Your Top 5 Energy Leaks

/

Your top 5 energy leaks... what are they? 

My friend Melody wrote a recent blog post about energy leaks which, as she describes them, are "...those things we face over and over, continuing to just deal with them, rather than take what would sometimes be mere minutes to just handle them once and for all."  An example of an energy leak (from the original author of energy leaks, Danielle LaPorte) is the lock that always sticks. 

That post got me to thinking about my energy leaks and I was amazed how quickly a mental list of these tiny, little annoyances in life formed. On the bright side, just recognizing and now labelling these items as "energy leaks" has motivated me to already deal with some and cross them off the list. 

Here's just a partial list of my energy leaks: 

  • Burned out lightbulbs on front and side porches
  • Burned out lightbulb in hall
  • A drawerful of stained, torn dishtowels that are probably older than our marriage
  • The container I use to hold cotton balls. It's plastic and has a narrow opening and I scrape the sides of my hand every night when I reach inside it for a cottonball. 
  • The washer that has "walked" to the far side of the hall closet so I can no longer fully open the door to load clothes
  • The cover on my iPhone which has come permanently unglued in the lower lefthand corner
  • No stamps in the house
  • Having daily to dig through this overstuffed bag of hair bands, hairpins, barrettes etc. to find a ponytail holder
  • A couple of stray coffee grounds in the side door of the refridgerator from where a bag of coffee burst and I didn't get it all cleaned up
  • The chaos that is our ziplock/aluminum foil/plastic wrap drawer. (Actually, this isn't my energy leak. It's Blair's. I rewash plastic bags and stuff them in the drawer where they wait to spring out like a Jack-in-the-box every time the drawer is opened. It makes Blair mental.)

Wow, and that list was made without even trying. What is so eye-opening to me though, is how dealing with each of these teeny-tiny annoyances each and every day can just chip away at your energy over time. 

So, since identifying some of these items I have already: 

  • Changed the hall lightbulb
  • Had Blair change the bulbs on the porches (ladders, screwdrivers and glass were involved, so it was best I sat that one out)
  • I've thrown away the worst of the dishtowels and plan to buy new ones next week while we're at the store
  • I ripped the cover off my iPhone, creating the new energy leak of "I need to go by the Apple Store and get a new cover for my iPhone." 
  • I muscled the washing machine back into place

 I've decided my biggest drain is the cotton ball holder. It's such a small thing, but I really do feel that beat of dread each time I reach in there for a cottonball. It's got to go. "New cottonball holder" just made the Sunday shopping list as well. 

What about you? I'd love to know everyone's top 5 energy leaks.