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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Law of Diminishing Returns (don't be bored by the title)

I know very little about economics but when I read about the Law of Diminishing Returns,  I immediately saw how it can be used in "home" economics also.  The law states,  "The tendency for a continuing application of effort or skill toward a particular project or goal to decline in effectiveness after a certain level of result has been achieved."  (The American Heritage Dictionary) This simply means that the more effort you put into something, the better the results will be up to a certain point and then your returns actually decline.  Taken a step further, there's a time to stop, whether it's obsessively polishing silver (who has silver these days anyway!), planning a lavish party, decorating your house until it's perfect, and definitely...collecting anything.  It's possible to do too much or have too much!  The first example which comes to mind is Christmas.  You want to make a memorable, happy experience for your children and you go out of your way baking 12 dozen different kinds of cookies, planning all sorts of seasonal crafts and activities for the kids to make and do, spending two weeks decorating the whole house until it's worthy of a magazine cover, and searching for all the right presents.  The result is that you're sick of cookies, tired from all the decorating, tired of picking up all the craft pieces scattered all over the floor and the wonderful toys that you bought your children are looked at and then passed over for the wrapping paper.  Maybe two dozen cookies would have been enough.  Maybe one special outing and two or three crafts would have made the kids happy too.  Maybe decorating the living areas would be enough.  Maybe two or three well thought out gifts would be enjoyed without being overwhelming.

We need to put our time and effort into good, worthwhile projects, experiences and activities.  But that doesn't mean going overboard and stressing out so much that you can't enjoy yourself in the process.  The hard part is knowing when enough is enough. 








6 comments:

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    1. Really? Thank you!!! That means a lot to me!

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  2. As so often on this blog, your parenting lesson is a life lesson.

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    1. I guess there are lessons for us all to learn, no matter what our circumstances...whether we want to learn or not :)

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  3. Maybe that is the reason that I stopped decorating for holidays and just tried to enjoy them. However, Fred does get upset when it is nearly Christmas and I haven't got the tree or anything up. hahahaha So I guess having a little decorations is not bad. :o)

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    1. Yeah, I know what you mean. I'd be fine waiting until Christmas Eve to put up a tree but no one agrees with me!

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