on paying bills at a certain time of the month

paying bills annoys me. it has an outsized impact on my mental impact state, especially when i’m not making enough money to cover everything i have to pay for.

but something i learned from … somewhere (maybe getting things done)… is about how to not let bills take over more mental space than necessary.

a pattern i’ve noticed with myself is that when a bill comes in, i’ll put it on my desk or in my mailbox in my apartment. and then i’ll look at it every time i walk by it until i pay it. and every time i walk by it and don’t pay it, i think “dang, i really should just pay that.”

but, it probably takes me on average two weeks to pay a bill i got.

and then, sometimes, i find the “dang, i really should pay that bill” thought slipping into my mind at other times, even when not looking at the envelope or physical bill.

what this says to me is that the bill is taking up background space in my brain. and, like i’ve written about before, anything that is keeping your full attention from what you’re working on in the moment is diminshing your capacity to focus, flow, and really make progress on the task at hand.

so my remedy to this is to just set up some time to pay my bills monthly. a few months ago, i decided that the 1st and 15th of the month are when i should pay stuff. since it takes me about two weeks to pay anyways, why not just schedule it in? that way, i never have to have bills sitting in my subconscious because i know i have time set aside to pay them.

if i’m honest, i don’t really do this that well, but i’m working on it. as always, building these habits takes time and i’m not there yet but i know i’ll get there. hopefully by 2018 i’ll be good to go on this, but we’ll see.

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