I have been using Mint.com to budget with since June. It has made a big difference to me, since it is a really awesome way to easily keep track of spending and my budget. My spending habits have definitely improved since I signed up with the budgeting website, but I still struggle with going over my budget fairly frequently due to unexpected expenses.

My car is a good example. I last got it serviced a few months ago - it was a big milestone, and cost me about $500. I certainly didn’t realize I’d have to work that much into my budget. So today I had my next service. Should be much more affordable right? Everything big got taken care of 5,000 miles ago.

Au contraire. Today’s little trip to the car doctor cost me over $250. Apparently my brake pads were too worn down :(.

So maybe I need to add a new category to my budget: Car servicing, $100/month.

But the unbudgeted expenses seem to come up every month. In October, it was some vet bills for routine vaccinations that were far more expensive than I expected. (I moved recently, and it turns out that vets were much more affordable in my old town.)

In November, I moved to a new apartment, closer to work. So, I had some large deposits to pay, as well as first month’s rent. It’s definitely worth the slight increase in rent, but moving always seem to come with expensive Wal-Mart trips for things I “need” at the new place. How have I lived in apartments for the last 5 years but I still don’t have everything I could possibly need?

I am adding a category called “unexpected expenses” to my budget during 2011. Of course, some of these expenses shouldn’t have been unexpected, so I’ll be adding some additional categories to try and plan a little better. And then I can see where I can save money in those categories!

Does anyone else find themselves with large, unexpected expenses month after month? What is your strategy for handling these expenses?