5 Ways to Manage Financial Procrastination

Did you know that financial procrastination is a personal goal-stealer?

Do you often have countless plans to improve different life areas and circumstances? Yet, you constantly stall when it’s time to make money moves. Working to move forward on overcoming financial procrastination is doable. I had to find ways to manage my behaviors to be financially healthy.

It was time to consider what to edit from my surroundings or circle of influence.

Today, I was thinking about things I must do to fine-tune my family’s financial plan for the year. I had only one problem: I couldn’t stop playing a game I had downloaded onto my iPhone. Those bobbles and whistles had me captivated, hahaha! I told myself I would quit when I lost the last coin.

But I keep gaining coins because I don’t lose(positive self-talk only). Finally, I decided to cut it off cold turkey and delete the app from my phone instead of allowing it to drain my time and energy—time and energy that I could use working on the family budget.

Sometimes, we want to forget everything for a moment and relax or distract ourselves from those things that need our attention. Let’s face it: sometimes, that is what we need to keep our sanity intact.

However, when we procrastinate on financial upkeep, we can find ourselves in a world of difficulty. Take, for instance, the act of overlooking or neglecting financial obligations, whether they are necessity items and services or impulse drags on our finances. Placing bills on the back burner, letting the mail pile up, or simply refusing to acknowledge that things need attention can result from many dynamics in your life. Still, the focus of this article isn’t to figure those things out but instead to make prioritizing your finances more doable.

Take things in small bites. That’s all! Do enough to be productive while not turning the task into a whole gallery of things to do.

5 Ways To Manage Financial Procrastination: Some of the things I choose to do to limit my stress and anxiety and to curb procrastinating tendencies over finances are:

1. Take 5-10 minutes to check the budget 1-2 times weekly to ensure we are on track. If you don’t have a template, no worries; use pencil and paper and write it down. I did this for years before converting to doing it digitally. If you would rather have an online tool, there are many options, such as Nerd Wallet’s free budget tool.

2. Tweak the budget if needed and refuse to feel wrong about doing so. Listen, budgets are living plans open to change as you see fit. Don’t let it stress if you need to adjust, add, or delete items from your plan. It doesn’t have to be perfect; in truth, nothing is. I see it as an attempt to organize my financial thoughts by providing my family with a roadmap or financial GPS.

3. Check credit accounts once a week to ensure that there are no fraudulent transactions. One thing that helps here is setting up credit account alerts. You can set threshold amounts for spending notifications to be sent immediately to your phone or email. This feature enabled me to recognize fraudulent activity on one of my accounts in the middle of the night. I could contact the credit company and protect my credit right away.

4. Write down what I want to give more time and attention to for good financial health. A friend uses a vision board to help her achieve her financial goals. This is great for people who prefer visual cues to stay on task. You can also use the notes feature on your phone to jot down your ideas for financial health. I set goals in notes and come back and visit them to see how I have succeeded or what I need to work on.

5. Give yourself some grace. Managing your money can be daunting when you incorporate everything your needs, obligations, and desires entail. I’m constantly reminded of a quote by Aristotle that I love: “Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit”. This helps me to fine-tune my family’s financial plan better and question my motives for spending, saving, and investing responsibly as a steward of my finances.