Oil change - four times a year
Home Insurance - once a year
HOA Fees - once a year
Vet - once a year
Propane - 4 times a year
Property Tax - Once a year

Disposal service: Quarterly.

Water bill : twice a year
School taxes (if separate from county property taxes) : twice a year
Pet licensing fees: once a year
Furnace/Hot water heater checkup: once a year
Auto inspection: once a year x # of autos
Holiday tip for housecleaner/hairdresser/yard service/paper carrier : once a year
Annual physical/screening tests co-pays: once a year
Club memberships: once a year

Quarterly estimated taxes: Quarterly, duhhh? Well, not exactly. They are due in January, April, June, and September.

Amethyst

replacement of car/computer/TV/whatever when something blows up
flood insurance
exterminator/termites

I think between the four of you, you got most of them.

This is why yearly expenses make so much more sense than monthly expenses. I think my non-recurring recurring expenses may even exceed my usual monthly expenses. The month before last, I spent $900 but believe me, my yearly expenses are going to be more than twice $10,800 (= $900 x 12).

 

[scrabbler1]

I keep a spreadsheet for expense, and for these type transactions, I just zero the months with no payment. The total column reflects the annual cost, and the average column gives me a per month amount.

In my various worksheets within my overall retirement spreadsheet I do this, too. It depends on the purpose of the worksheet. One small worksheet has an annual budget column and a per-month budget column. Another worksheet, a larger one, has all my projected expenses and dividends arranged in order, like a projected checkbook register. But I first produce the expenses part by listing them all by expense (i.e. 12 electric bill amounts, 12 co-op maintenance amounts, 4 HI insurance bills, etc.) and the date I expect to pay them, then sort the whole mess by ascending date. I also include 12 "misc" expense lines which include unexpected and rarely occurring expenses and deposits, netted out if necessary.

I also use this to find occasional and sufficiently large budget surpluses so I know when and how much I can reinvest in one of my taxable accounts. This is basically a formalized version of what was once a back-of-the-envelope six-week budget I had when I was working.

 

[Buckeye]

Got the registration reminder for one of the cars this week. Only $57 but forgot about that cost.

Since stopping the paychecks at the end of April, I look to avoid recurring expenses I didn't previously notice as recurring. For example, if I use a paper towel I am one paper towel closer to buying another roll. Maybe I should be using a reusable dish rag to wipe up whatever. At this time there is no marginal cost to using and washing the dish rag because there's room in the weekly laundry.

Of course, the purchase of disposable items was always recurring but I didn't notice when the paychecks were recurring.

 

[jblack]

for these moderate to large items....calculating annual expenses + a self-managed escrow account with 1/12 flat monthly contributions have been the way to go for us. seems to work pretty well and the funds are (for now) co-mingled with our emergency savings. for folks like us who are still working with biweekly paychecks it also is easy to balance out the mortgage in the first half of the month and the self-escrow in the second half.

at the end of the year if we are over on these expenses we simple put a little of our annual bonuses aside to replinish the shortfall and update our assumptions for the next year, which results in adjustments to our monthly self-escrow contribution. if we are under on expenses then we have extra cash for something fun.

 

[JakeBrake]

Medicare Part B premium is due quarterly for people on Medicare but not drawing SS.

I use Quicken, It's easy enough to set up weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or yearly (but not over yearly) payments. For payments a month or over interval, I set reminders 30 days ahead of the due day. This way I know how much money I have to have in my checking account for the next 30 days. If a major unexpected expense comes up I use a credit card. when the credit card statement come in, the total amount is added to my 30 day projection. Quicken can totalize expenses by the month or the quarter or the year or last year or a custom range.

Over 40 years ago during my new employee orientation at Megacorp, it was strongly emphasized that Megacorp only used bank drafts, never bank checks. The difference is that a bank draft said Megacorp would pay when the draft was presented to the bank. A bank check, on the other hand, says the money is in the bank at the time the check is issued. Megacorp kept only enough money in the bank to cover the bank drafts presented that day. A bad bank check is a criminal matter. A bad bank draft is a civil matter as is a post-dated check.

 

[Rustic23]

W2R,
There were lots of things that I thought of, like car replacement, roof, appliances, AC repair and such, but, these were not recurring. Well, at least hopefully annual recurring. Maybe that should be a new thread. Things that came up I hadn't planned for! One of those would be Toys, and not for the kids or grand kids. We now own two honda mopeds, a golf cart, and a riding mower! Well, the riding mower, I knew we were going to need, but I never knew I would need the others! We don't even play golf!

 

[kyounge1956]

gifts (Christmas, birthdays, etc)—annual
safe deposit box—annual

 

[eytonxav]

W2R,
There were lots of things that I thought of, like car replacement, roof, appliances, AC repair and such, but, these were not recurring. Well, at least hopefully annual recurring. Maybe that should be a new thread. Things that came up I hadn't planned for! One of those would be Toys, and not for the kids or grand kids. We now own two honda mopeds, a golf cart, and a riding mower! Well, the riding mower, I knew we were going to need, but I never knew I would need the others! We don't even play golf!

Although the homeowner's insurance takes care of most of it, I'm on my 4th roof in 18 years, so this is starting to feel like a recurring item to me. Seems like North Texas is the hail capital of the world.

 

[Danmar]

I keep a spreadsheet for expense, and for these type transactions, I just zero the months with no payment. The total column reflects the annual cost, and the average column gives me a per month amount.

Obvious solution. Also my approach. I have a yearly budget and don't try to split it into monthly components.

 

[lemming]

I didn't put a line item in budget for lawn and garden. Turns out you can spend a lot on flowers,flower pots and bird seed. I managed to squeeze most of it into my entertainment budget though.

When I get around to redoing the bathroom and flooring it is going on to the HELOC or I'm going to put it in budget as a monthly amount even if I don't borrow the $/since I have put it off for a year already I consider I have "saved up" 400*12.