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How automation can reduce your stress

Automation is fantastic and I use it whenever I can. I haven’t scheduled a credit card payments in years.

Automation is more than just doing this automatically for you. Sometimes it appears in unexpected places and in unexpected ways.

For example, during the past year and the pandemic, we also started using a meal subscription plan. At different points of the year we had used Sunbasket, Marley Spoon, and Hello Fresh for 2-3 meals a week. These plans are expensive, clocking in roughly at around $15-20 per meal per person.

What they did, however, was remove the need to decide about two meals a week. Instead of having to decide what to make, and get the groceries for it, we could pick from a list. When you’re juggling four kids, all of whom are at home and need attention, it was completely worth it. Heck, given all the money we were “saving” on daycare, we were still far and away “ahead” on our expenses!

Anyway, end of story time, check out this post because I really like the first bullet point of dedicating a power hour:

5 Things I Started Automating That Drastically Reduced My Stress [The Financial Diet] – “You have another busy work week ahead and none of the “to-do’s” got done this weekend… for the fourth weekend in a row. I know this feeling better than most; I check off all the items on the procrastinator’s list. From never folding the laundry the day it comes out of the dryer to forgetting to follow up on those doctor and dental appointments after three. reminder calls. So I recently began implementing a few relatively easy changes that have helped drastically reduce my stress.”

This next story is not hyperbole and not clickbait, it’s just a sad story of a single bad investment.

How my father lost his life savings by making one fatal investment mistake [Mouthy Money] – “At first the news seemed encouraging, but soon it became clear the business was going south and Dad’s money was going with it. I’ll never know the full story, but it seemed to me he was badly advised (to put it kindly) by the relative concerned and quite probably cheated by the main shareholder, though it was all technically within the law.”

My big takeaway is that communication is important. The author’s dad never talked to his stepmother about an investment of their life savings – huge red flag. In fact, it doesn’t sound like he talked to anyone (except the relative who got him in) which is a problem. Not sure what anyone could’ve done to prevent this but it goes to show it’s important to talk.

Now that we’re firmly into the summer, remember to wear sunscreen!

Watch this video: (hat tip to Neville for sharing this via his Friday emails on Copywriting)

The video isn’t trying to convince you to wear sunscreen but when you see the vast difference it makes under UV light, you get why it’s important. 🙂