Life Maintenance

When buying a car, most of us consider the excitement of owning and driving a new vehicle. The initial cost of purchase and gas mileage might also be a concern. Yet, very few of us take the cost of long-term maintenance into account. According to Consumer Reports, “Over the first five years of ownership, the median car costs more than $9,100 a year to own.” http://consumerreports.org/cro/2012/12/what-that-car-really-costs-to-own/index.htm

In addition to the monetary expenditure, there is also a cost in time and energy required to maintain a car: cleaning the interior and exterior, changing windshield wipers, scheduling routine maintenance, taking care of insurance and registration paperwork, fixing broken windshields, flat tires, rust spots, dings, and scratches. When we fail to factor in the resources needed to maintain something, we contribute to its deterioration. 

Life Maintenance—“The basic things one needs to do to keep life flowing smoothly along.” (Urban Dictionary)

Most of us recognize that we have to earn an income and feed, shelter, and clothe ourselves and our family. Once we have accomplished that, we might turn our attention to entertainment, vacations, and hobbies. We budget our money, time, and energy for these obvious endeavors. Yet, there are a thousand other minuscule tasks for which we neglect to allocate time and energy. Think about the things you have to do daily, monthly, and annually, to keep your life flowing smoothly.

Life Maintenance can be sorted into a few broad categories:

Relationship maintenance, Health Maintenance, Home Maintenance, Financial Maintenance, Crisis Management, Intellectual, Moral and Spiritual Development.

If you are young and single, you might not have to allocate as much energy to all these categories. As you get older, certain categories will consume more energy than others. If you are married with children, you might choose to divvy up the responsibilities between you and your partner. Problems arise when we completely neglect some sections in order to focus on other areas of life.

When we fail to factor in the resources required to maintain all aspects of our life, we contribute to its deterioration.

(I have a ‘Life Maintenance List’ that fits my family. It gets updated every 5 years to fit our current stage of life. If you would like a copy of my current list, just email me or comment below with your email address, and I can send it to you.)