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  "description": "Should we start an accountability group?",
  "path": "/what-financial-chore-is-on-your-to-do-list/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-23T16:05:21.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.thepurse.co",
  "tags": [
    "rolling over old 401(k)s",
    "_Employee Benefit Research Institute_"
  ],
  "textContent": "Whenever I have a lull in my day, I find myself running through my mental to-do list. There are always tasks to accomplish for The Purse and general home responsibilities. But inevitably there are also some financial chores that I know I should tackle but I dread doing.\n\nRecently, Alicia wrote about rolling over old 401(k)s. I’ve got at least two old accounts I need to deal with. It’s tax season, and my accountant keeps bugging me about handing over my 1099s. (Another email from him landed in my inbox as I was writing this!) But there’s one task that’s really hanging over my head. I’m admittedly a little bit embarrassed to even share this story.\n\nLast year, I opened an account for Freddy on one of those popular allowance apps. Eventually, I got tired of paying $5.99 a month for the account in part because the kid’s version of the app never worked for us, and while I was paying Freddy a weekly allowance, he didn’t see the money, so it didn’t feel real to him. And we never remembered to use the debit card. I closed the account in October, but I don’t think I ever got the money back. It’s about $500, and I don’t know where it is, and I know I need to track it down, but it’s a to-do that always gets pushed to the bottom of my list because it’s not an easy thing to fix.\n\nThe thing is: I know I will feel _really_ good once I do take care of it. On Valentine’s Day, Ken and I spent a couple of hours filing dependent care FSA claims. It was super annoying, but the payoff was real when the $3,000 refund landed in our checking account less than a week later.\n\nNot taking care of some of these financial to-dos can also have real monetary consequences. “Roughly half of FSA accountholders forfeited funds to their employer in 2023, and the average forfeiture was $436,” according to the _Employee Benefit Research Institute_. That’s an especially frustrating stat because in theory most of us sign up for an FSA to _save_ money. And while there are plenty of things you can buy at the FSA store if you’re in a pinch, I usually feel better if I’ve spent that money on things like doctor’s bills or new eyeglasses.\n\nIf there’s a deadline attached to my to-do, it’s more likely I’ll get it done, which is why I took care of the FSA filings but not the missing $500 from the closed account. (Just a reminder that March 31, 2026, is your last chance to file claimsFSA claims for 2025.)\n\nPerhaps I need to come up with a fake deadline for finding my lost money?\n\n> I’m curious: **What financial chore is hanging over your head?**\n\nWant to start a Purse accountability group so we can cross these to-dos off our lists once and for all?",
  "title": "What financial chore is on your to-do list?",
  "updatedAt": "2026-02-23T16:05:21.000Z"
}