So before you read this post, I have to tell you something interesting. I wrote this post last week and then decided to sit on it a bit. I wanted to read it again before I posted it with a fresh set of eyes. Flash forward to the following Sunday and our Pastor does a sermon on laziness. Coincidence, well I think its more God is working on me and maybe you reading this too. His sermon tied laziness into our spiritual lives, family, marriage and just everyday...not specifically work related. After you read my post, you'll see how it ties in even more to that. He talked about how we may be super hard working when it comes to our jobs, but still be lazy in our marriage or with our time with God. Anyways, I just had to share, because I feel that was more than just something that happens. So I challenge you to really think about when you are choosing not to do something, is it because you are too busy, or are you being lazy?
Saving money isn't easy. Saving money takes work. It takes energy and time. Both aren't always easy to have and can seem limited most days.
This post was inspired by a magnet that has been sitting on my island for a couple weeks. A simple magnet. It broke one day and at the time I knew it could be fixed. But, the longer it sat on my counter the harder it was to find time and energy to fix it. The longer it sat on my counter, made the simple fixing it seem much more complicated.
How often does this happen when we are trying to save money. Oh I was going to make a home cooked meal tonight, but going through drive-thru was much faster and easier. I wish I could cut our water bill down, but I don't have time to hand wash the dishes. Don't get me wrong, I definitely have been there. There are many times I find I throw stuff or food away because I just am too busy to fix it or save it somehow for something else. And then that "too busy mentality" does turn into being lazy, because the said item sits forever and then when I do have time I've mentally made myself think it's going to take way longer. I mean it must, because if it didn't then I just would have done it in the first place right? So it must be something that's going to take a lot of time and energy so then I just become lazy and throw it away. Yep, even that magnet (that was a gift), had me thinking about throwing it away. Because that would be the easy way out. Then it's out of my sight and it's been handled. But really, instead of solving the problem, I just got rid of it. And I've found that I do this more often now, but am I lazy or am I just too busy?
There have been times where I think to myself, "Man, I'm so much more lazy than my parents were". While, I'm sure there's some truth to that because I do feel each generation gets a little lazier. I also feel we are just becoming more busy than the generation before us. I mean how many of you feel that some days all you do is drive? Drive from one place to the other, for one activity to the next? We are just starting to get into that stage of life as our oldest has started dance after school once a week. Just that one thing that's once a week, has already made us crazy busy. And it's only one more thing added. But when you factor in, grocery shopping, cleaning house, making supper, teaching my littles, picking up oldest from school, 2 days at an after school program, 1 night of dance...the list could go on more, but you can see how just one more thing adds up.
I feel our generation, or just generations in general lately are just adding that one more thing and then wondering why we are spending so much on food, or things.
So while I don't have an exact answer, I think that it can be a combo of both. Today I sat down and glued that magnet back together. And you know what, it took me a total of 2 min. I'm not even joking, it was nothing out of my day to do. So in that sense, I'd say it came down to being lazy. When it first broke, if I would have just fixed it right away it'd have been done. But I didn't, I was lazy.
Other things might be because I'm crazy busy. But, what I've found helps me is scheduling. Being organized is a huge help when saving money. Organized in your kitchen so you know what you have on hand and what you need to get for your menu that week or month. Organized in cleaning so you know if you missed cleaning the bathroom last week or not. Organized in your day, because if you have your day mapped out then you know when you have time to fix the little things, or to play with your kids or read? But not doing theses things is when I'm being lazy. I know that doing these small tasks will help me in the long run and will help my day go smoother. This is where saving money takes time and energy. It takes time to write out that grocery list after taking time to look through your pantry and taking time to plan a menu. It takes time and energy to keep your house clean, but it's something you do. So why not take some time and energy to plan ways to save money.
I feel this post doesn't have an exact answer, but it definitely is something I've been contemplating. If anything, now each time I want to take the easy way out I can stop and think, could I have put a little more energy into this, or can I just take time to fix said item now?
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