This thread is kind of depressing. It’s like endlessly reading a credit card statement. 
@doschicos, I was happy to pay the plumber $121 to fix the leaking toilet. I should have done it sooner!
We have been kicking this can down the road…removal of wisdom teeth for both college kids with no dental insurance.
===Knock on wood === hoping our 1924 clay sewer line doesn’t collapse under our watch! I would weep, for sure.
Out of pocket costs for unexpected surgery I needed last year - $750 for the hospital, paying it off over 1 year in equal shares; $400 for the anesthesiologist, which H bargained down to $200 and $600 for the doctor, which I still trying to figure out how to pay. $1200 for H’s knee replacement, which he is negotiating.
Losing my phone - ZERO to replace. Instead of using an upgrade, which I became “entitled” to 8 months ago, I reactivated an old phone of mine for free.
The cars are always breaking down but I guess that’s what happens when your cars are from 2006 and 1994. Luckily, H and the boys can do most of the work but I pay for the parts.
$250 for the vet! I am a terrible person. I never take my dogs for check ups and 2 are 16 and the 3rd died at 15. I get their rabies shots for free through the town and as soon as H turned 60, I changed the ownership to his name because the cost went down by 2/3. I feed them the cheapest brand of Costco food and no treats, but that’s because they don’t like them.
$5500 for three new wood windows (custom size)
$1000 for a new gas dryer with installation
$8000 for a single dental implant. It seems like my husband needs one of these every year. Whee!!!
$130 per week for medications for a senior dog
50 cents for the trip to the laundromat today to dry my sheets because of the broken dryer.
I lost a diamond out of the anniversary band I wear every day. I cannot even deal with that now. I am wearing the plain band my husband bought me when he was living on a grad school stipend.
You can buy lots of vacations with 80K.
OOP medical expenses – $800/mo.
Broken dryer - $150
Vet -$100
Brakes on 7 yo Subaru – $750
Car payment on vehicle to replace the paid off vehicle that some jerk totaled for us - $450
Tolls from point A to point B in DC area – $25
Replace useless #! $@7 yo fridge
Need to fix dangling kitchen cabinet
Check to see if your medical insurance MAY cover SOME if your dental charges. We found out medical insurance DOES cover SOME dental and SOME vision. It’s worth double checking. Our dentist’s office and oral surgeon were happy to work with insurer and get accurate estimates.
Impacted wisdom teeth removal – $3k. Retainer replacement – misplaced while on medication from wisdom teeth removal – $400. Car repairs for 3 cars (brakes, tires, brake line) – $2k. Replacement for worn out laptop – $200. Total unexpected expenses for March: $5600. This is ~1/10 of our yearly gross, so if we carried debt it would be a budget killer.
Sadly yes. My husband came home and told me $4500. I looked at the estimate and realized he had looked at only a portion of the charges.
And get this. It’s probably the long term result of some stupid college antics.
This is a very depressing thread.
The list could go on and on now but when I think back to when my husband and I first graduated it is downright scary to think about what being in such a huge hole would have meant. We had purchased a small starter house and we were lucky to each have a paid off car. There were times when the oil truck would come to fill the tank and we had to beg them to only fill up $150 worth - we just didn’t have the $ for a full tank. We were college educated, employed in our fields, and we were barely making ends meet. We were savers, thank goodness because there was always something that came up. I remember needing to get rides to work for a few weeks because we couldn’t afford to get the car inspected until our next check came in and I remember spending weeks heading to the laundrymat when I had 2 young kids because we couldn’t afford a new washer when ours died. This was all without massive amounts of debt.
My husband had under $7,500 in loans for graduate school that we were paying and I was so relieved when it was paid off. We did everything we could to retire that loan as quickly as possible. We were each working side jobs in addition to out careers. We were able to get by and managed to save a little for those unexpected events and eventually we were able to save more. I cringe when I read about the debt that so many people are taking on and I worry about their ability to launch into a successful adulthood with that burden hanging over their head.
There are other options.
But interesting. Good illustration of “shit happens”. The non-recurring/unexpected expenses are the ones that wreak havoc on the budget. Which is why a good budget has that category. Borrowing significant amounts for college has an opportunity cost. Something that many college students do not understand.
Just the $500 S owed the Feds on his taxes. He came home so H couid help him file and I just blurted out that I’d pay it for him cause I felt sorry that he owed money.
The last unexpected expense was the $8k it cost us to get S settled in new city after college. I knew it was going to cost us some money but didn’t realize it would be that much.
Here’s a sad one my 45 year old sister had: Funeral expenses for 55 year old husband who had heart attack. Raising kids alone. Trying to put them through school alone.
Funeral expenses are huge.
so very sorry @redpoodles
@redpoodles, my condolences to you on the loss of your BIL and to your sister and her family. I hope there was an insurance policy to help her out with the expenses of raising their kids on her own.
It scares me as well. My S was not able to start fis job at all until 12 months after graduation. Months after moving into his place 5000 miles from us, someone in the building was smoking which caused him to wheeze whenever he was in his rental, so he had to move to another place and break his lease. Fortunately his landlady was nice about it and let him out of his12-month lease.
I’ve met several 20-somethings who said they took on that much debt. What I didn’t dig into was whether that just included the debt in their name or if they were including Parent Plus loans in the mix.