I’m not talking about predicting the future. I’m talking about looking at possible expenses and including it into your budget. I used to budget and not include things like car repairs. (I don’t really know why, life happens. I guess I lived in hopeful world, where nothing ever needs to be fixed.) When something came up, I scrambled to have money for the repair.

Planning ahead can save you money and prevent stress.

Right now I’m saving up for my timing belt work. I’m going to need it soon, so I’m setting aside some money for it.  I have $200 saved, so $450 to go. The alternative is to wait for it to go bad and possibly ruin my car, which I’m sure would cost me more than $650. Building a doable budget isn’t hard, it just takes time to refine it.

I’m using a ING savings account for the money. By keeping it there, it makes it harder to get it, aka spend it.

I’m still working on the system.This weekend my headlights stopped working. I called my local repair shop and will bring it in today to get diagnosed and repaired. This was unexpected, so I may have to dip into my emergency fund for this, depending on the costs.

Don’t forget to do some easy car maintance work yourself and you can save some money for bigger repairs and maintence work. I had to put some radiator fluid in my car yesterday.

What unexpected repairs have come and ruined your budget? How do you save up for expected expenses?

Photo Credit: Jake the Linux Geek

• 2008’s Best Of Green Panda Treehouse I want to thank those of you who have been with me in 2008. I'm enjoying my time writing and I love getting in contact with you through email and Twitter. I look forward to getting to know you better in 2009.  If you haven't already, please subscribe to Green Panda......
• My Husband Saved Us Money on Car Insurance We didn't switch to GEICO and it took longer than 15 minutes, but thanks to a phone call we saved money. My husband called Progressive to inform them of our move. He had to be switched a few times as we went from an agent in one state then......

• Creating a Budget 2 Now that you know where your money is coming from and where it is going, the next step in this budget creation process is going to be for you to break all of your expenses up into two different categories, separating your fixed expenses from your variable expenses. Fixed Expenses......
• Payday Loans and Arrears Okay now child support is due and either you pay the debt, were going to jail. Unlike the monopoly game, you cannot buy a get out of free jail card. Actually you can still it will cost you money, since you are expected to pay child support. With this in......