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Monday, March 17, 2014

Do you take care of your belongings and do the chores you can?

It's been a while since I thought about where my "do your own chores", use it up, fix it, make do, etc. mindset came from. Not that I don't know! My Mom and Dad really believed this as well as having to do so for many years earlier in their marriage do to financial concerns. Later on it was more due to being perfectionists! Fortunately my Mom has accepted that she has to hire people to do things for her at this stage of life but that is another story.

There was a point where we hired a housecleaner. We had a preschooler and a teenager who were involved in assorted activities that we supported, worked very long hours and just wanted some time to do other things that were more fun. We quickly found that the cost was not worth the time savings for us and went back to doing it ourselves. Of course both sons were also trained in all housekeeping skills and helped out and as adults they continue the tradition of doing most things themselves.

So what have we done lately that is just routine for us. I mentioned renting the right saw so that Hubby could take down the damaged fence sections in the woods. I fixed a small hole in a favorite shirt so it will last another year hopefully and hand washed an alpaca sweater rather than having it dry cleaned. I used a box we had plus drawing paper for packing to ship a book sold on Amazon. Due to decluttering I was able to repurpose a small plastic storage container to hold small kitchen items making a drawer less cluttered.

What to we outsource? Mostly things that are beyond our skill levels or current physical capabilities. There is a crew taking down our at risk trees. There will be a crew building a new retaining wall. However we first try to think through if there is a way we could do the work such as when we rented a saw rather than hiring someone to do the work.

I am much less of a perfectionist than my parents yet continue to live this tradition. I wonder how many of you were raised the same way or, if not, have come to do for yourself for other reasons?

6 comments:

  1. I was definitely raised that way because my parents were children of the Depression. A lot of it stuck with me, but I do splurge on occasion. My kids think I'm cheap; but my folks would be appalled at some of the things we spend money on.

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  2. My Mother is the definition of perfectionist housecleaner. In her later years, she's let go somewhat and has hired a housekeeper. I'm the polar opposite. I HATE housecleaning and do it as rarely as I can. (I consider myself a "reactive" housecleaner -- I only clean when company's coming.)

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    Replies
    1. My Mom let go only when she physically could no longer do it but I think she like the help now.

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  3. I like to take care of things I own and make them last, which includes paying for service, such as car maintenance. I do the housework and yard work, but we don't do any construction, demolition, plumbing, heating, or electrical work!

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    Replies
    1. We are quickly reaching the point of not doing any of them either. Hubby still does minor plumbing and other work though.

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