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Unplanned for or unexpected expenses are not only frustrating but can throw off your whole budget. Especially when you’re just starting out, if you have a forgot-about expense pop up, it can make you want to throw up your hands and give up on your whole budget. In your mind, you were already doubting the process a little bit, and this pushed you over the edge. “See, I knew this budget thing wouldn’t work.” It does work though! Let’s go over a commonly overlooked expense and how to adjust your budget for when (not if) you have something come up.
If you have kids, it’s likely a decent amount of your unexpected/forgotten-about expenses will be associated with them. As mentioned in a previous post, a common example is school starting in the fall. The school fees, supplies, and back to school clothes can add up quickly and if you don’t have a plan going into it, it can wreak havoc on your carefully constructed budget.
First though, I feel like I wouldn’t be doing my job as your budgeting bestie if we didn’t have a real heart to heart talk about school supplies and clothes. Especially if you’re in debt and working your way out, you do not have to buy brand name, or even new, supplies or clothes. Let me repeat that once more for the people in the back, you do not have to buy brand name, or even new, supplies or clothes. Are the backpacks, pencil pouches, and scissors from last year still in decent shape? Those can be reused; you don’t have to buy new ones every single year.
There are some supplies you’ll have to buy new each year but again, they don’t have to be brand name. They want the Bluey notebook but a plain colored one is cheaper? Get the cheaper one. You aren’t required to pay $4 for the Bluey notebook when the $.50 will work (no offense Bluey, you know we love you). It may not seem like that big of a deal but what if you did that for 10 of the items on your list? Now you’re paying $35 more for school supplies than you need to, PER KID. It adds up quickly and we haven’t even started on clothes yet!
But what if you don’t know what to budget because you have no idea how much school supplies are going to cost? How do you budget for that? An easy way to do that is to go online and add the items to your shopping cart. You don’t have to purchase them that way (unless you want to of course) but at least you can get an idea of how much you’re looking at. Do this for wherever you plan on buying your supplies (Walmart, Target, Amazon, etc.). Amazon even has a back-to-school supply kit that has all the basic supplies in it. It might be cheaper and easier to get one big kit than having to buy everything individually. Of course, you’ll want to check your school supply list and make sure it has everything you need. By looking online before you go to the store, you’ll be much better prepared.
Let’s move on to clothes. It does not make you a bad mom (or dad) if you don’t buy your kids brand new, name brand clothes, especially if you have financial goals you’re working towards. And, like I said, you don’t even have to buy new clothes! Maybe I’ve just lucked out, but my kids love thrifting as much as I do. We’ve found incredible deals on clothes at thrift shops, and some that have even had the tags on them still! Our local thrift shop regularly has good quality clothes on sale for $.50 and jeans for $1.00. And let’s be honest, you know as well as I do that the first day of school these kids are coming home with ketchup on their shirts and markers on their pants, all accidents of course. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with paying full price for brand new clothes if you’ve budgeted for it and you’re paying with cash. Just don’t let other people’s opinions make your decisions; let you and your budget decide.
It also doesn’t have to be all or nothing either. For example, my girls and I have been shopping for school clothes the past couple of weeks and as I mentioned, we’ve found some great deals on shirts, pants, and sweaters. However, I am buying brand new shoes and underwear (10/10 would not recommend thrifted underwear). We’ve budgeted for them, and you better believe I found a BOGO deal!
If you don’t plan ahead for how much you’re going to spend and what your limits are, you’ll quickly find yourself overbudget and stressed out. This leads to throwing up your hands and saying, “To hell with the budget, let’s go crazy”. Suddenly, you’ve bought yourself a new outfit too, then went out to dinner afterwards because who feels like cooking after shopping all day and being stressed about how much money was spent?
This is like that flat tire analogy. You know the one. If you get a flat tire, you don’t slash the other tires just because one went flat. You acknowledge it, fix it, and move on. It’s the same with your budget. Just because you go over on a category or have something unexpected comes up, you don’t throw the budget away. You acknowledge it, readjust it, and move on.
Think about the month ahead and plan for these “unexpected” expenses as much as possible. I’ve found it’s helpful to look through my account statement from the previous year to see what we spent and what we spent it on. Chances are if you spent money on something last August, you’ll be spending it again this August. And when something unexpected comes up, sit down and readjust your budget so that it balances again. And maybe budget yourself in an iced latte because you deserve it after braving the stores (with the kids) this time of year. You’re doing great momma!
*As a PSA, school pictures are generally in September, and they cost a small fortune. If you’re buying them, plan accordingly. Have I forgotten about them several years? And do I curse myself and the price of them every time? Yes, and yes. You’re welcome.
Until next time, spend with purpose and save with pride!