December has a weird way of changing everyone’s routines. It might be because the days blur together, or perhaps because we tell ourselves that everything can wait until after the holidays. But then comes January. Then come the deadlines and bills, workdays and regular life. Here are eight December habits that make January harder.
Holiday mode sleep timing
There might not be anything important happening. Yet your December nights will likely stretch later than usual, thanks to a movie running a little longer or you staying up late to wrap gifts. All those later bedtimes will cause you issues by the end of the month because it becomes difficult for you to wake up early.
You’ll be back to alarms and commutes every January morning. Pushing back your sleep time by even an hour is a change that could stay with you for days. You’ll be awake when you shouldn’t be and tired when you don’t want to be.
“Put it on the card”
December’s arrival forces you to spend a lot on gifts and meals. You may also have to pay for some last-minute extras like travel, and these will end up on the same billing cycle as everything else. What’s worse is the fact that most credit card statements close near the end of the month.
All that spending shows up on the bill in January, and these payments may also overlap with your annual subscriptions. These tend to renew early in the year. It doesn’t matter that you may have spent within your means in December because the timing is bad enough to make it seem like you didn’t.
Keeping the heat higher
You’ll likely be at home more in December, and that means your energy use will be higher. That’s true even when your thermostat moves a little. You’ll be hosting and cooking, as well as staying in all day, so the heat runs longer, and so does your hot water usage. You’ll only notice the effect on your utility bills in January.
Nothing about the house usually feels different by that time, and that makes the higher bill feel rather strange. But it lines up exactly with how you played out your life in December.
Skipping prescription refills
It’s natural for prescription refills to become more infrequent over the festive period. The pharmacies tend to close early, and doctors’ offices move more slowly, meaning that your normal routine disappears for a few weeks. Then you tell yourself you’ll deal with refills after the holidays.
You’ll be down to the last few pills before you know it, and it’s harder to get your medication sorted in January. It’s the time of year when providers are backed up, and approvals take longer. That small delay in December has become multiple phone calls in January to get things sorted.
Putting off car basics
You’re unlikely to be commuting every day in December, and that means that any ideas about maintenance usually drop off the radar. Doing fewer miles might make you think it’s safe to postpone things like oil changes or tire checks. That’s a problem in January.
You’ll start driving like normal again, and the winter weather will still be in full force, causing issues like low tire pressure or weak batteries. It was originally a quick errand you could’ve done earlier. But now it’s a midweek appointment squeezed between everything else going on.
Making last-minute benefits changes
The majority of open enrollment deadlines occur right in the middle of the chaos in December. That’s why so many people will click through their benefit choices quickly, as they’re having to juggle travel plans and end-of-year work tasks, too. It feels done once you’ve submitted it.
But January is when your choices actually matter, and you might notice things like a dependent being missing or a plan tier not being what you thought. It’s unfortunately quite difficult to make changes once the year starts, and that means the mistake lasts longer than expected.
Spending a year-end bonus before you see the net amount
Receiving a December bonus feels like you’ve found money, so it’s natural to mentally spend it before payroll runs. Yet the actual deposit can look very different. Taxes on bonuses are often withheld at a higher rate, and you also have other deductions that you still need to worry about.
Using the full bonus amount for gifts or extra costs over the festive period could make January feel harder than you planned. Those bills arrive on schedule, Christmastime or not, and no amount of festive spirit is going to make them go away.
Missing end-of-year deadlines on warranties and service plans
Quite a lot of coverage tends to end on December 31, like appliance plans or electronics warranties. Your home service agreements often require inspections and claims, perhaps even check-ins before the year closes, and December distractions make those dates easy to miss.
Your coverage is likely already gone by the time that something stops working in January. It’s because customer service usually follows the calendar, rather than the situation. It may have been covered a few weeks earlier. Now it has become a full out-of-pocket expense, and there’s no way to backdate the request.
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