It seemed like a reasonable idea at the time.
Maintenance is always a tough pill to swallow. You might immediately think of car or home maintenance. It also carries over to other items such as your electronic devices, appliance cleaning, lawn care, health care, fitness, and many others. Regularly scheduled maintenance is probably the cheapest path for us to take. But, at the time of that maintenance, many of us hate the thought of not only the incremental cost but the inconvenience of just doing it. What is most important here is to take the long view and recognize that taking care of it now at a reasonable cost will save you a boatload of time and money.
It adds up and will catch you off guard.
As I am writing this in November of 2021, I have had a number of personal experiences recently that highlight the importance of regular ongoing maintenance as a strategy for keeping costs in check. In the most recent case, it was a visit to the dentist after not seeing them for nearly three years. This is partially due to COVID-19 “raining on our parade” and the timing of my last visit. Needless to say my dentist found a number of deferred maintenance items that will need to be addressed that probably could have been avoided had I gone to my semi-annual visits. While the cost isn’t going to break the bank, the list of items needing repair is making my wallet very sad.
It is a heavy cost on your time.
Human behavior and psychology are funny. We defer maintenance thinking that “we don’t have the time or resources” to devote to the maintenance now. But the reality is that we probably won’t ever ideally “have the time or resources.” Plus, deferred maintenance will compound to become a costly repair and much larger drain on your time in the future. All of us have passed by someone who has broken down on the side of the road. You know the story. Maybe you have had the experience yourself. I know I have. It always ends up being an expensive tow, an inconvenient (and expensive) repair, tons of lost time and a massive amount of frustration (not to mention embarrassment).
Time to change your mindset.
As with most things, it is a matter of realizing what’s happening and then changing your mindset. It may take an unpleasant and inconvenient experience for you to realize that deferred maintenance will catch up to you. learn the lesson by observing others while they are learning the hard lesson and not experiencing it for yourself. Now is a good time to take an inventory of the things in your life that require maintenance and ask yourself if you have a regular maintenance schedule in place. It can – and will – save you a bunch of money, time and frustration.
A Journey to Personal Financial Independence
At Morgan Franklin Fellowship (MFF), we support the concept of financial freedom – by teaching participants how to save by paying themselves first, invest for their future and grow their net worth.
Learning how money works and how to talk about money with others are the first steps towards recognizing an individual’s lifelong financial goals. Our online courses and on-demand learning events are designed to help individuals learn the concepts, rules and vocabulary of money, finance and investing.
Becoming an MFF Fellow
Our Standards of Financial Literacy program is engaging, full of interesting information, and easy to navigate. Adapted from the National Standards for Financial Literacy developed by the Council for Economic Education (CEE), this robust curriculum features six short lessons on such important topics as earning income, understanding the value of saving and using credit. When completed, this program lays the foundation for becoming an MFF Fellow.
Becoming an MFF Fellow is the ticket to access additional MFF programs and opportunities for mentoring, networking, internships and real-world opportunities. These are the opportunities which allow MFF Fellows to continue their journey towards personal financial independence.
Learn more at morganfranklinfoundation.org.
