Respect Your Resources

As I look at getting back on track, I have come to really notice how I need to respect the resources that I have.  What do I define as resources?  It would include income, clothing, food, cars, our house or in other words, anything that is in my home. 

Being respectful of your resources means that you take care of what you have.   If I truly respect what I have, I will mend my clothes and make them last; prepare meals that are nutritious and use up what I have on hand; take care of our cars by getting oil changes and maintenance done so that we are not hit with major problems by neglecting them; do as much timely home maintenance and improvements on our home – thank goodness for DIY and in the internet; clean my house and maintain furnishings so that things don’t have as much wear and tear.  These are just a few examples.

What if what you own right now had to last you for 10 years?  Think about this.  If you knew that certain assets had to last you for 10 years, would you treat these items differently?    I’m not speaking about food here, but what if your car, furniture, appliances, furnace, water heater, had to last 10 years?  Would you maintain them, clean them, not abuse them so that they would last?  You would work hard to make sure that your investments were protected.  So, why not do it anyway?

With consumables such as food, toiletries, paper products, cleaners, laundry products, and such, what if you did your best to make them last as long as possible?  Make it a game to see how long you can stretch things.  You would be surprised.  As an example I realized two weeks ago that I was over using my laundry detergent.  There is a measurement on the inside of the cap.  In order to see it completely I had to look at it under a strong light.  Then I read the instructions on the bottle.  One was for a normal load (3 tablespoons) and two was for a large load (4 tablespoons).  They had a line for number three and number four with no explanation.  I read somewhere that what gets the most dirt out of your clothes is the agitation of the water.  So, I now use number one for half a load of clothes and number two for a full load of clothes and I put the setting on a faster agitation.  I may actually get 32 loads of laundry out of the bottle as advertised and I haven’t sacrificed getting the clothes clean. 

Recently I took our dog through beginners obedience classes and intermediate classes.  This was a 13 week investment of time and money.  Now that the classes are over, I need to protect my investment  by committing to walking and keeping our dog up on her obedience training.  The work is only beginning.  Yes, these classes were an investment in our dog and also in me as her trainer and "pack leader."  I can't let this lapse as I spent money and a lot of my time in order to have a better behaved dog.

Do you have a habit of overbuying fresh produce and then let some of it spoil before you use it up?  Don’t buy as much and use it up before you buy more.  Re-evaluate how you feel about the things you own including consumables.  It took hard earned money to buy those items – from food and clothes to cars and homes.  Take care of what you have and respect what it took to buy those items because it took someone in your family trading hours of their time to earn the money.