How Being Too Busy Can Cost You Money

The other day I received my internet bill and to my surprise it had increased by $20+ dollars per month. But that wasn’t even the real shocker, what truly surprised me was the fact that I had been paying the new amount for a few months without even noticing! I’m all about setting up automatically billing and making things simpler, but I was so busy the past few months that I didn’t even take the time to check our bills like I normally would.

This got me thinking about all the other areas that have been affected in the past because I was simply too busy; finances, my health and even my ability to grow. It truly can be a vicious cycle and one of the reasons why I’m trying to be intentional with how I spend my time this year. So how can being too busy cost you money? Let me break down the most common ways that it can affect your finances:

How Being Too Busy Can Cost You Money

Overspending on food

If you are too busy to plan or make meals at home, you’re likely to wind up ordering take-out or overspending on a quick trip to the grocery store. I’ve been guilty of this more times than I care to admit. I realize that I forgot to pull out the meat to thaw out and then I’m scrambling to figure what to make for dinner.

Overspending on utilities

Being too busy to check if your utilities have increased can wind up costing you hundreds or perhaps more if you’re not careful. Taking a few minutes each week to thoroughly check your utilities is well worth the time and savings. You also need time to contact utility companies and negotiate rates, something you can’t do if you’re too busy.

Being unorganized

Being too busy and being unorganized tend to go hand in hand. When I’m overwhelmed with the things I have to do, I simply don’t have the time to run my home smoothly. This also means that I wind up spending money unnecessarily since I don’t have a clear idea of what we have available at home or where it’s located. Even things like home maintenance can get neglected which will catch up to you eventually.

Canceling subscriptions

How many times have you signed up for a subscription service to test it out, but with the busyness of life forget to cancel it? I’ve done this several times and learned to not even sign up for anything because I’m afraid I’ll forget. Again it all falls back on being unorganized and too busy to act accordingly.

Health

Not having the time to workout or take a time out to do the things you enjoy, can affect your health. If you’re health is affected, so will your finances. Why? Because you’ll wind up spending money on co-pays for doctors and meds to help you feel better. This is an area I struggled with a lot last year. I didn’t make time to keep up with my workouts or simply do something for myself. Unfortunately it all caught up with me and made me physically sick. This resulted in me having to spend money to get physically better when it all could have been prevented.

Inability to make money

Perhaps you’re thinking that you have a great system in place and being busy hasn’t affected your finances or health. You pay your bills on time, meal plan, workout, and have your home in order. But what about your goals? Are you too busy to pursue your career goals or start the business you dreamed of? You could be increasing your income which could help you reach financial freedom. However, if you’re too busy to even begin you’ll never know what the possibilities may have been.

If you find that you have too much going on, I urge you to take a step back. I find that if I’m juggling too many things, I can’t do them all to best of my ability. This might mean cutting back in some areas, but it will be well worth it in the end. Your body, family and finances will thank you for it.

Do you find that being busy has cost you money? I would love to hear your thoughts on this!