How to Tackle "Big Ticket" Expenses Without Busting Your Budget
- Alex Mahoney
- Feb 25
- 2 min read
We’ve all been there. You’ve been diligent with your monthly budget—rent is covered, groceries are accounted for, and you’ve even stayed within your restaurant limit. Then, a "medium-term" expense hits. Maybe it’s an annual car registration, a semi-annual insurance premium, or that dream vacation to the French Riviera.
Suddenly, your monthly budget is blown out of the water.
In my latest video, "How to Think About Saving for Non-Monthly, Big Ticket Expenses," I dive into why these expenses are the biggest challenge for most people and show you exactly how to manage them using Monarch Money.
The "Middle Child" of Expenses
Most people are good at budgeting for two things:
Monthly Necessities: Rent, utilities, and daily discretionary spending.
Long-Term Goals: Retirement or a down payment on a home.
But the "medium-term" expenses—those that fall between $500 and $5,000—often get ignored until the bill arrives. My simple rule of thumb? If an expense exceeds your typical monthly discretionary income, you should be budgeting for it in advance.
How to Automate Your Budget in Monarch Money
In the video, I walk through a real-life example: my upcoming road trip in May [03:45]. I need to save $2,000 over the next three months, and here is how I use Monarch Money to make it happen:
Create a Specific Goal: Use the "Goals" feature to create a dedicated bucket for your expense (like "Vacation") [04:23].
Link Your Accounts: Link this goal to a High-Yield Savings Account (HYSA). This keeps the money "earmarked" so you don’t accidentally spend it on Friday night takeout.
Set Monthly Allocations: By setting a monthly contribution (e.g., $700/month), Monarch automatically factors this into your budget as an "expense" before you ever spend a dime of it [06:21].
The "Pro Tip" for Spending and Points
One of the trickiest parts of budgeting apps is handling the actual spending. Most of us want to use a credit card to earn points, but apps often struggle to link a credit card purchase to a savings goal.
I share a "netting out" trick in the video [10:53] that allows you to:
Pay for your flight or hotel on your credit card.
Adjust your Monarch budget to "pull" the money from your goal.
Transfer the cash from your HYSA to your checking account to pay off the card.
This keeps your budget balanced while ensuring you still get those travel rewards!
Ready to stop stressing over non-monthly bills? Watch the full video below for a step-by-step walkthrough of the Monarch Money interface and my strategy for keeping your financial plan on track.
Are you struggling with a specific "big ticket" item? Or do you have a different way of tracking these in Monarch? Leave a comment on the video—I’d love to hear your strategy!
Comments