I grew up learning to waste nothing. We didn’t waste food, electricity, propane, or anything else. I’m extremely conservative when it comes to consumption. If I have shampoo or body wash that I don’t like for whatever reason, I pour it into my handsoap containers. I also drain my last bit of shampoo and body wash into my handsoap containers to make certain none goes to waste.
I bring soap home from hotels when I travel. I wash my hands often, but there’s still a great deal of soap left when I’m ready to check out. It makes the perfect soap for my bathrooms and an alternative to liquid soap. Sometimes solid soap is just better if you need to do some serious scrubbing.
I turn bottles upside down in order to get the last little bit of stuff. For example, I have a maple syrup bottle upside down in my cabinet and a ketchup bottle upside down in my refrigerator right now.
One thing that people don’t often consider as something they waste is time. I’m quite conscious of how I spend my time. Mom used to tell me to stop wasting time, but it didn’t click until I was around 12 years old.
The theme of my 6th grade year in school was “Use Your Time Wisely,” and that’s when I finally understood what Mom had been trying to tell me. My teacher admonished us to always be doing something. If we had finished our assignment early, we were to read our library books or work on other homework. We were not to sit idle.
Here’s how I make the most use of my time. I made waffles for breakfast Sunday morning. I put a load of laundry in the washer before I started cooking. While the waffles were in the waffle iron, I unloaded the dishwasher and put everything away.
My husband woke up before all of the waffles were ready, so I removed the bedding and piled it in front of the washer so they’d be handy one the machine was free. By the time the waffles were finished cooking, I’d switched the first load from the washer to the dryer and put the bedding on to wash. Then I started scrambling eggs. It was all ready by the time Jim got out of the shower.
After breakfast, he decided to walk his daily five miles on the treadmill. While he was doing that, I loaded and started the dishwasher, hung up the laundry from the dryer, moved the bedding from the washer to the dryer, and started another load of clothes. I picked up the house, fed the cat and dog, and then sat to down to write.
By the time Jim had finished his walk, I’d written my words for the day and was ready to spend quality time with my husband. By using my time wisely, I was able to enjoy a lovely day.
Time is precious, my friends. Use it wisely.
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