Have you ever made a mistake that cost you money? Lots of money? And when you thought back over how it happened, you realized it was simply a lack of attention to detail on your part?

Of course you have. We all have. I know I have, and recently I might add. It started out being a $1600 mistake, but with the help of the company, turned into a $300 mistake instead. (Insert heavy sigh here!)

What happened doesn’t matter; it’s how I did it that tells the story. And it only took a couple of minutes to make the mistake.

The Dastardly Details (if you want them!)

There I was, needing to place a pretty big order with the printing company that prints some of our booklets and manuals. The company is Mimeo and they are awesome I might add.

We have this great relationship with the Cherokee Nation and every few months, they order our Camp Millionaire Curriculum and Financial Freedom Playbook for new and/or additional teachers to teach financial literacy to their community. We love what they are doing and so appreciate the difference they are making. And honored to be part of it, of course.

Well, here in the office, Jan and I have acronyms for everything: CM is Camp Millionaire, MO is Moving Out, CWW is Creative Wealth for Women. The problem started with this naming situation. You see I needed to order 250 of our CM Playbook but we also have a CCK (Creative Cash for Kids) Playbook.

You guessed it. I didn’t take the time to review (where was Jan when I really needed her eyes?!?) or look close enough to realize I clicked the wrong playbook and put it in the cart. The prices are about the same and I don’t have them memorized so I clicked, clicked, and clicked and went on to the next project.

Fast Forward

A few hours later something niggled me. You know that feeling you get when the Universe says, “Hey, something seems not quite right here! Pay attention!” and you have to stop what you’re doing and go check something?

Sure enough, that’s what happened. For whatever reason (this happens to me a lot), I realized what I had done but IT WAS TOO LATE! Most of the order had already been printed. Luckily for me it hadn’t been bound and my rep at the company was incredibly sympathetic. He gave me a huge discount to reorder the right product, reinstated our credit that we order with and talked to billing about only charging me for the actual cost of the paper for what was printed.

Huge Costly Mistake Widdled to Small Costly Mistake

In the end, what might have cost me $1600 ended up costing me $300. I feel incredibly grateful that the lesson wasn’t more expensive. And it prompted me to write this article.

“Paying” Attention to Details Saves You Money

That potentially costly mistake caused Jan and I to rethink our procedures here in the office for ordering things and doing all things related to money. We now only order things together so we can double check what the other is doing, we confer on all orders and sourcing projects, and we even enter items into Quickbooks and balance our checking account together.

All in all, that $300 mistake helped us put some very important checks and balances into place that will keep us (hopefully) from making any more costly mistakes in the future.

Avoiding Costly Mistakes in the Future

Here are some tips that may help YOU avoid having to shell out your hard earned cash in case of a financial mistake:

• Plan your financial actions, be them personal or business related. This gives you the space to be calm and pay attention when you do what you need to do with your money.
• Have a set procedure in place for handling financial transactions; from ordering things and keeping track of your spending to investing, buying stocks, receiving money, doing invoices, etc. Anything that involves money should involve a procedure and a thought out one at that.
• Take your time! This is probably the biggest reason we make financial mistakes (and any other kind of mistake actually). We get going too fast and simply don’t pay attention to the little details that turn into big mistakes later on. Make a time to do what you need to do, pour yourself a cup of decaffeinated something, even put a little classical music on if you need to. Do whatever it takes to be relaxed so you PAY ATTENTION.
• When you DO make a mistake — little or big — do your best not to get too upset. Sometimes there is nothing you can do but get the lesson. Let the mistake be fodder for learning a little more about how you operate and what you might need to change about who you’re being around money so you don’t repeat the mistake.

I’d love to hear about your financial mistakes here. Leave your comments below and share what you did and what you learned. We’ll all learn from them!