As a general rule, we like doing things the way we’ve always done them. Making changes may require time and money in the short-term, and we don’t always have either immediately.

But leaving things the way they’ve always been — sticking with the status quo — can keep you from making financial progress in the long-term. Consider your cable box. Maybe you’ve come to the conclusion that you don’t really want cable service anymore. You can get most shows online without having to pay for them. But you don’t have the time to call up and cancel — it might be quite a hassle considering all the efforts customer service representatives are required to make in hopes of keeping your account. You set the question aside to deal with ‘later’, but every month it takes for later to occur is another cable payment you didn’t have to make.

I’m guilty of sticking to the status quo — I’ve got a stack of financial papers that I need to deal with that are practically guaranteed to add some money to my account as soon as I tackle them — and I’m sure you can think of a few tasks you should tackle as well.

Big Changes

One of the reasons I continue to struggle with changing the status quo is because I’ll have to put forth some effort — and probably some cash. I’ve been trying to make the changeover to reusable grocery bags for almost a month now. I need to buy some bags and start using them. I know that reusable bags will pay for themselves quickly: my local grocery market offers five cents off my total bill for every reusable bag I use instead of a plastic one.

But I haven’t made the switchover. For me, using plastic bags is normal. I know that those nickels will add up pretty fast, considering my weekly grocery trips, but I just haven’t gotten around to changing the status quo.

The Sure Thing

I can think of hundreds of examples of opportunities lost because I wasn’t about to give up a sure thing. I’ve turned down job opportunities that required a little risk because I already had a job. Sure, with the risk there is a higher potential paycheck. But it’s very hard to give up a paycheck that you know will appear on schedule without any problems. I’ve even refused to give up jobs that made me miserable because I didn’t want to change the status quo that guaranteed I could afford my rent and meals.

Bad for Personal Finance

The status quo is bad for your personal finances, despite the effort it takes to change your own routines. If you don’t change what you regard as normal, it can be absolutely impossible to change spending and saving habits and take advantage of new opportunities. Today, I plan to buy reusable grocery bags — what are you going to do to change your routines? Is there one small action you can take to improve your personal finances, like changing banks or canceling an unnecessary service?