Use it, don’t lose it!

Yesterday, I wrote about evaluating what you really need. While I think it’s good to cut down on unnecessary purchases, I also think it’s sometimes fun to buy stuff you don’t technically need.

For example, I have some “Warm Vanilla Sugar” soap from Bath and Body Works. I bought it because I love the smell. I’d barely used it for the 6+ months since I bought it (shortly before my wedding!) and I recently got inspired to use it more often.

Why should I use it more if it’s a special treat?

Because otherwise I won’t use it at all.

I spent Thanksgiving at my parents’ house—in my old room with my old stuff. While there, I noticed some yummy cucumber vanilla lotion I bought a few years back. Maybe 3 or 4 years back. I tried some but found it had lost its smell. It still works as lotion, but it smells kinda funky. The matching soap (Body Shop) was still in my parents’ shower—and once again it didn’t smell nearly as good as when I bought it.

They haven’t lost their usefulness, but they’ve lost a good deal of their value (it’s still useful as soap/lotion, but it doesn’t have the happy smell). All because I thought they were so valuable that I didn’t use them on a regular basis.

So now I pull out a bath poof (another one of those things I’ve been saving) and lather up on a regular basis. I encourage Micah to use it too, since I like the cinamonny smell.

Mom and Dad, I know you’re reading this. You might as well use up that green soap in the shower. Unless you don’t like the smell–then I’ll use it whenever I’m visiting.

I’ve done the same with crayons, colored pencils, chocolate—some of these things last and some don’t. But if they never get used, then they’re not worth what you paid for them. So go “shopping” at home and find those thing you’ve been saving for a rainy day. Unless you’re the time who really will use them on a rainy day, start now. Enjoy what you have, don’t let it moulder or ferment.

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