Prevent One Source of Stress By Avoiding Late Fees

Job responsibilities, maintaining a home, and meeting the growing needs and demands of your family can feel overwhelming at times! It's not always easy to juggle a busy schedule, balance your budget, and make sure your bills get paid on time. The ideal scenario is to organize your life in such a way so that you're not allowing priorities to slip through the cracks.

In many ways, keeping your life under control is a lot like building a house. In both cases, you have to make sure you're creating a strong foundation that will provide support and long-term stability for your current and future needs. Easier said than done, but it's a goal worth doggedly pursuing!

It's All In Your Head... Mostly!

Half the battle to being in control of your life is feeling like you're in control, and that feeling often hinges on being able to see evidence of those circumstances. Whether the feedback you're getting from your environment is positive or negative, it's going to have a direct impact on your energy level, your attitude, and your confidence. That's why it's important to control the things you can -- and recognize the ones that are outside of your control.

Not paying your bills on time is one of those aspects of life that can have a lot of repercussions, over time, especially if you're chronically forgetful, disorganized, or overextended. When you think about it, there are a lot of sound reasons for staying one step ahead of your due dates. The primary reason is that paying your bills in a timely way will help you maintain a high credit score, which is valuable when applying for a mortgage, a home improvement loan, or some other form of financing.

There are also two other compelling reasons to avoid missing payments or due dates:

1. Sending in late payments creates additional stress in your life, and you probably have more than your share of that, now! Many people don't recognize how insidious and damaging stress can be, both to our mental and physical health. In some cases, stress is avoidable or can be controlled by taking preventative action.
2. Receiving "past due" notices and allowing your credit score to slip can and does have a negative effect on your self esteem. Once that starts happening, it can undermine and impact other important aspects of your life, including job performance, relationships, and even dietary and lifestyle choices. Remember that "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link".

While some financial problems may require professional help to get them resolved, others can be nipped in the bud by examining and sometimes shifting your priorities, increasing your awareness of when payments are due, and resolving to build a strong financial foundation that will support you and your family through thick and thin.