What, have I lost my mind? Am I espousing not doing things? No, but sometimes procrastination works for you (in some areas), especially in the areas of BUYING things.
Case in point this weekend, I have been putting off buying new running shoes for about 2 years now, schlepping around in my old beat up ones, but this weekend, thanks to a coupon my daughter received, I was able to get new shoes at a bargain price, and they are quite good shoes as well. This is what I am talking about.
Just for clarity sakes, here are some areas where procrastination is going to get you into a lot of trouble (in the financial world at least):
- Paying your taxes, especially if you owe the government money. Don’t procrastinate here.
- Paying your credit card debts, if you procrastinate there, you lose a plethora of your hard earned ca$hola.
- Starting your retirement savings (RRSP, 401k, etc.,). The sooner you start the sooner you are ahead of things.
No, I am talking about MAJOR purchases, especially if you have to borrow to make the purchases. Do you need to buy that new car right now, or can you last a while longer with your older car? Do you need to buy that bigger house? Your daughter needs a $600 prom dress because…? These are all perfect areas where procrastination is a useful tactic.
That’s a perfect example of using procrastination as a financial tool. Excellent comment!
–C8j
I have a little save-myself-from-myself habit that’s kinda similar to procrastination. If I’m completely seducted by some potential spending trigger (Future shop gadgets, for example!) I tell myself I can buy it TOMORROW. Usually the time delay is enough for the law of laziness to come in, and strangely, I don’t make it back to the shop to buy the purchase that 24 hours previously seemed so utterly necessary. Yup, procrastination can work in our favour.