In retirement, what budget items did you underestimate or overestimate? (dumped, state)

[ElmersGlue.]

Healthcare...knock on wood... but we went to a 90% organic plant based diet

Food. I didn't realize growing some and raising your own food was so mentally healthy for the mind and enjoyable.

Entertainment- Because being at home is so fulfilling with our projects, animals, meet up group and church, we don't go many places to spend $ anymore.

Personal Hygiene- I spent about $100 a month on haircuts and haircollor. The local restaurant owner is a beautician so we trade services. Chickens for haircuts!!

[fluffythewondercat]

We don't have a budget, but I think DH has been surprised by some of the costs that have come up.

Right after we started spending time here, one of the water heaters wouldn't. It spewed rust-colored water. Called a plumber, who showed us that some of the circuitry had caused a fire and the tank was leaking. That company wanted $2500 to replace the wh. Imagine that, the owners had never told us they'd had a fire. I'm shocked.

I found a small family-owned company on Yelp and they were great to work with. They installed a new wh for $900. The old wh had still been on warranty -- barely -- but the manufacturer was throwing up roadblocks to keep from having to compensate us.

I commented to DH this morning that this year we will have to tip the pool guy at Christmas, because that's what they do here. We'd probably have to tip the landscaping service too if not for the fact we do all the work ourselves, saving $500/month. I think we're going to get a very nice tip this year. I'm not sure about pond guy tip etiquette -- our pond is serviced by a 16 year old working for his dad.

The pump that drives the misting system on the patios and over the pool died unexpectedly, so I'm looking at $1600 to replace that. Once the misting is operable, we can lounge in the shade outside on even the hottest days.

DH is talking about getting a swamp cooler for the garage. He's worried about bringing his electric car here. The batteries don't do well in high temps. I'm thinking maybe we should solicit some bids to "raise" the garage roof high enough to accommodate a Class A or Class C RV, even if we don't have one now, and the van. We'd design a cooling solution as part of the project. The whole shebang would easily run six figures, but should increase the value and appeal of the house. Homes with RV garages sell quickly here in the East Valley. The sun does a number on vehicle paint, tires, hoses, batteries...

[Bette]

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry

Bette, I just turned 65 so I am only on Medicare A and B because DH is 60 so I had to stay on my employer insurance. This costs between 9-12k/year. My CPAP machine caused all my teeth to rot from the inside out so by the time it was discovered I lost my teeth. 33 k/ for the implanted bridge called 4 on 4 on the bottom and 4K for denture on top.

Terry - Still on Blue Cross - around $1600 monthly so eventually Medicare will help with that!
It is like 4 car payments!

Good to know about the dental - new line item.

[jlawrence01]

Underestimated- the cost of healthcare since ACA has gone up annually twice as much as the previous five years.

Overestimated- food cost as it has decrease 10% a year for the past five as we do a lot more scratch cooking.

[Willamette City]

helping my 35 year old daughter to the tune of $350/month. She has a job she loves but only gets 10 hours a week. She also writes apps for Android phones and hopefully that pans out. Fortunately, we can afford it. She has a boyfriend in New York. I would LOVE to see her move there. I love my daughter, but 35??

[Tuck's Dad]

Under: Vehicle mileage and the ensuing gas and maintenance costs for the vehicles.

Over: Nothing really. Budget was very solid except for the above vehicle expenses.

[ChessieMom]

Dang I better add some $ to the dental budget. You guys are scaring me.

[germaine2626]

Originally Posted by ChessieMom

Dang I better add some $ to the dental budget. You guys are scaring me.

Dental was also much more than I expected. $2,000 here, $300 there, $3,000 here, $400 there, etc. etc.

But with teeth you can go a year or two with just the cost of the cleanings and the next year you are swamped with multiple, multiple problems.

[mlb]

If you think mail and phone messages from Medicare supplement companies is bad....just you wait - dental providers are everywhere.

My Medicare advantage plan offers dental, vision and hearing for an additional $45/ month. I should have grabbed it when I started in January.

[NewbieHere]

I only spend money for 3 cleanings per year. Not much for dental. My husband maybe more, but he has no implants, still has his own teeth. Maybe last year we spent $1500 for dental. It was to redo two of his crowns. Definitely not in the ten of thousands. So it depends.