Procrastination Is Expensive

Procrastination is a bad habit, and one that I sadly have struggled with for awhile now. (Yes, I was one of those who would wake up at “0 dark:30″ the morning of the day that a high school term paper was due, madly write it, turn it in and get an A. But just about kill myself trying to do it. And there were a few times that I just couldn’t cram in enough studying or write a good enough paper at the last minute and my grades would reflect that. Have I learned? Yes, but I still work on it)

This month my bad habit has reared its ugly head again and showed me that I need to get a bit more organized and do things immediately so we don’t pay for it later.

Case in point?

We are moving next spring. We have a club membership to a our neighborhood clubhouse and pools. Normally most neighborhoods that have an HOA the fee for the pool is a part of the HOA dues. In our neighborhood HOA fees are mandatory, but joining the pool is not; and as such the pool/club dues are separate. We are moving in the spring and the pool is closed now for the winter. We don’t really attend the clubhouse activities so to save money we canceled our membership. EXCEPT, to avoid paying dues for November I was supposed to email the clubhouse with our cancellation request by October 31st (I had already called them, but they needed it an email).

So on November 1st as we ate breakfast and my kids celebrated that it was a new month it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had not send the email to the clubhouse. I quickly emailed them anyway, but a couple days later saw that the fee hit my bank account.

This week’s stupid tax cost? $72.50

When I told my husband what happened he said, “Wait, you only had to send an email and you forgot?” Yes dear… now in my defense I only remembered the club membership when I wasn’t at the computer. BUT, had I of actually stopped what I was doing and gotten on the computer when I remembered the membership I would have canceled it in time. But did I? No, of course not, because I put it off. I procrastinated. And it cost me.

Grr… I guess the only good news in this is that we have now officially canceled our membership and will have an extra $72.50 a month to throw at our debt.

Starting in December. Sigh….

So what have I learned?

5 ways to deal with procrastination so it doesn’t cost you money:

• Make a list, and put it in a prominent place.

• BEGIN the task you need to do. Don’t tell yourself you need to finish “xyz”; just focus on actually beginning it.

• Start small. Baby steps will get you there. If you have to pack up your entire house for a move don’t think about everything you have to move. Start with one room, or one box.

• Do it NOW.

• Enlist help; from a spouse, roommate, parent or whoever you live with. Have this person help remind you to start things.

Need more help to conquer procrastination?

• Get Rich Slowly - Getting to Now: How to Beat the Procrastination Habit

• Steve Pavlina - Overcoming Procrastination

So what are you putting off?