I recently expressed weariness with drinking some tea samples that did not particularly appeal to me. My child suggested I throw them out. I automatically replied, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”
Whether we learn them from a grandparent or a book, old adages can help us make the world a better place. Here are some of my favorites
Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without
There are plenty of times when there’s no point in slogging through something you dislike. Why force yourself to finish that cake you’re not enjoying? The point of cake is pleasure, so you might as well give it away or toss it. But there’s also something to be said about using something up before you buy more.
The “use it up…” adage is a favorite of the simplicity movement. I don’t do a perfect job of living by it, but I often keep it in mind when I make decisions about discarding something or purchasing something new. If we choose to use what we have until it is gone or worn out, and if we ask ourselves if we really need to buy that thing we want at all, we’ll make better choices for the environment… and for our wallets. This is how people who are poor live out of necessity; being able to discard and replace something simply because we are tired of it is a luxury.
A Stitch In Time Saves Nine (or, Do It Now)
This ties neatly into the adage above. If you repair something when the first sign of a problem appears, you’re more likely to be able to make it last… or at least you’ll save yourself a bigger repair job down the line. And this saying works works with intangible things as well as tangible ones. It’s better to tackle a relationship problem early on than to let years go by. At that point, you’ll need to put a lot more effort into making things right, if you’re able to repair the relationship at all.
But I think this also is wise advice on a grander scale. One of the best examples of how we might put this adage into practice? Ignoring the fact that we should have tackled climate change years ago, it’s best for us to make changes now, rather than wait until things get even worse.
Charity Begins at Home
This is probably the saying that is the most challenging for me. When I was going through that unpleasant phase that most adolescents go through, my mother, fed up with my behavior, simply said to me, “Charity begins at home.” This was a zinger, and she surely knew it, because she knew that I wanted to do something to change the world for the better.
Sometimes its easier to be kind at a distance than it is to treat those we live with well. But the proverb is right. If we want to make a difference, there’s no better place to start than with the people we see every day.
There’s No Such Thing as a Soul Mate
When you romanticize a committed relationship, you’re asking for trouble.
When I was in college, one of my professors said, “The truth about marriage is… it’s boring.” If you believe that there is just one person out there who is a perfect match for you, when you hit that boring spot, or if you are going through a rough patch with your spouse, it may be tempting to believe that the problem is that you committed to the wrong person. Perhaps your soul mate is still out there! Perhaps they are sitting in the next cubicle over.
If, however, you believe that there is more than one person out there with whom you could have a good relationship, and that when you got married you said to your spouse, “I choose to commit to you,” then marital boredom or difficulty doesn’t necessarily signal that you made the wrong choice, nor does the attractiveness of your coworker mean that your true perfect match is just a cubicle away. Instead, you can choose to work harder on the relationship that you committed to.
Marriage is difficult, and it doesn’t always work out. There’s no sense in making it more difficult by saddling your spouse with unrealistic expectations.
Something They Want, Something They Need, Something to Wear, and Something to Read
This adage is another great way to reduce overconsumption. I first heard it, or a variation of it, in relation to filling a Christmas stocking. Lately I’ve seen it used to describe buying Christmas presents for kids.
In my family’s case, it was extremely rare for us to give our child more than four gifts outside of what we put in her stocking, so using the four-gift rhyme as a stocking stuffing guideline worked well. We just had to make sure that the items were small and inexpensive enough to be stocking stuffers: something to wear might be a pair of gloves, and something to read could be a small paperback. Other families may find it more useful to use this rule or a similar one to control the number of gifts under the tree. Regardless, deciding on some sort of gift-giving rule can help tame the “gimmes” and your spending.
What adages to you live by?
6 replies on “Can Living By Old Adages Make a Difference?”
Not necessarily “words to live by,” but recently I have used these frequently! “Measure twice, cut once,” and “righty tighty, lefty, loosey.” Also: “Count to ten,” before angry words; and “early to bed, early to rise, makes one healthy, wealthy and wise.” (my change of actual words.)
I think “measure twice, cut once” (prevent waste), “count to ten” (avoid saying something you’ll regret), and “early to bed, early to rise…” (a healthy person makes better choices) can all be considered words to live by! And “righty tighty, lefty loosey” is handy, even if I can’t think of way that one makes a difference! 🙂
Excellent. You made me look at some of these sayings in a new way rather than as tired cliches.
Thanks!
“Never let problem solving get in the way of decision making.” My mother would say this all the time. Truly sometimes making the decision to do something is more important than how you will accomplish that something.
I love this.