Car repairs are something I always anticipate, but always hate at the same time. We just spent $900 on my husband’s car this month. Of course it is kind of annoying to pay, but that’s why we keep an emergency car repair fund. Your wife and I sound the same. I also keep several savings accounts for each expense! It gives me peace of mind knowing that we are financially prepared for most situations, even if we have several unexpected expenses come up at once.

That’s great that you are planning to get a return from a large business expense. Hope January has fewer unexpected expenses for you!

The only truly unexpected expense I have in recent memory is car parts / repair. I work on my own cars, so the costs aren’t as expensive as taking it to a repair shop (labor is expensive!).

Non-monthly expenses (yearly, quarterly, etc) can be a bit of a pain, though. My wife has a million different savings account (ok, more like ten) that she puts money into for each irregular expense. It works out pretty well.

But, thankfully we were diligent in saving the rest of the year. Two years ago, we couldn’t have made the same purchase. Thankfully, this was a “good expense” that we’ll see some value from.