Problems

Recently, I was talking with someone who thought they had a problem with their home - a serious problem. In hindsight, they said they probably should have paid attention to it sooner, done more maintenance, etc. I said I wasn't surprised. 

Last week, I found myself in the emergency room for the first time on a new insurance plan. Not knowing how much it would cost me, I kept thinking to myself, "They'd better find something that makes it worth the cost." I'd been sent to the ER for suspected appendicitis, which would of course be worth the cost, but instead turned out to be something acute that was significant, but not yet "serious," but could turn serious.

Is taking your car for routine oil changes, maintaining your lawn mower, paying for a yearly service plan for your HVAC system, going for an annual dental cleaning...worth it? 

The truth is that most of us have trouble shelling out the money for maintenance when there's nothing wrong with what we've got. We don't even like shelling out the money if it's something small. We always think, "Maybe it's not a big deal. Maybe it will just get better. Maybe I'll get used to it." 

Then, we end up drowning in our serious problems because they suck everything we've got in reserve right out of us, and we look back in hindsight and wonder...should I have done something sooner? 

The question we really have to be asking ourselves at any given point is whether we're as willing to invest now to avoid a problem as we would be later to fix one? 

Are you willing to take what you have today and put it to use to make tomorrow better...or would you rather have what you have and cross your fingers and hope for the best? 

It's silly, really. We live in a fragile world that is even more fragile by the day. The stuff that is manufactured today is made to fail; everything has a shelf life. And yet, we all try to live like our stuff isn't falling apart. 

Like our lives aren't falling apart. 

Like we aren't falling apart. 

And then, things fall apart and we feel betrayed, but the truth is, we never did what we were supposed to do to keep this from happening. We couldn't, we say, justify the cost of maintenance when nothing was wrong, but now, the cost is astronomical because everything is broken and fixing it...is not optional. You can't just not have a refrigerator or an air conditioner. You can't just let your teeth rot right out of your mouth. You can't just let your appendix rupture. 

But as I was thinking about my non-appendix medical cost and wondering if it's worth it, I was really thinking about this. The truth is - we found a problem that was at a correctable stage. Do I feel like I was robbed of money because it wasn't life-threatening yet? Am I upset at having to spend so much only to find out it wasn't urgent after all? 

Is it worth it to me to spend that money to find the problem while I can still fix it without costing more - more time, more money, more energy, more risk, etc. - or does it feel like a waste because it wasn't already at that point? 

Is it worth it to you? 

Most of us would rather pay $700 every decade to replace an appliance we never maintained than spend $30-80 here or there to tweak the little things that would keep it running for far longer. It's just hard to get us to justify maintenance. 

And yet, good maintenance goes such a long way. 

In case you haven't figured it out yet, this is a post about stuff...and it's also a post not about stuff. And in both regards, the question I have for you is this: 

Would you invest as much today to avoid a problem as you would later to fix one? What do you need to be investing in right now?