“But yes, I’ll do it later, it’s the same anyway”. How many times a day do we say this phrase? Statements of this type populate everyone’s daily lives but are not limited to being phrases thrown out at random, on the contrary. They often turn into choices that also concern the management of finances, because changing insurance companies, choosing a new energy manager, comparing rates or offers is a source of bureaucratic stress even when it is advantageous.
But postponing decisions that could lighten the family budget is not a neutral gesture. On the occasion of the event How much it costs us to postpone. The economic damage of indecisionorganized in collaboration with theNon-Profit Consumerism Associationthe research by the mUp Research institute commissioned by Facile.it was presented.
Over the last year, Italians’ indecision has cost a total of 1.3 billion euros. A figure that shows how the time wasted in postponing a choice translates, in many cases, into money that continues to come out of families’ pockets.
Why do we procrastinate? The psychological aspects of postponing choices
Procrastination doesn’t just depend on laziness or disorganization. Behind the tendency to procrastinate there are often more complex psychological mechanisms. The survey shows that 42% of Italians delay making a choice because they find it difficult to identify the most convenient supplier; 21% say they don’t have time to dedicate to research, while 15% fear making the wrong choice. Added to these factors are the lack of knowledge of the topic (9%), contractual constraints (11%) and, to a lesser extent, simple laziness (5%). It is sobering that 6% of respondents were slow to take action because they feared the process would take a long time.
According to the psychologist Angelica Arbia, Procrastination is often a strategy for managing difficult emotions, albeit in a dysfunctional way. “Emotional procrastination occurs when the task is perceived as stressful and not urgent,” he explains. In these cases what is called in psychology comes into play status quo biasor the tendency to prefer what we already know, even when a change could lead to significant savings. The fear of making a mistake guides choices, leading to overestimating the immediate difficulties and to underestimate future benefits, to the detriment of the domestic budget. In short, one does not stand still because the choice is not worth it, but because it is perceived as complicated, risky and burdensome from an emotional point of view.
The cost of indecision
If on a psychological level procrastination seems to offer temporary relief, as avoiding a decision immediately reduces anxiety. However, postponing does not just mean postponing a choice: it can also mean postponing the possibility of building a more sustainable personal and economic balance for family life. Because, sometimes, the highest cost is not the one we see right awaybut what we pay by continuing to wait. Furthermore on an economic level the bill can be steep. The research highlights that, on average, Italians wait from 52 to 74 days before changing supplier, and in some cases the postponement even exceeds a year. In the car insurance sector, almost 6.4 million Italians have changed companies in the last year, but they waited on average 66 days before doing so: a delay costing around 104 euros per person. For motorbike insurance the average time rises to 74 days, with an economic loss of 148 euros. Domestic utilities also weigh on the family budget: those who changed electricity supplier waited on average 60 days, losing around 56 euros, while for gas the average waiting time was 52 days, with a loss of 62 euros.
