Spending more time reading up on FI methods than actually doing the work?

[Moustachienne]

For example, researching cheaper phone plans but not getting around to phoning up your current plan to drop or change it.  Or putting off doing a detailed and realistic financial plan?  Or checking out Craiglist or Carmax but not actually selling a vehicle that makes no sense to have.   Anything else?

And how do you shake yourself into action?

[Moostache]

Start with simple things. Just do something to get yourself rolling. Success builds momentum.

How is your budget? Can you identify easy ways to immediately cut back expenses and start saving more?

[TheBuddha]

Researching something can feel like an accomplishment and drain your motivation to do the thing in real life. It reminds me of the advice to not tell friends/family about your aspirations, as it tricks your brain into feeling like it already accomplished them and kills your motivation.

I bought YNAB several months ago but procrastinated and hadn't used it until this month because the mere act of purchasing budgeting software made me feel like I'd taken steps toward gaining control of my money.

Research is a necessary first step, but just take some concrete action to get the ball rolling and you'll be fine.

[rocketpj]

Yeah, one hazard of our large garage with storage shed behind it (and another shed behind that) is that a lot of stuff that should probably be sold off gets put in there.

The garage is primarily a workshop so I keep it pretty clean mostly (though not now), but the storage behind it gets filled with crap that would be better out in the world (and with the cash put to work).

As far as the monthly sorts of costs I'm better about it, and we have sold off any big items (like the boat) that were holding us back, but there are many small items that are logistically more tedious to deal with that I haven't done.

[Lski'stash]

I made a to-do list for what to do with our money as we earn it and am slowly working my way down it. I also have one for monthly expenses and am slowly working on increasing our savings rate through monthly savings as well (lowering the phone plan next month, before that I lowered the grocery bill by starting up at SAMs club and changed who picked up our trash.)  My husband and I still have a lot to tackle, but having a list and knowing what to do next is very helpful. See my blog for the to do list.

[plainjane]

Sometimes I ask myself if I want to be the type of person who does X or just the type of person who talks/thinks about it.  Sometimes I remind myself of the saying that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the second best time is today.  The perfect is the enemy of the good.

But really, I know I'm lazy, so I've set up most things to happen automatically and give myself time to think & research about the other parts. Sometimes that works out to my favour (the company stock I need to deal with has grown at a higher rate than the various index funds I would have purchased), and sometimes it doesn't (like when I didn't shift our investments to a lower MER because I didn't want to figure out which paper to fill out), but things are going ok despite myself. 

That's one of the advantages of doing the big things right (plus a good start with parental help to avoid student debt & general luck with health, job stability). It's ok to be a set it & forget it person and not constantly optimizing.

[Moustachienne]

Thanks for the comments!  We're actually doing really great overall, paid off house, 50% savings rate, etc.  But we still have pockets of dumb spending and undone tasks.  Glad to hear we're not alone.  I like the idea of using the to do list approach for the things not yet on set and forget.  First up - $50 per month cell phone with way more data than I ever use.  Going to switch to the pay as you go plan my husband has.  He averages less than $10 per month, really good for Canadian phone plans.

[myhotrs]

Haha, read the title wrong! Though we were discussing spending more time on MMM than doing work at work. Cuz I'm definitely guilty of that...

[Lski'stash]

Just thought of one for me- husband and I bought used bikes. One needs to be fixed, but we haven't fixed it yet...it's been about six months.