Whenever I have a lull in my day, I find myself running through my mental to-do list. There are always tasks to accomplish for The Purse and general home responsibilities. But inevitably there are also some financial chores that I know I should tackle but I dread doing.
Recently, Alicia wrote about rolling over old 401(k)s. I’ve got at least two old accounts I need to deal with. It’s tax season, and my accountant keeps bugging me about handing over my 1099s. (Another email from him landed in my inbox as I was writing this!) But there’s one task that’s really hanging over my head. I’m admittedly a little bit embarrassed to even share this story.
Last year, I opened an account for Freddy on one of those popular allowance apps. Eventually, I got tired of paying $5.99 a month for the account in part because the kid’s version of the app never worked for us, and while I was paying Freddy a weekly allowance, he didn’t see the money, so it didn’t feel real to him. And we never remembered to use the debit card. I closed the account in October, but I don’t think I ever got the money back. It’s about $500, and I don’t know where it is, and I know I need to track it down, but it’s a to-do that always gets pushed to the bottom of my list because it’s not an easy thing to fix.
The thing is: I know I will feel really good once I do take care of it. On Valentine’s Day, Ken and I spent a couple of hours filing dependent care FSA claims. It was super annoying, but the payoff was real when the $3,000 refund landed in our checking account less than a week later.
Not taking care of some of these financial to-dos can also have real monetary consequences. “Roughly half of FSA accountholders forfeited funds to their employer in 2023, and the average forfeiture was $436,” according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. That’s an especially frustrating stat because in theory most of us sign up for an FSA to save money. And while there are plenty of things you can buy at the FSA store if you’re in a pinch, I usually feel better if I’ve spent that money on things like doctor’s bills or new eyeglasses.
If there’s a deadline attached to my to-do, it’s more likely I’ll get it done, which is why I took care of the FSA filings but not the missing $500 from the closed account. (Just a reminder that March 31, 2026, is your last chance to file claimsFSA claims for 2025.)
Perhaps I need to come up with a fake deadline for finding my lost money?
I’m curious: What financial chore is hanging over your head?
Want to start a Purse accountability group so we can cross these to-dos off our lists once and for all?
