Many discussions around waste usually centre on the environment and how we can prevent the waste of physical resources and use up what already exists.

The concept of waste, however, can be extended beyond a discussion of recycling and reuse, to that of how we manage or fail to manage our time, our money and our talent and abilities.

Let's look at the issue of time. For some of us, better time management would result in better resource management and less waste. When we fail to organise ourselves, we end up rushing, missing deadlines and often spending unnecessarily in an attempt to make the resulting problem(s) go away.

For example, we get up late on a work or school morning and realise that there isn't enough time to do our regular activities without being late. This forces us to rush and make mistakes which costs more time, loss of money and leaves us miserable. For some drivers, this means breaking stop signs and stop lights, cursing other road users and, God forbid, causing an accident.

A poor use of time and a failure to better organise one's activities in keeping with the available time and desired goals ends up being costly and even deadly.

To some persons, nothing is as dear to them as their money. Yet, they have no problem wasting it or putting it to less than good use. There are some very common ways in which people waste money, such as:

● Buying food which they don't eat and end up throwing away.

● Buying clothes which they don't wear.

● Buying the same quality and quantity item for a higher price because they fail to compare prices.

● Buying what they don't need because their neighbour has it.

● Not saving small change and cutting 'little' unnecessary expenditure.

The end result is a wasting away of the precious money which ends up in the back of a garbage truck or someone else's pocket.

Failing to properly use our ability and talent is also a waste since we lose the chance to excel and fail to contribute to society and others. What a waste! Let's all do a personal waste audit and see if we are adding to the waste of resources in the areas of our time, money and talent and abilities. If so, let's cut back on the waste.

Ann Marie Rodriques

PeaceWater Services

Send questions or comments to peacewaterservices@yahoo.com or follow me on Twitter@PeaceWaters or https://twitter.com/PeaceWaters