Understanding and Controlling Your Finances

Hidden Expense Calculator

It is easy to calculate normal monthly expenses by tracking your expenditures over the course of 30 days. The problem is that many people then use these numbers for planning purposes, and are then surprised when things like car insurance or property tax bills pop up unexpectedly. A better way to deal with these "hidden expenses" is to calculate them ahead of time and handle them on a monthly basis just like any other bill. Each month simply set a fixed amount of money aside in a separate account to pay for hidden expenses when they pop up.

The calculator below will help you to discover all of your hidden expenses. Its goal is to try to remind you of all of the different bills that crop up just once or twice a year. The calculator will determine a total amount due for all of these hidden bills and then divide that amount by twelve to give you an accurate monthly set-aside number.

Auto Insurance - Enter the total amount of money you spend each year on auto insurance. Remember that auto insurance normally is billed on a six month cycle, so you may have to multiply your last bill by two.
Home Insurance - Enter the amount you spend on home owner's or renter's insurance
Extra Insurance - Enter the amount of money you spend on other insurance policies, for example for a boat, umbrella policy, jewelry, etc.
Life Insurance - Enter the amount you spend on life and/or disability insurance
Vacation - Enter the amount you plan to spend on vacation(s) this year
Tuition - If you are taking classes in college or night school, you probably get a tuition bill only two or three times a year. Enter your total annual cost of tuition here.
Birthday Gifts - Enter the amount of money you typically spend on all birthday gifts each year. Consider your mother, father, spouse, children, siblings, etc.
Christmas Gifts - Enter the amount of money that you expect to spend on Christmas gifts this year.
Other Gifts - Enter the amount you will spend on other gifts: mother's day, father's day, secretary's day, graduation, etc.
Charitable Contributions - Enter the amount you give per year to charities.
Car Repair - Enter the amount of money you typically spend in a year on car repair. Remember things like oil changes, tune ups, tire replacement, etc. If you have no idea enter at least $250.
Home Repair and Maintenance - Enter the amount you expect to spend on unexpected home repairs and maintenance. If you have no idea, enter at least $500.
Automobile Taxes - Enter here the amount you typically spend on automobile taxes, including yearly registration fees.
Property Taxes - Enter here the amount you typically pay per year on property taxes. If you have a mortgage the property taxes are typically handled as part of your mortgage payment.
Medical and dental - Enter here the amount you expect to pay for medical and dental visits not covered by insurance. For example, if you do not have dental insurance and you will have two check ups this year, enter the cost of those check ups here.
Other - Enter here anything else you can think of that you typically pay on a yearly basis and is often forgotten.
Click this button to calculate the total.
Total - This is the total amount of money you spend per year on "hidden" expenses.
Monthly total - This is the total divided by 12. You should be depositing this much in a separate account each month. Pay this amount "to yourself" just like you pay any other monthy bill.

BYG Publishing, Inc.
http://www.bygpub.com - info@bygpub.com
P.O. Box 40492 - Raleigh, NC 27629

Questions or comments, email:
questions@bygpub.com

© 1997 BYG Publishing, Inc.