Personal Finance Challenge #10: Learn To Hate Waste

I would like to think most of us have some form of dislike for waste.

I’d like to think I am not alone when I say that I feel bad for throwing food out that has gone bad.

I’d like to think I am not alone in thinking that having air conditioning or heating going full blast when doors or windows are open is despicable.

I’d like to think that I am not alone when I get the feeling that watering one’s lawn just to keep the grass green in a desert is just plain wrong.

Unfortunately I feel like I am alone most of the time…

We waste SO MUCH it almost makes me cry sometimes. It makes me angry. It makes me frustrated. And ultimately it makes me take action. These feelings compel me to do something.

Do you have these same thoughts? Do you have these same feelings?

If not, maybe you should ponder that for a second…

This personal finance challenge is not about disliking waste, it is about hating waste. You see, strong feelings are the only things that will cause you to do something.

Look at your own life. What areas of waste do you see?

Start with physical things. Food, gas, electricity, actual space you aren’t using, items you once used but never use anymore, clothes, furniture, etc.

Move on to less physical things. Your time, your money, your strength, your abilities, etc.

Once you locate the waste in your life, you have to train your mind first to dislike it, then to be uncomfortable with it, and finally to hate it.

Your thoughts here will create the actions required to improve not only your financial well-being, but also every other area of your life.

The timeless wisdom still applies…

“Waste Not, Want Not”

This is our 10th challenge in The Personal Finance Challenge Series…