Financial Lessons from the Kitchen Sink | brokeGIRLrich
There are two chores I REALLY hate doing and one of them is definitely the dishes.
It feels futile. Hopeless and overwhelming. Inevitably, as soon as I finish washing them, I’m thirsty. And I want some milk. And now a glass is dirty again. Sweet baby Jesus, when will it ever end?!?!!?
Not gonna lie. Sometimes… I just don’t do them.
And this happens.
But it’s ok, because I’ve got a few dishes. And, er, I’m not necessarily above using my cutting board as a plate in a pinch. So I continue to slink by, just tossing more plates, bowls and measuring cups that double just fine for soup into the mess.
Until there is nothing left.
To give you a full idea of how much I hate doing dishes and the lengths I will go to in order to avoid doing them… this is usually when I eat takeout for a night.
But then they have to be done. You can only avoid the sink so long before there are no dishes left. AND you start to wonder exactly how strong those Combat roach traps are – can they really combat this? Let’s not find out.
So I turn up the tunes and after a few Tom Cruise 80’s underwear-esque dance moves are broke (emphasis on broke), I get down to business. I remember that it’s not SO bad.
Um, for like 5 dishes, maybe. You know, the amount I would’ve had to clean daily if I weren’t such a slob. Cleaning two plates, a glass and some silverware is no big thing.
Tackling the Mt. Vesuvius of dishes is. Your back starts to hurt from the awkward half hunched position of bending over the sink. Your fingers go pruney. There’s some really alarming stuff floating in the water. It’s probably ebola in the making… good lord, who knows what it is? And I ATE that three days ago. Ugh.
Finally, I approach the end and there, lurking at the bottom of the mess, is the pot. The pot that I inevitably burnt something in… because, I should probably also mention, I am a horrible, horrible cook. And if I’d only had a brain, I’d’ve scrubbed that gross mess the night it happened.
Instead, I just threw it into the sink and added some water. You know. To soak. In my mind, this “soak”ing magically eats all the bad stuff out and provides me with a nice, clean pot. Did I mention that I’m also pretty delusional? No one lies to me as good as I do.
Seeing that soaking has failed (again. Seriously sink, WTF? Get with the program), I realize that the alarming crust has now sunk it’s scary, barnacled teeth deep into the pot. An hour, AN HOUR!?!?!!, later, I am finally done scrubbing. The dishes are done.
I’ve learned my lesson.
HAHAHAHAHAAHAAAA. Yeah, right. This happens every. single. week.
Ugh.
So why did I spill my horrible housekeeping secrets today? Well, during the most recent pot scrubbing (evidently, you should never try to make barbeque portabella mushrooms in a pot. Whatever.), as I thought angrily about what an idiot I was that I didn’t take care of this mess as it started to occur instead of when it was utterly overwhelming, I had a flashback to the debt days. And a flash forward to retirement. Which will hopefully be easy street since I actually “do the dishes” for that sucker regularly.
This is because lots of things in life are like a groady sink full of dishes. There are folks who tackle their debt as soon as they see it happening, keep it under control and escape it nice and quick. The folks who don’t… are left with a sink of dirty dishes.
The lesson for today is don’t let ebola grow in your financial sink. Palmolive does not have a solution for that.
Great post Mel – my ‘dirty dishes’ financial problem is not having a retirement plan. Just met with a financial planner person and he encouraged me that I do still have 15 years left to prepare. It’s not going to be pretty, but it’s much better than nothing. So glad I met with him instead of ignoring the problem.
Oh – I have a suggestion for making the dishes an easier chore. Whenever you start cooking go ahead and fill up the sink with warm soapy water. Then at least they can soak until you decide to do them all! 😉
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Good idea about the soapy water. It’ll make the sink seem fuller too – I always wind up thinking “eh, there’s room for one or two more” before I actually do them. I feel a sink full of soapy water might actually spur me on.
This was a nice analogy! I’m the same way with my sink. It’s far too easy to let things pile up and then ignore it. Then you regret it! Vicious cycle, and very similar to debt.
E.M. recently posted…Second-Guessing the Decision to Move?
We lived in an apartment for a while that did not have a dishwasher, and I found the dish washing experience a cathartic and almost zen experience. I turned on music, put my gloves on and thought through my day or what I need to do the next day or just kind of meditated. I think we take so little time to stop and think and when doing dishes, it’s really all you can do.
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Way to turn a negative thing into a positive. I try to do that when I’m swimming. I get so crabby about going to the gym, but once I actually get in the water and start swimming, it’s so quiet and peaceful.
Absolutely Melissa. Financial, health, relationship, and career issues are all a lot like dirty dishes. The longer you put them off…………the more work it is to make them right. Better to devise a system to stay on top of them….and minimize the long term hassles. I said it was better, not EASY :o)
-Bryan
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Hah. “I said it was better, not EASY ” Amen to that.
Good thoughts! I too let the dishes get out of control……freaking hate them!
Retired by 40 recently posted…10 Reasons to Buy a House
I have a dishwasher but use it to store dishes and stuff since the kitchen is so small. No real need in my opinion to use the dishwasher since it’s just me and my wife (the baby does has his bottle). I’m an odd person maybe but I’m pretty anal about washing dishes and can’t stand when it piles up. So I just wash them right after I’ve used them.
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Oh gosh, I can’t even imagine having to wash a ton of baby bottles too! Ugh.
Heh. I’ve found that baking soda helps the soaking process along nicely (It’s how I do ovens). Salt works less well in a pinch…
Was that condiment humor intentional? I’ll never tell!
Mario DebtBLAG recently posted…My April 2014 net worth update; up $4,000 – April Fools edition
Seriously? Baking soda sounds way too easy. But I’m absolutely going to try it next week when Mt Vesuvius rebuilds itself… I mean. Nevermind. It’s not going to happen again. Er, but just in case… baking soda. Got it.
Funny, funny, post and the analogy is spot on! Dish and Financial procrastinators take heed!
You eventually have to pay the piper and it ain’t pretty.
debT debS recently posted…Booze Budget
Great analogy…and I particularly appreciate it because I cannot stand to see more than a couple of dishes in the sink!
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And I bet you’re really financially stable too then! 🙂
SOOO grateful to have a dishwasher!
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I’m definitely weird, but I LOVE washing dishes by hand. It’s almost cathartic and meditative for me. That, and it helps save on energy costs. But you’re totally right. You can let the debt dishes pile up, or you’ll never get them cleaned.
Ryan @ Impersonal Finance recently posted…emergency fund in action
You are definitely weird! :p
I had a roommate who NEVER did his dishes. He was also my best friend since I was like 5 so I couldn’t get to mad. There came a point where I finally had to make him do his dishes. Every now and then I’ll let a ton of dishes pile up and it’s awful getting caught up.
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I had one gross roommate who would never do the dishes. It was so disgusting. It’s completely different when you’re living with other people. I never understood how someone could be so inconsiderate.
As much as I hate washing dishes, I won’t use paper cups or plates because I feel that it’s a waste of money. To make it worse, I’ll wait until I’m out of spoons or forks before I start washing dishes. Now, I’ve gotten smarter and only buy storage containers, glasses, etc that are dishwasher friendly. Win for me!
I wish I had a dishwasher! I agree with paper plates and cups being wasteful, and not really great for the environment either.
One of the perks of being a plumber is I had to knowhow and confidence to modify my cupboards to install a free second hand dishwasher*** which fell in my lap. It’s handy to have.
*** You still need to wash dishes by hand. 😉
Dishes are our biggest bugbear. Neither of us likes doing them but I absolutely cannot stand having dishes piled up everywhere. With T job hunting right now the housework is on him and his standards just aren’t anywhere near what I find acceptable.
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LOL – well good luck training him to your standards.
Love this- so funny, true, and boy, can I relate! Thank you so much for sharing this with us at Treasure Box Tuesday- tweeted! 🙂
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