Do you practice “delaying” on a regular basis?
Did you know that the practice of “delaying” can boost your finances?
Most people don’t associate “delaying” with improved finances, but they really do go hand in hand. In many situations the choice to delay something can give your finances a boost.
Today I’ll talk about exactly how delaying can boost your finances as well as situations where delaying can actually hurt your finances.
How “Delaying” Can Boost Your Finances
My wife and I purchased a home that essentially will need to be fully renovated over time. This includes the bathrooms, kitchen, floors, windows, landscaping – you name it, we plan on redoing it. We did this for a number of reasons including our desire to learn through do-it-yourself projects as well as to gain as much sweat equity as possible.
Anyone who has renovated their house knows that it’s not cheap. Even if you go the do-it-yourself route there are a ton of expenses: materials, furniture, fixtures, tools…the list goes on. And let’s face it: you can justify renovating just about any room in any house. There will always be some way to make it better or update it. There are rooms and houses that are unlivable, but most rooms are just outdated.
One thing my wife and I are actively doing is practicing “delaying” in our home renovation process. The longer we can put off, say, putting in new cupboards, counters, and appliances in our kitchen, the more money we have to use for saving, paying down debt, and investing. It would be easy to take out a $30,000 personal loan and renovate our entire house the next few months (assuming I could take off enough PTO to put in the work), but we’d be sacrificing saving and investing goals because we’d have to divert so much cash towards paying off the loan.
I used the illustration of home renovations because it’s you can easily see how delaying expensive home improvement projects can positively impact someone’s personal finances. You don’t have to be a homeowner, though, to benefit from the practice of delaying. Take an aging car as an example. Many people trade in their car when it gets to a certain mileage marker like 150 thousand or 100 thousand. Now, what if you continued to drive it for another year or two or five? Delaying a car purchase until your aging car truly “dies” can save you thousands of dollars.
The financial boost you gain from the practice of delaying doesn’t have to be limited to big purchases. I’ve spent over a year and a half debating whether I should buy a tablet or not. Despite spending hours poring over information about tablets, I actually do not own one yet. Not only has delaying the purchase saved me the cost of the tablet, but it’s also allowed me to invest the money. I nearly bought a Surface Pro 2 but since then the Surface Pro 3 has come out, meaning my delay in purchase has helped me avoid buying a piece of hardware that quickly became obsolete.
The point is this: in many situations delaying a purchase can give your personal finances a boost. It frees up money for long-term financial goals such as saving and investing, as well as helps consumers avoid debt while simultaneously pay off debt quicker.
When Delaying Doesn’t Pay Off
It doesn’t always pay off to practice “delaying.” In fact, delaying can sometimes have a detrimental effect on your finances.
Some examples of delaying are more black-and-white than others. One example that is relatively black-and-white is delaying a college education. While graduating without student loans is an ideal situation, it might not be worth it if it means taking twice as long to graduate. If you could graduate from college eight years from today with no student loans or in four years with student loans, it typically makes sense to take on some debt. The reasoning is simple: having a college degree typically gives you the opportunity to double your income overnight.
Take an accounting major as an example. Let’s say they can make $25k a year if they work full-time while taking a half-load of college credits. They do this to avoid taking out student loans and end up in school eight years. While it’s great that they were able to work 40 hours a week and pay for school as they go, but if they could have taken out student loans and graduated four years earlier they realistically could have started making $50k a year four years earlier. Sure they may incur some student loan debt, but the increased income makes it well worth graduating earlier.
Education that leads to a higher income is one situation where it’s clear that delaying could hurt your finances. This could also be applied to other income-producing activities, such as starting a blog or other business. The more you delay starting a blog the longer it will be until your blog is profitable. How many people do you know who have said they wanted to start a blog but simply never actually get started? Perhaps you fall into this category yourself.
There are many additional examples where practicing delaying can hurt your finances long-term. Perhaps you delay purchasing a gym membership because you want to save the money. Problem is, you simply do not get motivated to work out unless you are at the gym. This could potentially cost you later on when you develop health problems related to your lack of exercise.
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Ultimately it’s hard to deny the fact that the practice of delaying can boost your finances. After all we see what effect the opposite action – namely instant gratification and purchasing on credit – has had on our society. Debt has caused stress, anxiety, and even ruined marriages, families, and lives.
That’s not to say there is no place for debt, but it’s important to consider the pros and cons of taking out debt for an expenditure and question whether delaying the expense will have a positive or negative effect on your finances.
When have you practiced “delaying” in your life? What impact did it have? Have you ever delayed something that actually ended up hurting your finances?
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Photo by Christopher A. Dominic
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I’m delaying children. I need to be further ahead in my financial goals before taking on that reality.
brokeandbeau That’s a great example, Stefanie. I can’t believe I didn’t mention that in the post! I’m also delaying children for the same reason.
I think you’re right on DC. I would also argue that if you do it wisely it also helps you get something you actually want and thus get more value out of in the long run. We’re currently delaying buying a house. We’d love to upgrade right now, but we want to have a sizable down payment saved up so we’re taking on less of a mortgage and thus be free of it sooner.
FrugalRules Good point, John. You really do get more value when you are able to delay a purchase. I think delaying a purchase makes you think about how MUCH you value it as well.
We practice delaying by committing to a “24-hr. rule.” If it’s a big purchase we wait at least 24 hrs. before buying it. This helps curb any emotion we might have about the product. Often we find that sleeping on it changes our mind and we don’t purchase it.
I delayed getting a crown on my tooth because of cost and ended up needing a root canal, so yes there are times where it’s not worth it to delay. I delay buying almost all wants though until I’ve had plenty of time to think about it.
We have become good at delaying a number of things especially now that we have our money priorities better sorted, but we always get screwed when we delay buying plane tickets. We have had a few events in the past where we know we have to travel, see the ticket prices and think that they will get better with time and it seems they always get worse. Now we just book as soon as we know we have something and don’t try to risk it because it never seems to work in our favor.
Delaying has actually helped me in putting off purchases alltogether. If I see a non-essential item I really want, I tell myself that if I still want it a month from now, I’ll reevaluate and see at that point if it’s something still on my radar.
More often than not, the item has either completely escaped my memory or I don’t have the same urge to purchase it as I initially did. It saves me so much money and keeps my house from becoming cluttered with things I don’t really need (and I guess end up not really wanting either at the end of the day). Great post, DC!
I get what you’re saying and agree with the theory overall, I just have a hard time applying it to home improvements. I think many people have things they’d like to do to their house but they hold off until they are about to sell it. I like doing home improvements so I can enjoy them while I live in the house. My finances are important to me too, so it’s about maintaining a balance. I continue to save and invest, yet still do some home improvements too. I just try to pace myself. :)
Good stuff, DC. Delay the stuff that has a negative ROI, and accelerate the things that have a positive one.
I’m all for delaying to a point. We have been putting off replacing a bad patio door in our bedroom for years and it makes the room super cold in the winter, so we’ve probably spent more in trying to heat the room than the door would cost. The problem is that we want a really nice $1500 door and keep saying we’ll do it next summer. Maybe this will be the year!
Brian @ Luke1428 Nice, that’s a great rule. I don’t follow a rule like that but I do try to hold off as long as possible on big purchases. It’s so easy to find something on Amazon and order it immediately.
Beachbudget Ouch, sorry to hear that. I think most health-related spend shouldn’t be put off. I put off dealing with allergy issues for a long time and ended up getting two sinus surgeries…
blonde_finance Good example, Shannon. I’m on the same page as you when it comes to plane tickets. Some people say it makes sense to delay the purchase until a certain time. Not me, I always buy them ASAP!
Christina@EmbracingSimple This actually has happened to me as well. I put off purchasing a tablet and guess what? I still don’t have a tablet haha.
SimplySave I hear you, and I’ve even thought ahead a bit to when we sell our house. I know we’ll do a few of our bigger projects close to the time we sell it, and unfortunately I don’t see a way around it. I’m all for balancing home improvement with saving and investing, but I think the more you can delay home improvement the better (at least from a financial standpoint).
DonebyForty Thanks! Yes, there are some things you should do sooner rather than later and other things that should be put off as long as possible.
Eyesonthedollar Well that’s certainly a good example of how you may end up losing money by delaying. I know a lot of window companies ALWAYS push the “you will save x% in heating costs each year” and they are probably right. Problem is it might take you two decades to actually justify the upgrade from a financial standpoint.
I’m currently delaying a few things right now. I’m driving my 4 runner until the wheels fall off. I’m also using a old TV until it goes out. In due time I will have newer items.
I don’t know if we “delay” our purchases but we definitely give ourselves the space to think through them to make sure it’s something we want to use our money on, especially if it’s a significant purchase. We don’t make those lightly. We don’t delay medical expenses because that too often fails and you end up spending more. I definitely try to delay when I suspect it’s more of an emotional response than a true want. Those delays can be huge money savers.
I generally practice delaying. My mom taught me that, if you’re not sure about a purchase, wait a few days. If you’re still thinking about it a few days later, you know you really want it.
Unfortunately, delaying has bitten me in the rear a few times. I purchased some curtains when we first got the house. I hit some sales to be sure they’d all match (my husband has a thing about it). But I didn’t get all of them at once. I told him we’d get the others later. And by the time I finally got around to it about a year and a half later… the style had been discontinued in that color. As had the curtain rod we needed.
I wish I had delayed my tablet purchase! We bought an iPad (that I’m not crazy about) and I later won a tablet at a Christmas party…so now I have two, which is a waste.
Yes! We have saved so much money by putting off buying things, like the electronics of which you speak. I’ve been putting off buying a new duvet for months now, too.
Thrifty Peach Haha well you can’t expect to win one, so it’s hard to blame you. The tablet is my best example of putting something off. I think it’s been a big win. I finally got a new laptop that was only $500 and works so much better than my old one. I will probably get a laptop someday, but it could be another couple years.
moneypropeller It’s a great feeling, isn’t it? As some other commenters have said, I also think you enjoy things more when you put it off. You realize what things you really care about and which you don’t mind going without.
AbigailP Ah, that’s too bad about the curtains. Sometimes delaying really does hurt. Other times it makes a lot of sense. I bought a sound bar a few months ago but haven’t set it up because I have “delayed” my TV wall-mounting project….
ShannonRyan I agree with you about medical expenses. As someone who has dealt with some pretty bad sinus and allergy problems, I’m all for tackling those sooner rather than later. It may have avoided surgery if I had dealt with allergies sooner.
Jason @ The Butler Journal You’re a wise man, Jason. I’m all about delaying car purchases. You can save so much money if you drive it until it dies versus trading up every few years.
I like delaying things like technology and new phones – it’s even more exciting that way when you eventually upgrade, on top of the financial benefits!
We did plan on delaying our current home purchase and living where we were previously as long as possible, but this unexpected opportunity came along and we just took advantage of it. I’m pretty certain I’m going to be very glad in the long run that I didn’t keep delaying that decision, as we feel immensely lucky to get what we did, but it’s not always easy to know for sure at the time.
Sounds like a great long-term project you have ahead of you with the renovations! Good luck!
I’m an apple fan, and one thing that has saved me a ton of money is delaying on buying their new products. Seriously, those new products come out way too fast, so delaying pretty much helped me stop buying their stuff (I should probably stop calling myself a fan haha)
This is so true. We delayed renovating our kitchen until the cabinets were literally falling apart. We’re still delaying bathroom renovations as they are completely livable, just outdated. The only time I don’t understand the delay is when people wait to renovate before they sell a property…while the renovation may increase the sale price, doing it a few years earlier would have also given them the enjoyment of the improvements.
Jason@Islands of Investing One thing about delaying is that it actually opens you up for more opportunities. You might end up saying no to a lot of opportunities, but then when one comes around that you just can’t say no to (like the home you purchased) you typically have the money and capacity to take it on.
And thanks, the renovations will likely involve some blood, sweat, and tears, but hopefully we learn a lot in the process and maybe even create some value while we’re at it ;)
Anum I’m not an Apple fan and I agree that their products become outdated very quickly. Some people used to argue that Macbooks would last 6-8 years while PC laptops would only last 3. Well, if you look at all my friends who have Macbooks they buy new ones every 3 years because the older models become outdated!
Gary @ Super Saving Tips I’m undecided on whether putting off renovations until right before you sell is a good or bad idea. Part of the reason is that I’ve accepted that there will be some relatively big projects we do within 1-2 years before we sell. Part of that is due to my delaying things as long as I can!
We definitely use the delaying tactic with our purchasing. When we were furnishing our house, we bided our time and stalked Craigslist until we found the furniture we wanted at a good price. We could’ve rushed out the day we moved in and bought all new furniture, but we saved a huge amount of money by waiting and buying everything used. We were fine without a couch for a few weeks–it’s no big deal in the grand scheme of things. But, if we’d bought all new, our savings would’ve taken a serious hit. All that to say, I’m a fan of the delay :).
Mrs. Frugalwoods Great example. I don’t know about your area, but Craigslist is crazy where we live (at least when it comes to furniture). Kitchen tables typically are gone within hours of being listed. I gave away a chest of drawers once and it was gone within 15 minutes of being posted. Kind of insane.
I delay medical bills. Last year after a surgery they offered me 15% off my bill if I would pay the balance. I didn’t even have to ask, I just didn’t pay on time.
Mark@BareBudgetGuy Hmmm interesting strategy. I honestly hadn’t heard of this strategy before. Might have to look into it.