The Cost of Putting Things Off

I am notorious for putting things off. I am a procrastinator. Dirty dishes, laundry, dusting, etc. - I put it off as long as possible. I’ve been like this my entire life. School work, chores, you name it. I am the worst over little things that cost $$$. Nothing major such as leaking pipes or sparking light fixtures. Simple minor things, seemingly insignificant small repairs and maintenance are what get me. Things which cost a little right now but haven’t reached critical status. Those are the things that get put off the longest.

Part of it is the struggle with the cost of the “Good” versus the “Good Enough” method. You know, like fixing the four VERY wobbly kitchen table legs. The “Good Enough” way: fix the antique table yourself and hope you don’t damage it. The “Good” way: take it to a pro, which will cost a small fortune but you will know it’s done right. We didn’t want to stick a band aid on the problem, we wanted it fixed. After speaking with our hardware store and consulting Google, we opted to repair it ourselves. We came out WAY cheaper than if we had taken it to a pro. The total cost of fixing the table, under $10 for two packs of L brackets and thirty minutes of our time.

The other part is timing the smaller cost of maintenance before it turns into a bigger more costly problem. Balancing a tender budget when there is little room for things to go massively wrong. For instance, getting a regular dental check up. Hubster and I fall into the category with so many Americans these days who don’t have medical, dental or vision insurance. Our income is too high for state or federal insurance assistance but private insurance is just too costly.  The kids are covered, thanks to one of Minnesota’s state insurance programs but not me or the hubster. Because of this, I miss some of my regular dental exams. I don’t like going to the dentist in the first place. The tools, the smells, the noises. It all freaks me out a bit so this is one of those things I put off out of fear plus budgetary issues.  As long as there is no pain, I will gladly deal with chipped teeth or a few cavities if it keeps me out of the dreaded “chair”.

Later today, all this changes. I am having a broken tooth removed. It chipped after Christmas but hasn’t bothered me till the last three weeks. I have two options: root canal or extraction. The root canal is out of our budget (plus I am completely terrified of this procedure). I’ll simply get the tooth removed. Simply is an understatement. It’s a VERY BIG DEAL and it scares me to death but it’s better than a root canal.

What could have been prevented by a regular dental checkup costing around $40 will now cost me over $200 plus recovery time plus the anxiety over the whole procedure. I plan to make a regular checkup appointment BEFORE my tooth is extracted just to ensure I stay on track. I don’t want to forget or give myself any other excuses for not getting my teeth properly checked out regularly and possibly face this issue again.

Next up, vision screenings!!!