Excuses to get out of plans are a popular topic, with many people coming up with creative ways to help others avoid their commitments or get out of plans they’ve made in the heat of the moment. For some, it can be as simple as saying that they have a headache or that they are too tired. But for others, this might not be enough to convince their friends and family members.

This is why in today’s article we present a few strong excuses to cancel on your friends and get out of any plans you regret making. It is important not to abuse these excuses or else they will lose their power. However, feel free to use them once, twice, or even thrice, as long as you leave an important amount of time between each time.

5 Excuses to get out of plans:

1- I am unwell:

Some people use the excuse that they are too sick to go out. This is a good one because it usually works and it’s easy to believe. You can use this excuse if you don’t want to see someone and you’re afraid they might ask you to come instead.

So you can say that you need some rest and will be napping or in bed all day. This will give you a good enough excuse for them not to suspect anything, nor want to come to you instead.

2- I had something else planned, that I forgot about:

Saying you had something else planned before you even made the plans that you’re trying to get out of, is also a good idea. Nobody can doubt why you should prioritize the plan that you have made prior. It comes as a logical expectation that you’d give priority to whatever it is that you had planned earlier.

If your friends suggest that you try to reschedule the plans that you had for a later day, then you can say it’s important. Make it seem believable though because it can be hard to believe that something so important would’ve slipped out of your mind to the point of making new plans.

3- Something important just came up:

You could also tell people that something bad happened at work and that you have to stay in your office until the problem is solved.

This excuse is good for when you don’t want to go out with friends because you know there’s no way they’ll show up to your office or verify whether it was a lie unless you have a relationship where that’s permissible. In this case, think about skipping this option.

If you work from home, or cannot use your work to get out of plans because your plans were supposed to be with your colleagues, then you can also use something else. You can say that something urgent came up and you have to prioritize it, so it is out of the question for you to come out that day or do anything else.

4- I have work that needs to be completed before a deadline:

Using your work as an excuse can take many different forms and be done in diverse ways. That’s because to say your work doesn’t allow you to do something is a very strong reason not to do it. People will understand and never dare hold against you the fact that you want to put your work first.

That’s because your living expenses, rent, and bills depend on your performance at work and how much you prioritize it. For this reason, nobody will ever dare say or suggest that you do it later or just carry on with your plans and ignore your work responsibilities and duties.

So what you can do is create an excuse about having to complete a work task by a specific deadline. You can say that it is impossible for you to go out and deliver the work on time, in this case.

5- Someone dear to me needs emotional support:

It is not uncommon for people to cancel plans or reschedule events due to a friend needing emotional support. It’s a natural expectation for friends and family members to cancel plans in order to give their loved ones emotional support when needed. This can be a difficult situation to put yourself in, as it can worry the people you had plans with and they’d be asking all the time about what happened with whoever it was that needed your support.

So a good way of doing this is to dramatize the situation on the day that you want to cancel your plans and use that as a strong and valid excuse. But then, you can quickly downplay it all and say it turned out to be nothing serious the next day. This way, they don’t keep asking you and worrying and you don’t have to keep on lying and pretending.

Bottom line:

In the end, you can also check our article on signs that someone doesn’t want to be your friend. That’s because canceling plans often could understandably send a message of that sort to others and make it look like you’re uninterested in their friendship.