Top Unforeseen Expenses

When you are on a tight budget, unforeseen expenses can be a huge problem. This is especially true if your financial situation goes beyond a lack of funds. When you are trying to deal with debt repayments, even if they have been made more manageable by tools such as debt consolidation loans, having to find money for a large expense you had not counted on can seriously hamper your repayments.

There are a number of ways that unexpected expenses can be dealt with, ranging from borrowing from a family member to taking out credit packages such as homeowner loans to cover the cost. Regardless of how they are ultimately dealt with, however, there are certain unexpected expenses that are more common than others. Whilst you can never know an unexpected expense is coming by definition, knowing what the most common problems are can at least help you be mentally better prepared for the possibility that you may face such an expense.

Car Repairs or Replacement

Cars are essential for modern life, but unfortunately they can also be expensive to run. They can also be expensive to repair when they break down, but as they are so essential, you can be left with no choice but to find the cash to have your vehicle fixed. If your vehicle cannot be fixed economically, then you have the equally daunting expense of buying a replacement.

Bear in mind, however, that if your car is not worth much, replacing it might be the cheaper option. Without doing so, you could be left unable to travel to work, pick the kids up from school or carry out other essential day-to-day activities. This lack of choice and sense of urgency is, sadly, what makes unexpected and expensive car repairs one of the most unpleasant expenses you might come up against.

Home Repairs

If there is one thing more essential than a vehicle, it is a roof over your head. Fortunately, homes are not mechanical devices so, unlike cars, they are not prone to breaking down and need repairing far less often. However, there are still many problems that can appear in your home from time to time, and fixing these can still be expensive yet necessary. Examples include plumbing or electrical repairs, broken boilers, damp or rot and replacing roof tiles that have been dislodged by extreme weather.

Replacing Gadgets

As with cars, many gadgets are likely to be pretty much essential to your day-to-day life. Prime examples of truly essential gadgets include mobile phones and computers. Other gadgets, such as tablets, e-book readers or games consoles may not be as essential, but they can still be so useful or so central to your ability to enjoy your leisure time that you may still be reluctant to do without them.

When gadgets go wrong, they will probably need replacing (though it is definitely worth investigating whether repairs are possible, as well as double-checking they are still in warranty). Replacing broken gadgets can be an expensive process, and sometimes gadgets that aren’t even broken might need replacing. If a computer is quite old, for example, it may not be able to run essential software that you need to have access to.

Rising Bills

Sometimes your bills can go up. In the short term this probably has a smaller impact on your finances than a large, one-off expense, but in the long term it will have a sustained, constant effect on your everyday budget. Bills, in this context, may be taken to include things such as rent, insurance premiums or the cost of your journey to work if you commute using public transport. In some cases, such as insurance or utilities, it may be possible to mitigate the effect by switching providers. Sadly, however, this is not always an option.