The main thing we have been trying to do, is collect data and have multi-year data on our "expenses" are in different areas, big ones being house, vehicle, and medical. It seems like every year we have 1 or more big hits to our expenses, for example this past year over 5K in car repairs (would be have been more cost efficient to replace car) this year will be a roof repair that will be 9-10K, braces (6K total) and specialized tutoring for other child (ranging in price from 2K up to 13K depending on what we do). Other years 5K tooth replacement, appliance replacement, expensive house repairs/replacements, etc. Each time this happens we go oh crap and empty out our efund and then like crazy squirrels rebuild the efund to have it happen again. The main thing we have realized, is that either we are particularly unlucky, or more likely we need to increase the amount we put in our emergency fund monthly to cover these things, because this is the "new normal". I had to reduce how much I'm contributing to retirement to cover these unexpected but now to be expected expenses. Maybe someday we will be able to increase amount for retirement but right now it is minimal. This is something that I was thinking about, while the child-related expenses may go away, many of these other expenses will still happen in retirement and will need to be calculated in.
