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Go Ahead and Waste It - It Was Free
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Go ahead and waste it; it was free!
Have you ever heard that? I wonder if that comment has the same effect on
you that it has on me. Actually, it's more the mentality behind the words
that has the same effect on me as fingernails down a chalkboard. If it was
free, why is it ok to waste it? Just because no money changed hands in order
for an individual to acquire it doesn't mean that it has no value and cannot
be utilized in some fashion.
I have a relative who recently grabbed handfuls of good-quality, heavy-duty
paper napkins to mop up a spill, then he said, "Hey, they were free!" So?
I realize this is a petty example, but grandiose examples aren't necessary
for those of us who are frugal-minded in order to get the point.
I call people like this "buffet heads." And we've all seen them...they go
through the buffet in a restaurant and grab a portion from every bin and
end up with a miniature representation of the buffet right there on their
plate. What happens next? The server scrapes most of it into the trash. And
why not? It was free for the taking! The crab legs were a little too cold?
Don't eat 'em!
We've all been the beneficiaries of the product samples in the grocery store,
where the person stands there with an electric fryer, some toothpicks and
napkins, and encourages us to try the new item. (Generally we get a coupon
for it, too!) Sometimes those samples are my lunch, consequently. It could
taste like something out of a dumpster, but I'll be darned if I can throw
it away. Sure, it was free, but...it was free! I'll gag it down, because
wasting food just was not something we did growing up. Either that, or my
husband will grab it out of my hand and slam-dunk it into the can for me.
And no, he's not the said relative in paragraph #2.
Through my years in the hotel business, I walked into many recently-vacated
rooms that had been set to near Arctic temperatures, because the air conditioning
bill didn't go straight to the guest. I saw face cloths and bath towels used
in some very interesting ways...ways for which those individuals would never
use their own personal linens at home. And I saw pads and pads of paper doodled
upon, rendering them useless, but hey...they were free.
My point with all of this is that free things do come along in life, and
thank goodness for that. But, they're not really free when you consider that
they do have value, they do serve a purpose for us, and if wasted, they never
got a chance to serve their purpose. Quite often they simply postpone us
having to go out and buy whatever it is anyway. And if you're a parent, you've
probably had similar conversations with your children on such matters, because
young children do not naturally understand money changing hands for products
or what the value of those products is. Material goods have some value, and
should be respected as much as we would respect the money that we didn't
have to spend on them. And if we teach it to our children, hey...that's free
information!
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About the Author
Mia Cronan is a married full-time mother of three girls, ages 4, 3, and 1,
living in Pennsylvania. She owns and edits
www.MainStreetMom.com, the magazine
for modern mothers with traditional values. Mia can be reached at
cronan@a1usa.net.
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