D.I.R.A. (Do It Right Away)

Like many people, I'm a chronic procrastinator.

I keep meaning to change my ways, but well, maybe later, eh?

The trouble with that is that I keep making problems for myself.

Here are a couple of recent examples:

1. Back in the spring, I had a money order made up to include with my application to put a driveway in on my land. I postponed submitting the application and I have since misplaced (i.e. lost) the money order. It's for $300. Enough to make a typical south shore person conform to the laws around driveways. Enough to hurt. (Except the bank was able to reissue it, phew).
2. A week or so ago, I received a new credit card to replace one that is about to expire. I thought, I'll activate that later – and now I can't find it. 

Apart from these acute examples, there is also the chronic condition of my home, my car and my finances to contend with. Drifts of things tend to mount up and deteriorate into chaotic messes.

I'm getting better with my finances. It's taken me a while and there have been some bumps along the way, but I am sticking with YNAB and it is now rare for me to go for more than 2 or 3 weeks without taking stock of all of my income and expenses. When I'm having a really good week, I track almost everything on the spot, using my phone. This hasn't really helped me make better decisions about my spending yet, but I'm hopeful that as I continue to get the hang of it, I'll start being happier with the ways I choose to spend my money.

And losing that credit card has motivated me to reconsider the number of credit cards I have. They are just making work for me to track and reconcile them. It's not worth it for a few lousy points toward whatever.

I'm going to try to adopt the acronym, D.I.R.A. (Do It Right Away) as a simple way to remind myself to take care of things (especially little things) immediately, instead of letting them mold and fester. Another possible acronym is R.A.P. (Right Away, Please). I would use A.S.A.P., but As Soon As Possible is too open to interpretation. Except when my clients use it, ASAP just means "when you want to", which in terms of me taking care of little things is basically never – or only when I'm forced to.

I've also thought up an expanded version of the DIRA acronym:

D – Documented: there is no point putting thing in a safe place if one doesn't know where that safe place is. So from now on whenever I put something "somewhere safe", I'm going to send myself an email with an easily searchable subject line, like "Where is my Passport?"
I – Intentional: think about the right place for something and put it there. (In other words, stop dropping things carelessly on the passenger seat of my car and later tipping them carelessly onto the floor of the back seat because I want to give someone a lift. Upon arriving home from my mailbox, each piece of paper needs to be dealt with – sorted into recycling, acted upon and/or filed.
R – Resolute: be consistent. Do It Right Away. Every Time.
A – Accepting: I know that this is going to be challenging for me. If it came naturally, I'd have been doing it all along. I will need to jolly myself along, with lots of humour and affection. And get gently back on the wagon each time I fall off.

With present moment consciousness, anytime I see a piece of paper (or anything else) that I haven't dealt with promptly, I always have the option to DIRA. Even if it has been kicking around for months or years, right away can be right now.

Experience the freedom!

Do you get these too? I rarely go more than a month without receiving one of these come-ons:

I am already responsible for an insane amount of personal debt. In addition to my line of credit, I have three credit cards. Most of the time, I don't carry a balance on my credit cards from month-to-month. I try to be a credit card "freeloader" as much of the time as I can be. But, as a freelancer, I have been known to live off my credit cards during a lean month (or two, or sometimes – gulp! – three).

Despite the fact that my wonderful local personal banker is supporting me in my goal to reduce my ability to borrow on my line of credit by $5,000 a year, the folks at banking HQ would be "happy to help" me take on the option of more credit. 

Treat yourself!

Take that trip! 

Relax!

Experience the freedom – yes the freedom of crippling debt with interest payments that make it ever harder to get back into the black. 

I've been experiencing that freedom for years. It sucks.

But you've worked soooooooo hard!

I bet they have people with psychology degrees holed up at the bank writing these letters. You've worked hard to maintain an excellent credit history. Pat yourself on the back, kid, and show us what you can do with several thousand more dollars of rope with which to hang yourself!

I tell you, I'd have been working a lot harder if I'd simply managed my money properly in the first place. If only I'd used my brain and a little common sense. For instance, if I'd never spent the HST I had collected and then scrambled after it three months later when it was time to remit. Or if I'd put a little something aside during the lush months for the coming lean months and the inevitability of income taxes. 

The party is over; a better party is just beginning

I think I may have found my answer. I read a great article in the Montreal Gazette a couple of weeks ago about a person who lived in Montreal on $11,000 last year. It's an inspiring story about co-operative living and alternative economic models. 

And careful money management. 

The article mentioned something called YNAB (You Need A Budget). I thought, that sounds like me. I need a budget.

I've been checking YNAB out and I love it! It's software with a phone app that lets me track what I spend, anywhere, anytime, so I actually know both what's in my budget and what's in my bank account. This may shock some people, but it is novel for me to know how much money I have. And really novel for me to try to hold a conscious awareness of how much of my money is truly available to spend – when a lot of it is really owed to of all the infrequent expenses that keep mounting in the background (taxes, bills that get autopaid by my credit card, etc., etc.)  Before, I was blithely spending the money I appeared to have – and not really caring because I knew I had the cushion of credit whenever I screwed up and overspent (which was often). Wotthehell, I thought, I'll pay it back later. Un-hunh, with interest.

YNAB is good software, but as they say themselves: "It's not just software, it's a mission." What I really find YNAB good at is training (i.e. re-training) the way I look at money. They offer 4 simple rules to follow. There are webinars about how to apply the rules – about how exactly to get out of existing debt and how to handle the dramatic ebbs and flows of freelance income. I feel like it was made for me. It guess it was. It was made for people just like me. People who need a budget.

The whole point of YNAB is to have money saved up for needs and emergencies so that I'll eventually be spending only money I have instead of continually dipping into the poisoned credit candy dish. It's going to take a little time and a little (unaccustomed) restraint, but with a good tool on my side, I'm looking forward to experiencing the freedom – of living within my means.