expect the unexpected

For the past year, I have been looking at my expenses.  For the alst 3 months I have been tracking them on a spreadsheet.  Every month, I notice that there is a one-off expense.  By these one-off expenses, I mean appliance replacement holiday shopping, house maintenance, or refinancing costs.  Most of these are not recurring every month or year.  However, they seem to occur more often that I expected.

Before I tracked them on a budget spreadsheet, I used to tell myself that my expenses will reduce next month because I don't have this one-off expense.  However, every month, I see the same high expenses and wondered where my money was going.  So I put them on a spreadsheet.  These one off purchases are $300-$1200. While the $300 purchase is not a huge deal, the $1200 is, but both are necessary.  

I was pretty shocked at how often they come up, and it seems like every 2 months on average. Now, I don't go and buy new appliance unless one is on the brink of breaking.  It seems about every 15 years, the house needs some major maintanence, and it's well pass that time.  So fro then next 2 years, I will be budgetting an extra $400 a month for maintenance.  If it doesn't get used, it goes to the savings.