Everyday Common Sense & Patience Will Save Money

Sometimes, common sense escapes even the most intelligent of people. We all make fundamental assumptions. Drawers should slide open and slide closed. Doors should behave in a similar fashion. When they do not, something very primitive and entirely irrational possesses all too many of us. We devolve to the level of the beasts and try to use brute force to close the uncooperative drawer or door.

Taking a step back, we would realize that something might be blocking the kitchen drawer or the door to the garage. Rational minds would then move to clear the obstruction. I have finally learned that, but only after a number of less than wonderful moments in which brute force resulted in something breaking, from rulers in my kitchen drawer to rakes that had fallen behind my garage door. There is no way we can defeat the laws of physics but we can try to work with them. Here are a few suggestions:

Don’t Force Anything Open: As described above, if a drawer or door is blocked, you are far more likely to break the thing that is causing the blockage or the drawer or door itself if you try to use force to open it. Never force anything open. Doors, drawers, dishwashers – anything that can be opened can also be blocked from opening. Take the time to unblock whatever it is you are trying to open.

Turn Right to Make it Tight: Most screws tighten to the right and loosen to the left. Always remember that and try not to further tighten a screw by “opening” it to the left. If you do encounter a screw that tightens to the left, make a note of it in case you ever have to loosen it later on.

Don’t Lift from the Waist:If you have to pick something up off the ground, whether heavy or light, bend from the knees. If you bend from the waist, you are asking for a back problem.

Don’t Lift Unless Your Feet are Level: If you try to pick something up when your feet are not level, you are also asking for a back problem. Check your feet and then bend your knees.

Don’t Strain to Pull or Push: The other day I was moving a treadmill. I was on a smooth walkway when suddenly the treadmill would not move any further. I did not try to force the treadmill. Rather I set it upright and checked the wheels. Sure enough, I had caught a branch from a shrub. Had I continued pulling, I would have uprooted the shrub and incurred my wife’s wrath!

Don’t Ignore Unusually Sounds If your car starts making a strange sound or an appliance is grinding when it should not, either check out the problem if you know what you are doing or find someone who does. You cannot make a problem go away by ignoring it.

Don’t Ignore Strange Sounds When You Walk: If you are clicking when your feet hit the ground, you may have a stone or piece of glass in the sole of your shoe. That can stone or piece of glass can damage floors. Take a moment to remove it.

Always Knock: Unless you can be one hundred percent certain that no one is behind a door, always knock before you open a door and even then, open the door slowly. You never know what might be behind the door.

What other common sense decisions do you try to bring to the basic actions of daily life? What do you hear, see or experience that alerts you to be cautious?