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It’s amazing how simply forgetting to do something can end up costing money. Having a bad memory can actually end up costing a small fortune. If you haven’t given this any thought before, it’s probably a good idea to start thinking about it now. Just take a look at all the ways that forgetting costs money:
The most obvious way that forgetting can cost you money is when you forget to pay your bills. Late charges can be pretty nasty, especially on credit card bills. Forget to pay your credit card bill, send it in only one day late and you could be facing some rather steep penalties. Not only do they charge you a high late fee, but they almost always increase your finance charge too. In fact, credit card companies can increase your finance charge if they find out you paid another company late!
Another big way that forgetting costs money is through your check book. Forget to write down even one purchase, lose track of your balance and you’ve got rubber checks bouncing everywhere! The banks will hit you with overdraft charges almost as heavily as the credit card companies. They can also charge you a fee for each and every overdraft, even if they were a result of the same one mistake. In addition, you face paying penalties by the merchants you wrote those bad checks to.
Let’s not forget about those “free trials”. You know the ones…the ones that have the term “membership” attached to them? They ask you for payment information up front and they will conveniently start billing you at the end of the trial period if you don’t cancel the membership first. How much money have those cost you for forgetting to cancel?
Miss an appointment or forget to call within 24 hours of that appointment to cancel and you could be charged for the entire visit.
Return your movie rentals or library books late and you pay late charges.
Forget to get a package in the mail and you end up paying extra shipping charges to get it there on time.
Forgetting costs money on the less obvious things too. You lose money when you forget to use coupons and when you forget to mail in rebates. You spend extra money on gas when you make extra trips to the grocery store to pick up forgotten items. (Did you forget your coupons on the return visit too?) You shell out money for eating out or on cafeteria lunches when you forget to pack a lunch.
If too many of the above scenarios sound familiar to you, it may be time to put some sort of reminder system in place. Big mistakes or little slip-ups, forgetting costs money!
Kathleen Gagne knows how easy it is to forget about things when you are already bogged down with all of life’s little details. She has created a fun, whimsical website full of cute things to help you remember. Say hello to "Pinky" while you're there. |
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