You’re motoring down the highway of life, effortlessly paying rent and bills on time. Then you hit a slight speedbump — maybe you have to take your car in for repairs ahead of schedule or you incurred a parking fine after your meter ran out. If you don’t plan your budget around these little extras each month, you might wonder how you can get your car repaired in time.
In a pinch, you can borrow money. Most banks, lenders, and financial institutions offer cash loans online these days, so your possible quick cash online options have never been greater. Take some time to compare these options, looking at what you need to qualify.
If everything checks out, you can easily apply for cash loans online to handle your emergency. Once you take care of your unexpected expense, don’t leave this experience in your rearview. Another unexpected expense may be on its way, and the sooner you adjust your budget, the more prepared you will be. Check out these tips to help you do just that.
Track Last Year’s Spending
Some unexpected expenses are truly surprises, like when a tree branch hurtles through your front window. Other expenses — while they might surprise you — aren’t unexpected; you simply forget about them until it’s too late, like annual memberships, semi-regular maintenance, and taxes.
By tracking last year’s spending, you can make note of unusual yet expected expenses that you can easily overlook. Write them down, with their costs and due dates, to ensure you don’t overlook them this year.
Brainstorm Other Expenses
While the previous step is a great exercise for your budget, it’s not perfect when it comes to budgeting for infrequent or irregular expenses that aren’t bills. Holidays, birthday gifts, back-to-school shopping, and health deductibles — these are all examples of expenses that fluctuate year to year.
Why is this second step necessary? If you didn’t get invited to a wedding last year, your retrospective look at your finances won’t remind you that you should be prepared for wedding season next year. Checking out a list like this can jog your memory.
Leave Some “Oops” Money Every Month
A strict budget that uses every single penny can either be a sign of immense financial discipline or reckless overspending. In the latter scenario, living paycheck to paycheck can happen even if you budget for your overlooked expenses. Living paycheck to paycheck simply means you spend every dollar that comes in, leaving no flexibility for little changes to your budget.
These little changes can come out of nowhere. What happens if you wind up spending an extra $20 or $30 when you get invited to a birthday dinner and find out too late everyone’s splitting the bill? When saying no comes with too much social stigma, you might just pay that charge anyway. Having an extra $50 in “oops” money can help you cover these little expenses as they crop up.
Prepare for Bigger Surprises
Misunderstandings over birthday dinners are the least of your worries. The unexpected can arrive in the form of many different expenses that cost a lot more than tapas and wine. You might have to replace your 15-year-old oven after it no longer works, or you could have to get your entire suspension replaced.
Having an emergency fund can help you afford these larger surprises without disrupting your budget or requiring cash loans online.
You Can Be Prepared for the Unexpected
While it might be hard to pinpoint with accuracy exactly when your next unexpected expense will be, you can face it with confidence by following these budgeting tips.
