{"id":1001,"date":"2007-04-06T05:00:41","date_gmt":"2007-04-06T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/2007\/04\/06\/dumb-things-i-sometimes-do\/"},"modified":"2024-03-05T13:06:06","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T20:06:06","slug":"dumb-things-i-sometimes-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/dumb-things-i-sometimes-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Dumb Things I Sometimes Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve made great progress with my personal finances over the past year. I am paying off debt. I established an emergency fund. I even opened a Roth IRA. But I’m not out of the woods yet \u2014 I still do stupid things from time to time.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Spending for the sake of spending<\/span><\/h2>\n

For example, I just returned from a trip to the bank. I deposited a couple of checks which caused my balance to increase to what, for me, is an enormous sum. (Next week I’ll share my dilemma over what to do with this money.)<\/p>\n

Rather than come directly home, I had<\/i> to stop at the comic book store. This isn’t necessarily bad. I’ve been training myself to buy only comics I genuinely want, not to buy for the sake of buying. Today there wasn’t anything that I had to have. I should have left empty-handed. I didn’t. Instead, I found a couple of books that looked mildly interesting. I spent $50.<\/p>\n

This is stupid. I know perfectly well that the several new collections I want are due out later this month. I should have saved for them. But because I was feeling flush, I craved the rush of a new purchase. So I spent $50.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Past due<\/span><\/h2>\n

Last summer I wrote about paying bills as they arrive<\/a>. This money hack has worked well for me. By paying bills when they arrive, I don’t feel pinched. The money goes to necessities first, so I know anything left over is mine to do with as I please.<\/p>\n

This works like a charm. Mostly.<\/p>\n

The one bill I haven’t been paying as it arrives is the home equity line of credit. Instead, I wait as long as possible so that I can accumulate cash to throw at it. The problem is that sometimes I forget to mail it. Last month, for example, the bill was due on the 18th. On the 19th, I was sorting my financial papers for something else and noticed my home equity bill had not yet been paid.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I was able to make a bank transfer that day, which meant the money cleared in time to avoid late fees. (I have some unknown number of days beyond the due date in which to pay.)<\/p>\n

Again: this is dumb. I could easily have missed the payment completely, resulting in late fees or (worse) an increased interest rate.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Easy come, easy go<\/span><\/h2>\n

I have a lot of books. I’m sometimes reading five or six books at once. To mark my place, I usually grab whatever piece of paper is at hand. Sometimes, apparently, I mark my place with $140 checks.<\/p>\n

In February, I was gathering a stack of books to return to the library. One book slipped and crashed to the floor. As it did, its pages ruffled briefly and a check fell out. It was a check I’d received in the mail the day before. If I weren’t so clumsy, I would be $140 poorer. (And four years from now, some library patron would have opened the book to discover $140!)<\/p>\n

<\/span>Nobody’s perfect<\/span><\/h2>\n

Everyone makes mistakes. The recovery process \u2014 moving from a life of debt and compulsive spending<\/a> to a life of responsible money management \u2014 takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight.<\/p>\n

When I used to make these sorts of mistakes all the time, I’d let them get me down. Doing something dumb like spending $50 on comics that I didn’t really want would have been enough to send me into a tailspin. I’d feel bad, which would cause me to spend, which would make me feel bad, which would cause me to spend. And so on.<\/p>\n

These over-reactions are rare now. I accept the fact that I’m going to do stupid things. I trust that I’m on the right path, that my financial situation is improving. Little errors aren’t enough to draw me off-course anymore. I have my goals, and I’m sticking to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve made great progress with my personal finances over the past year. I am paying off debt. I established an emergency fund. I even opened a Roth IRA. But I’m not out of the woods yet \u2014 I still do stupid things from time to time.<\/p>\n

Spending for the sake of spending<\/h2>\n

For example, I just returned from a trip to the bank. I deposited a couple of checks which caused my balance to increase to what, for me, is an enormous sum. (Next week I’ll share my dilemma over what to do with this money.)<\/p>\n

Rather than come directly home, I had<\/i> to stop at the comic book store. This isn’t necessarily bad. I’ve been training myself to buy only comics I genuinely want, not to buy for the sake of buying. Today there wasn’t anything that I had to have. I should have left empty-handed. I didn’t. Instead, I found a couple of books that looked mildly interesting. I spent $50.<\/\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3287,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31921],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}