Anonymous wrote:Do you have HOA dues? Also I think home maintenance is too low. Have you owned before? Almost anyone coming to your house to fix anything is a minimum of $200-$250. Even if everything works now, let's say you need just one of a new roof or HVAC system 10 years from now for $5,000. You should be saving $500/year for that.
OP here. I actually do have an HOA, but I lumped it in with the mortgage. Mortgage is actually 2100+200 HOA. I checked the history and over the last 12 years it’s gone up $44... so not bad.
We have owned before, and are moving from a 1920s townhouse. During our time here we replaced the boiler, part of the roof, and 1 million other things. I may be too optimistic about what the new build will require...
I definitely agree with what you’re saying about major improvements/repairs. The AC is brand new, but the furnace and roof are middle-aged. We should be putting money aside for that.
What I’ve taken away from this thread so far is that I need a house repair fund, not just the maintenance fund. And maybe a small “life happens” fund. I’ve noticed we do best with our budget when we budget down pretty much to the dollar, so we don’t “see” extra money floating around — better to have it in a dedicated account for XYZ. So Maybe if we have a small fund for that every month and keep an eye on where it goes, eventually I can move those items out to an actual category.
Car registration is one that I missed! I’ll just bump car maintenance up a tiny bit to cover that. The daycare plus camp is a good catch, but the story behind it doesn’t really have anything to do this forum – suffice it to say that the $2600 is fixed, whereas the $150 is more flexible.
Thanks, everyone. Really value the input I’ve gotten here. Thanks for the YNAB suggestion too, definitely checking it out.