Help me to create a list of hidden expenses that come up throughout the year!!!

[accred1]

I don't remember seeing newspaper renewals

[savingmoney4me]

Cell phone service, internet service, home phone service, tv service, gas, eletric, propane, trash pick up, credit card, tutition, and books. I would make an excel spreadsheet with your bills.

[5swans0805]

Ok - This is a great thread! Just now finding this whole forum.

One of the things that gets us is Church activities.

Our oldest just got into middle school and they are always needing $1 - $3, but it adds up. Also Church camp, or any camp. Men's retreats, Women's retreats.

The one that is hard for me is parties. My kids want a Christmas party this year, and I am fine with that, and the food isn't the hard part, it is everything else! Gift bags, prizes, etc!!!!

[JulieDB]

I don't have to worry about my home owner's insurance or property taxes because those are included in my mortgage.

What did get me unexpectedly this year were my daughter's dance pics. The dance studio has always used the same photographer and he was very reasonable. I usually spend about $500 on the pics. A lot I know. But my husband's relatives are all on the East Coast so I send them mainly to them. We are on the West Coast. Last year I won a gift certificate to the photographer. And he said I was his best customer so he gave it back to me to use again the following year. I also saved money throughout the year so I would have the cash when the time came. Ah but the cash disappeared along with the box it was in. I suspect that my husband threw out the box and didn't even look to see what was in it. The gift certificate was in it too. How I disocovered it was missing brings me to my next disaster.

A few years ago we had a break in the water pipe from the main line to the house. $2000 for a man with a camera to find the leak. Then another $2000 for another man to repair the leak. Well it turns out he did a piss poor job of repairing and water was springing up all over my driveway or it would have been, but it was freezing outside so I had mostly ice puddles. My gardener discovered it. Said he could fix it along with a friend. But the friend didn't want to dig in that kind of weather. So he called a friend. Well fine but this guy didn't take credit cards. He wanted about $2,000 to replace the whole pipe with copper. What we had was PVC in there. So I went looking for the picture money. I had been so good about saving the past year that I hadn't needed to touch it! But the whole box was gone. I had kept it on top of the fridge. And why I think my husband did it was that when he gets angry, he knocks stuff down from the top of the fridge. I mainly have bags of chips up there. Once in a while a box of crackers or granola bars. The money was in an old Hershey Kiss metal tin. I've been stashing money in there for years and it has been fine. I even forgot about the money once and the movers packed it. But now, it was gone! Not just the money and the gift certificate but the whole box. I had to clean out the fridge and look behind it in case it dropped back there. I really didn't think it could have. Not enough space. And I scoured the kitchen in case he moved it somewhere. Nope. Never turned up. And the reason I suspect he did something with it was when I told him what it was in, and how it was gone, his face turned red then all the color drained out of it and he quit yelling at me for losing the money. He hasn't mentioned it since. Heh. I can tell you I sure wasn't happy about that! And I found a new container and hiding place. It's not in the kitchen. I'll tell you that! I suspect that in his knocking stuff off of the refrigerator he knocked it into the recycle bin or garbage can and nobody noticed. But I guess I'll never know. I doubt it would have been stolen. I did have a plumber in just prior but if somebody stole it I think they would have left the box and most likely the gift certificate. But I could be wrong. We have been robbed three times here. Once inside and twice outside. But I digress.

I had to take out a loan on my Visa card to get enough money into my checking account to write a check to the guy to do the repair on the water line. That is something that had to be done ASAP.

As to the pictures... The studio switched to a new photographer. She is very good but the amount of pictures I got for $500 was paltry compared to what I got from Nigel. When I bought from him I could get these really cool refrigerator magnets and enough pics to send to everyone, some to keep and some to give to my daughter. She likes to put them on her notebook and give them to friends. This new lady didn't offer any magnets and I got so few I had to be really selective as to who I could send them to. Daughter takes 5 different classes. So I wanted one picture of each entire class and several (mainly wallet sized) for each of her costumes. Some of our relatives are older and do not have computers. And I have one friend without a computer. So they got the pics. And the rest just had to see them online.

Worse still, this new photographer didn't take cash. Only checks and credit cards. I try to pay for as much as I can in cash. Husband has direct deposit into the savings account. Our mortgage payment comes from there. My money is direct deposited into the checking account and the other bills are paid (mostly automatically) from that. I will write a check if I have to but it's a pain. I just prefer to pay cash.

I have since used that same contractor to replace two toilets. I spent $250 at the start of the last school year to repair the one toilet and then it broke again. He replaced our other toilet for $250. So when the other one broke again, I was like... Can you put in another new one?

I have also spent countless thousands on kitchen sink repairs. Long story short the plumbing under the sink was never right. One plumber said he would put it right but he did not. Apparently there were all sorts of extra pipes under there. And no matter how careful I was, the sink was constantly clogging. I was only able to unclog it once myself. In fact it was clogged when we bought the house. The last plumber said he put it right for me. Cost me $500! I would have called the contractor to do it but he said he doesn't do clogs. And it was clogged at the time.

Another huge expense was the broken water heater. It broke two years ago I think. That was about $2,000. And I need to call them back because it has never worked right. It's gas and the pilot light keeps going out. I just keep relighting it because I don't want to pay another plumber. Always seems to cost me $250 or more when they come through the door. But now it is getting to where I have to light it several times a week and sometimes more than one a day. I have to check it throughout the day because I hate taking cold showers. Once the new year is in, I intend to get them in here to fix it. Gah!

My teeth are another expense. I seem to need a lot of crowns and they are not cheap.

And then there are the Dr. bills. Our insurance starts over again in Oct. It is such that once we've paid $1,000 out of pocket, we pay nothing more for the year. Because my daughter has been so sick and has had so many injuries, we paid that early on. But then come Oct. we have to pay 100% until we've paid our $300 family deductible. But... That is $150 per person. I've already paid that for her but it may be a while before I pay that much for me. I have been healthy.

Another expense we've had is my dad getting sick. He has had several brain bleeds. They put him in a hospital in another city. So there is the gas money to drive down there. The meals we had to eat at the hospital. And having to buy things that he needed.

I've also had other friends and relatives who were in the hospital or got injured and there was one death in the family. So the added expense of flowers and other gifts.

We also have exterminator bills. We had a rat try to get into the house. Then one did get in and died in the wall during a bad snow storm. They had to come monthly but now just four times a year.

We also have a gardener. My husband used to do the yard work but didn't do it so well, IMO and hated doing it. Because he is in the military, he now lives elsewhere. He does come home every few weeks but the yard needs more upkeep than that. And I am disabled so I can't do it. Daughter and I also have severe grass allergies so we should do it even if I could. So we have a gardener. I have paid him extra to clean the gutters and for moss removal. That needs to be done again now. I just can't afford it.

Then we had a bad windstorm last year. Heard a noise that sounded like the roof had fallen on the house. Daughter went out to look and said the asphalt shingles were everywhere. We were headed out to the dentist. The doorbell rang. A neighbor had witnessed our roof lift up then some of it fell back down but a lot of it blew off. He was a roofer and he said if I had a tarp he could put it on there then come back on Monday and do the repair after he could get some shingles. I told him I had shingles and showed him where they were. I said I had no tarp and we had to leave. I then asked him if I could give him money and he could go buy a tarp and put it on. He did. He also was putting the shingles on by the time we got home from the dentist. He only charged me $150 for the repair. Said whoever put those shingles on, stapled them instead of using nails. Eek!

Another time we had a fire in the laundry room. It started with a ballast burning in a light fixture. That in turn caught the insulation in the ceiling on fire. So a call to the fire department and then I had to pay an electrician to fix it and some other things. Which he did not do properly. And if I ever get some more money, I need to get another electrician.

It seems it is always something! I never have enough money to keep all of the needed repairs done.

Oh and the most recent one. Spring popped off on the garage door. That was almost $400 to fix.

Much cheaper just to rent, IMO. I suppose if you can do the work yourself, or at least some of it, it might be worthwhile. But we can not.

[joshmamabear]

I'm not sure if this was mentioned but vehicle repairs are one of those dreaded expenses no one likes to think of.

Weeks ago, we were scheduled to go on an out of town trip and just as we were about to go, the check engine light of our van lit up. Wonderful! So we had to take another vehicle and proceeded with the trip.

It is just a huge blessing that DH can diagnose and fix our vehicles as long as they're not huge repairs involving the engine and transmission. He invested in a gizmo that tells him where the problem may be. He called the dealership to ask for an estimate and just the diagnosis alone would cost $75 plus labor of $300 plus parts that need to be replaced, if any so they gave an estimate of about $500. Other mechanics can fix it for "as low as" $250

Turns out the problem was a spark plug which costs 2.99 @ Autozone. Even if he replaced all 6, it was less than $20. This alone proves that labor costs are expensive that it is worth to learn some basic repair and invest on gadgets to DIY.

Vehicle repairs are always a PITA, especially if you have only 1 vehicle to use and your other option is to walk

[jluper7297]

If your like me... a few grand to pay for your daughter's Cheer Nationals trip :'( I'm so proud of her that her team is going again for the third year in a row... But I just recovered from paying for last years trip... now I have to start saving for 2012 Nationals. Her team has placed 2nd both years they have gone. The first year, they fully earned 2nd place. Last year, they were flat out ROBBED! Like I mean 2 weeks after we got back, the team that got first was busted for holding extra practices every single week for 6 months. (Our practice times are regulated so each team has a fair advantage). Busted so much that the Coach was fired. We are hoping for 1st place this year.

[Sally C]

One more to add: Tax prep fees or software.

[MizMoneyPenny]

I don't have to worry about my home owner's insurance or property taxes because those are included in my mortgage.

What did get me unexpectedly this year were my daughter's dance pics. The dance studio has always used the same photographer and he was very reasonable. I usually spend about $500 on the pics. A lot I know. But my husband's relatives are all on the East Coast so I send them mainly to them. We are on the West Coast. Last year I won a gift certificate to the photographer. And he said I was his best customer so he gave it back to me to use again the following year. I also saved money throughout the year so I would have the cash when the time came. Ah but the cash disappeared along with the box it was in. I suspect that my husband threw out the box and didn't even look to see what was in it. The gift certificate was in it too. How I disocovered it was missing brings me to my next disaster.

A few years ago we had a break in the water pipe from the main line to the house. $2000 for a man with a camera to find the leak. Then another $2000 for another man to repair the leak. Well it turns out he did a piss poor job of repairing and water was springing up all over my driveway or it would have been, but it was freezing outside so I had mostly ice puddles. My gardener discovered it. Said he could fix it along with a friend. But the friend didn't want to dig in that kind of weather. So he called a friend. Well fine but this guy didn't take credit cards. He wanted about $2,000 to replace the whole pipe with copper. What we had was PVC in there. So I went looking for the picture money. I had been so good about saving the past year that I hadn't needed to touch it! But the whole box was gone. I had kept it on top of the fridge. And why I think my husband did it was that when he gets angry, he knocks stuff down from the top of the fridge. I mainly have bags of chips up there. Once in a while a box of crackers or granola bars. The money was in an old Hershey Kiss metal tin. I've been stashing money in there for years and it has been fine. I even forgot about the money once and the movers packed it. But now, it was gone! Not just the money and the gift certificate but the whole box. I had to clean out the fridge and look behind it in case it dropped back there. I really didn't think it could have. Not enough space. And I scoured the kitchen in case he moved it somewhere. Nope. Never turned up. And the reason I suspect he did something with it was when I told him what it was in, and how it was gone, his face turned red then all the color drained out of it and he quit yelling at me for losing the money. He hasn't mentioned it since. Heh. I can tell you I sure wasn't happy about that! And I found a new container and hiding place. It's not in the kitchen. I'll tell you that! I suspect that in his knocking stuff off of the refrigerator he knocked it into the recycle bin or garbage can and nobody noticed. But I guess I'll never know. I doubt it would have been stolen. I did have a plumber in just prior but if somebody stole it I think they would have left the box and most likely the gift certificate. But I could be wrong. We have been robbed three times here. Once inside and twice outside. But I digress.

I had to take out a loan on my Visa card to get enough money into my checking account to write a check to the guy to do the repair on the water line. That is something that had to be done ASAP.

As to the pictures... The studio switched to a new photographer. She is very good but the amount of pictures I got for $500 was paltry compared to what I got from Nigel. When I bought from him I could get these really cool refrigerator magnets and enough pics to send to everyone, some to keep and some to give to my daughter. She likes to put them on her notebook and give them to friends. This new lady didn't offer any magnets and I got so few I had to be really selective as to who I could send them to. Daughter takes 5 different classes. So I wanted one picture of each entire class and several (mainly wallet sized) for each of her costumes. Some of our relatives are older and do not have computers. And I have one friend without a computer. So they got the pics. And the rest just had to see them online.

Worse still, this new photographer didn't take cash. Only checks and credit cards. I try to pay for as much as I can in cash. Husband has direct deposit into the savings account. Our mortgage payment comes from there. My money is direct deposited into the checking account and the other bills are paid (mostly automatically) from that. I will write a check if I have to but it's a pain. I just prefer to pay cash.

I have since used that same contractor to replace two toilets. I spent $250 at the start of the last school year to repair the one toilet and then it broke again. He replaced our other toilet for $250. So when the other one broke again, I was like... Can you put in another new one?

I have also spent countless thousands on kitchen sink repairs. Long story short the plumbing under the sink was never right. One plumber said he would put it right but he did not. Apparently there were all sorts of extra pipes under there. And no matter how careful I was, the sink was constantly clogging. I was only able to unclog it once myself. In fact it was clogged when we bought the house. The last plumber said he put it right for me. Cost me $500! I would have called the contractor to do it but he said he doesn't do clogs. And it was clogged at the time.

Another huge expense was the broken water heater. It broke two years ago I think. That was about $2,000. And I need to call them back because it has never worked right. It's gas and the pilot light keeps going out. I just keep relighting it because I don't want to pay another plumber. Always seems to cost me $250 or more when they come through the door. But now it is getting to where I have to light it several times a week and sometimes more than one a day. I have to check it throughout the day because I hate taking cold showers. Once the new year is in, I intend to get them in here to fix it. Gah!

My teeth are another expense. I seem to need a lot of crowns and they are not cheap.

And then there are the Dr. bills. Our insurance starts over again in Oct. It is such that once we've paid $1,000 out of pocket, we pay nothing more for the year. Because my daughter has been so sick and has had so many injuries, we paid that early on. But then come Oct. we have to pay 100% until we've paid our $300 family deductible. But... That is $150 per person. I've already paid that for her but it may be a while before I pay that much for me. I have been healthy.

Another expense we've had is my dad getting sick. He has had several brain bleeds. They put him in a hospital in another city. So there is the gas money to drive down there. The meals we had to eat at the hospital. And having to buy things that he needed.

I've also had other friends and relatives who were in the hospital or got injured and there was one death in the family. So the added expense of flowers and other gifts.

We also have exterminator bills. We had a rat try to get into the house. Then one did get in and died in the wall during a bad snow storm. They had to come monthly but now just four times a year.

We also have a gardener. My husband used to do the yard work but didn't do it so well, IMO and hated doing it. Because he is in the military, he now lives elsewhere. He does come home every few weeks but the yard needs more upkeep than that. And I am disabled so I can't do it. Daughter and I also have severe grass allergies so we should do it even if I could. So we have a gardener. I have paid him extra to clean the gutters and for moss removal. That needs to be done again now. I just can't afford it.

Then we had a bad windstorm last year. Heard a noise that sounded like the roof had fallen on the house. Daughter went out to look and said the asphalt shingles were everywhere. We were headed out to the dentist. The doorbell rang. A neighbor had witnessed our roof lift up then some of it fell back down but a lot of it blew off. He was a roofer and he said if I had a tarp he could put it on there then come back on Monday and do the repair after he could get some shingles. I told him I had shingles and showed him where they were. I said I had no tarp and we had to leave. I then asked him if I could give him money and he could go buy a tarp and put it on. He did. He also was putting the shingles on by the time we got home from the dentist. He only charged me $150 for the repair. Said whoever put those shingles on, stapled them instead of using nails. Eek!

Another time we had a fire in the laundry room. It started with a ballast burning in a light fixture. That in turn caught the insulation in the ceiling on fire. So a call to the fire department and then I had to pay an electrician to fix it and some other things. Which he did not do properly. And if I ever get some more money, I need to get another electrician.

It seems it is always something! I never have enough money to keep all of the needed repairs done.

Oh and the most recent one. Spring popped off on the garage door. That was almost $400 to fix.

Much cheaper just to rent, IMO. I suppose if you can do the work yourself, or at least some of it, it might be worthwhile. But we can not.

Your homeowner's insurance should have covered a lot of this. Did you contact them? Even with a deductible, should have been cheaper.

As far as pictures, I copy professional pix on my computer. You have them made into magnets by looking on line. There is probably a program and craft stuff to make your own.

[jenn09138]

Your homeowner's insurance should have covered a lot of this. Did you contact them? Even with a deductible, should have been cheaper.

As far as pictures, I copy professional pix on my computer. You have them made into magnets by looking on line. There is probably a program and craft stuff to make your own.

But unless you buy the rights to the pictures I believe it's illegal. That's why if you were to take the professional pic to say walmart they wont duplicate it unless you show them the rights to the pictures.

[irishsaver]

Medical & Dental fees not covered by Plan which is our case this year or have to meed DEDUCTIBLES first

Lawn if need seeded again & extra water during summer month for gardening.

Foundation Crack repaired last week. $575 but as DH said it has a life time warranty with certificate for next owner and peace of mind for me.

Dog Licenses due this month here.

Summer vacation extra money for Ice Cream man, Movies, Bowling etc to keep kids busy every other day..

Halloween - New Costumes & Candy
School supplies in September

Teacher Presents money beginning of year ( dont have that anymore here)

Girl scout cookies got hit up for 13 boxes already yikes 10 me and 3 DH at $4 each...adds up.

Speeding ticket etc... unlucky me last year!!
All I can think of right now.