How much time do you spend on your finances?
On Day 9 of NCN’s 33 Days and 33 Ways to Reduce Debt and Increase Savings series, the question revolves around time management and money. How much time do you spend on your finances? Better yet, how much *effective* time do you spend?
How much time do I spend? Too much. But part of that is by choice. I like doing money management tasks immediately, and I enjoy indulging in my micromanager tendencies with recordkeeping. It isn’t the most effective use of time, for many similar tasks could be saved up and batched together and done in a single processing time, but I like being up to date all the time. In fact, as you read this, I know I am in a car coming back from our trip thinking “I need to get on the computer and enter all this data!”.
Does better organization lead to less time spent on finances? I am sure it does. I am pretty organized, but I could be better. I don’t think I’ve found the right system yet that incorporates my need for immediate feedback with a streamlined time-management approach.
As I said, I am a micromanager. I think it is probably more productive to just own that fact instead of continually fight it. That doesn’t mean I accept my micromanaging tendencies at face value, but I do often simply give into them. Worse than just a micromanager, I am a micromanager with an incredibly short attention span. How to get over the “micromanaging” impulses? Is it even possible? Or is it easier to just give in?
Are you a micromanager at heart and have found a system that works for you? Let me know! I think it’d be easier to find the right system than to change my inherent nature.
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October 20th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I concur completely. I probably spend too much time on money management, but, I enjoy it right now. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I put in another expense in my bookkeeping program.
Plus, I know I’m at the point right now where I NEED to micromanage.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I hear that …
I’m also a micromanager, and I like knowing where every single penny goes.
It’s just something I find fun and interesting, but if someone who hated budgets and detail looked at it, they’d probably freak out…
I read your other posts, and I follow the same philosophy as you do (I think)… but you sound way more organized LOL
October 20th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Definitely another micromanager here. That’s probably why I enjoy blogging so much. I think it’s psychologically effective, at least in part. I don’t know if I have a perfect system, but I like to feel in control since I could be so out of control with all the debt…
October 20th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Micromanager me four, it seems to be an effective way to increase the probability of success. I spend way to much time of my finances, I am trying to learn how to ignore my investments, since I have a long-term outlook anyway. However, curiousity often consumes me.
October 22nd, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I think I sound organized more than I am organized… I think I am in a constant state of chaos. lol