I had something done last week that I’ve never had done before because let’s face it; I hate paying for anything I think I can do myself. This thing is so first world and could be considered a first world problem. But is obviously one that other people share because I had to make an appointment so far in advance that I almost forgot this thing was going to happen.

Have I drawn it out enough? What is this thing that thrifty Lesley ponied up to pay for and waited for 6 weeks to happen. It’s got to be good. Oh, it is…

Okay, enough drama. I hired a company to come clean my windows inside and out. But I didn’t just hire window cleaners, I hired the Window Ninjas. And they lived up to their name. I had serious doubt about this thing up until the crew of 5 showed up. All it took was the outcome of one window and I couldn’t wait for them all to be done.

It was an amazing difference. They worked their magic with their holster squeegees, special cleaning solution, window scrapers, and towels. 2 hours. Bada Boom, Bada Bam. All I could do was just sit and marvel at the difference these experts made on such a simple problem that I was having. I couldn’t see out of my windows.

That’s an exaggeration, but you get my drift. Last year I tried to cut financial corners and attempted to do it myself. I spent a whole day dragging the ladder around, using the minimal supplies I had and “cleaned” the windows. It was exciting to be saving money and getting something done, but there was just one problem. The windows weren’t clean. Not only were they not clean, they were now completely smeared. Excitement dashed.

What is the lesson here? I guess I could go down the route of “it takes someone outside yourself to wipe away that first layer of gunk so that you can truly “see”. Like getting a licensed therapist to help you work through issues instead of asking Judy down at the liquor store.

But no, there is another analogy I’d like to use here. And this one is going to hurt because it does strike at my frugal nature. And that is that sometimes you just have to let go and hire someone to help you with things instead of trying to do it all yourself. We are all guilty of this on so many levels.

Ever tried to diagnose yourself on WebMD only to find out that you might die; spending days worrying yourself to death instead of just making a doctor appointment to get a real diagnosis. How many of us have stood in front of the bathroom mirror with our kitchen scissors cutting some bangs? (Just me?) How hard would have been to just make an appointment with someone who DOES THAT so you don’t have to spend the next six months waiting for your hair to grow back out.

I can’t tell you how many times I said, “I can do that” and then spent double the time doing it half as well as someone that is an expert and does it on the regular. And really, it’s not much cheaper to do it yourself because you end up burning your time and money with trips to The Home Depot or Lowe’s to do it the first time, and then doing it again to fix your mistakes. Get a grip and hire an expert.

I wrote an affirmation this week that said “Don’t give advice you aren’t willing to take yourself”. And I am really putting it out there in this blog because we have a landscaping area that needs attention and Mike and I both have been saying “we can do that”. And we probably could on some level, but we started saying that over two months ago and nothing has happened yet.

How wonderful it would be to turn it over to someone else and not have it wearing my already full “to do” list down. The windows were a real eye-opener – literally. You can come see for yourself if you want.

LLM

Link to the ole podcast version. Warning – it’s lively:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1594894/8804206