I was looking at a pile of laundry one day and thought that there are many similarities between our laundries and our debts. We do not like to accumulate much of it, especially when it gets to the point as shown in the picture where it just looks overwhelming. However, laundries and debts are a necessary part of our lives and only a small percentage of the population is immune to having to deal with them. Let’s explore the similarities below.

Many of us routinely wash our laundries at a set interval. We are able to start fresh with an empty basket because we clean up our mess before it becomes uncontrollable. This is the same with debts. Naturally, we accumulate debt through the use of our credit cards but it is imperative to pay them off every month. If we are able to pay off our credit cards every month, debts won’t become uncontrollable. Of course, this implies not purchasing items that you cannot afford in the first place.

There are some people that wear his/her clothes for more than one day before washing it while others think that it is absolutely necessary to alternate between wearing and washing the same piece of clothing. This, in a way mere personal preference, drastically affects the load of laundry needed to be taken care of. Buying an inexpensive version of something is just like wearing the same piece of shirt twice. Some people will say there is no way the inexpensive version is adequate, just as there are some people that will cry if they have to wear the same shirt again before it is washed. Just be prepared that the more expensive version is going to increase our debt considerably and to weigh the pros and cons.

It takes much more effort to wash clothes when the laundry load is huge than washing multiple small loads that add up to the same amount of clothing. We will not have the emotional effect that there are just too much to handle, and we will also not get tired and work slower. When we allow our debts to run high, we will be unable to keep up with payments since the interest amount alone will be very hard to pay off each month. Furthermore, it is very hard emotionally to think we can pay off debt when the amount is very high.

If we don’t wash our clothes, there is one day that we will run out of clean outfits to wear. If we keep delaying reducing our debts, there will be one day where no institution will lend us money, which will become a disaster if we continually rely on borrowing money to survive.

One thing we do with laundry is that we keep it in a visible place. That way, seeing it will remind us to do something about it. There is a saying called “out of sight, our of mind”. This is true with laundry, and applies to debt as well. We should constantly keep tabs on our financial situation, especially on our debts to make sure we are taking care of it at a satisfactory pace.