# How do I budget for irregular expenses like car repairs?

List the costs that do not come monthly, estimate each one, and save a fixed amount toward them every month so the bill is already covered when it arrives. ProfitDrawer's zero-based budget guide gives car repairs their own $50 monthly line in a $4,200 example budget. A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau booklet suggests automatically depositing a monthly amount into savings so lump-sum payments like car insurance are already saved.

**Step by step:**

1. **Look back a year.** Go through statements for car repairs, registration, tires, yearly insurance, school costs, gifts and medical bills.
2. **Split known from unknown.** A registration fee has a date; a repair does not. Give dated costs a monthly amount: cost divided by months until due.
3. **Estimate the unknown ones** from what they cost you last year, then divide by 12.
4. **Add each as a budget line,** before flexible spending.
5. **Automate the transfer** on payday if you can, into savings or a separate account.
6. **Pay the bill from that money** when it comes, then keep saving for the next one.

**Example:** if car repairs and maintenance cost you $600 last year, $600 / 12 = $50 a month, the car repairs line in ProfitDrawer's example budget.

Keep a separate emergency fund for true surprises such as a job loss. The CFPB booklet suggests starting a rainy day fund with $500 as a goal, and calls using it for an unexpected expense a success, not a failure, as long as you plan to refill it.

- Source: [Building your savings? Start with small goals (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)](https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_ymyg-savings-booklet.pdf)
- Updated: 2026-10-29
- Published: 2026-10-29
- Category: Personal budgeting
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- Publisher: ProfitDrawer (https://profitdrawer.com)