Disclosed are exemplary embodiments of climate control system controllers and methods for staging controller functions. In an exemplary embodiment, a climate control system controller generally includes power stealing circuitry, charge storage device(s) for storing charge provided by the power stealing circuitry and for providing power for controller functions, and a processor. For each controller function, the processor predefines a maximum wait time corresponding to the controller function. Before performance of one of the controller functions, the processor compares at least once the current level of charge on the charge storage device(s) to a predefined voltage level. Based on the comparing, the processor delays performance of the controller function until the corresponding predefined maximum wait time has passed and/or the current level of charge on the charge storage device(s) has reached the predefined voltage level.