Monday, August 15, 2011

Wastefulness


There are very few things in my life that I hate more than wastefulness ( this is saying a lot because there are a lot of things I dislike).

 Maybe it's because of the way I was raised, we reused everything, including ziploc bags! If something could be washed, recycled, or repurposed my Mom would have us do it. As I was washing and drying the 10th ziploc bag for the night I would dream of a machine that would wash those darn things for me!Later I found out most "normal" people just throw the bags away....To this day I still rewash the semi-clean bags and use the others for dirty diapers.

            My main problem is I just can't stand to throw perfectly good things away!

 Because of my extreme distaste for wasting things, I have struggled with my children and their seemingly endless trail of destruction and waste.


For example, today I found a whole roll of toilet paper in my toilet, a brand new jar of peanut butter broken on the floor and the faucet running. I should be able to just brush this off and move one but it seriously frustrates me! Most of the anger and frustration towards my children during my day stems from some type of destruction, and unfortunately destruction seems to be their life goal right now!

When moments of anger and frustration overwhelm me I send my kids to their room and take a few moments to breathe and refocus my priorities.

Will the world end if I have to replace the peanut butter? Is being angry worth more than a relationship with my children? What are my priority's in life and does a broken jar of peanut butter hinder them?

I can often laugh about my silliness once I calm down and realize that it's not the end of the world and I can just buy a new jar. But a little piece of me still feels slightly frustrated that yet another thing just went to waste. Maybe I am a little crazy... I have been watching the show Hoarders lately and on some level can totally relate to them! It has helped motivate me to get my room clean, after ignoring a 3 month pile of laundry that needed to be folded.  Hopefully, I don't go completely insane and end up on the show a few years myself ;)

In the end there is, " A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away," Ecclesiastes 3: 6-7. Sometimes, I just wish it would be when the containers were actually empty :)!

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