I am a horrific procrastinator. I always wait until the last possible second to do anything - clean my house before people come over, finish work before a deadline. I even write my posts right before bed. For some reason, I won't do my tasks until there's pressure. Why do today what can be put off until tomorrow?
I have two possible culprits (excuses) for why I procrastinate so much. One, I was an engineering major in college and learned to operate remarkably well under pressure, which somehow translated to only operating when under pressure. Or it could be the second reason - I have so many things to do that only the mos imperative tasks are done each day. Urgency is a pretty good way to get to the top of my list. Unfortunately, more tasks are added to my to-do list every day and there are a few that keep getting pushed until tomorrow... or the next day... or the next day.
Regardless of the reasoning, there are a few issues that crop up due to my penchant for putting things off. I am always under pressure, which,while I thrive under pressure, can be irritating at times. And it costs me money.
I can think of 2 ways in the past week that I spent money because I procrastinated and didn't plan ahead. I went to the grocery store next to my retail job one night because I didn't get enought food for dinner that night. This store just happens to charge about twice as much for their food than my normal store. But the better example is my husband's birthday last week. On his actual birthday, I bought his present, picked out a card and finished making his cake. Not only could I have saved some money by planning ahead and comparison shopping, I could have gotten his card for free using CVS deals and spent more time with him and less time frosting the cake. Between the two of these I could have saved $7-10.
But these are just small examples. In the past, I have paid credit cards late and missed other payments by putting them off. While I haven't done that in quite some time (my one error notwithstanding), I'm still not quite organized or efficient enough to maximize my money. But I'm getting there. The first step is to admit you have a problem. :) Now to go about solving it...
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3 comments:
That's the hard part, making it happen.
I'm the queen of procrastination. I don't know why. But I know it creates a lot of stress in my life and has proven to be very expensive over the years. I've missed out on rebates, missed sales, forgotten to return items during the return grace period, etc. I think that the solution lies partly in overcoming my tendency to procrastinate and partly in learning to avoid situations that I know I'll procrastinate in. For example, I no longer buy anything with a rebate unless it's an instant rebate. If I could easily and painlessly fix one thing about me, it would definitely be the procrastination.
w1 - I know! Talk the talk and all that.
elizabeth - I am very strict with myself on rebates, but I have been carrying my signature card for my savings account in my pocketbook for about a month. Wow, that sounds bad!!
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