I Can Do Without A lot of Things, But, Will Someone Please Send Me Some Tabasco?

“The sky is falling.”

That’s what Chicken Little cried all too often.

The sky will fall if you don’t have some skills.

I thought the sky was falling because we ran out of Tabasco this morning. I like a little spice in my life, and I can do without a whole lot of things, but I really enjoy this pleasure. We’ll come back to this later, and I’d like you to think about one pleasure you’d prefer to not do without.

Post-Grad Survival Guide skills. School used to teach valuable life skills like:

• Managing money
• Living on a budget
• Balancing a checkbook
• Cooking/sewing/building/setting up shop

Managing money

I remember going through a basic economics class. From a business sense, we learned how to manage money. We couldn’t spend more than we had in our pockets, I mean wallets. We had to function on what we had available to us. Credit was not available.

Sure, It was a class project and it taught us to work together and come to a consensus before anyone made purchasing decisions.

Then the professor flipped the tables on us and mentioned that these steps are necessary for personal finances too.

Living on a budget

Easy; right?

Just don’t spend more than you make. Right after graduation you probably want to celebrate a little and experience pleasure for all the hard work it took to get that degree. He cautioned us not to overspend and not to take on too much debt.

In your first job, from the very first day, he suggested that we make a contribution to a 401(K) with every paycheck. If you do this from day one, even when it’s difficult, you will always have a built-in savings plan. You will retire a millionaire. He broke down the numbers on the chalkboard. Simple math.

Balancing a checkbook

I’m not sure this is taught in school anymore. I couldn’t graduate until I had learned how to balance the checkbook. Am I alone in this? Completely dated and unrelatable?

SIDE NOTE: While writing, I looked up “unrelatable” to see if it is a real word. It IS a word, and it was used in the 1900s, but its usage has tapered off since then. I guess I am older than I thought. Unrelatable? You decide.

Home economics

We went through basic home economics which had nothing to do with money. We learned how to cook, clean up after ourselves, how to sew something basic, and how to construct basic household things. Basic steps to set up shop, I mean house, were instilled.

At some point you’ll set up shop so you need some basic skills.

Some things aren’t, but should be taught in school, like:

• The art of communication
• Time management
• Raising pets and kids

Communication

Communication is a life skill. We need to know how to communicate with each other in positive ways. There’s the sender, the receiver, the message, and how it’s received. It’s also about what happens when miscommunication takes place.

There’s also the value of how to recover when miscommunication happens, how to listen without listening to respond, and developing EQ or Emotional Intelligence.

Time management

“Begin with the end in mind,” — Franklin Covey

Genius; don’t you think?

If you begin with the important things they always get accomplished. Do the big things first so they don’t get crowded out by distractions. A to-do list can get overwhelming. Don’t include everything that needs to be done. Keep it simple. Start with three things to accomplish today and celebrate the success of completing them.

Raising pets/kids

Raising pets and kids is similar. Sometimes kids are animals.

*Insert chuckles here*

Someone once told me:

If you can keep a pet alive, healthy, and happy for two years, then you are ready for kids.

Both pets and kids will change your life. Mostly for good. In school, we had to care for an egg for a week without breaking it. It had to go everywhere with us. If we succeeded we passed. Practice, if you must, but nothing will prepare you for the real life change.

Unnecessary, but necessary

A good tool belt can, and probably should, hold something you don’t necessarily need.

What do you need that isn’t essential? For me, it’s Tabasco sauce. As you can see we ran out of Tabasco this morning. What’s a girl to do?

We’re backpacking across Spain and we’ve learned to do without a lot of things.

We’re all carrying the load. My husband and I carry most everything. The clothes, the electronics. The oldest carries a few incidentals, The youngest manages to carry her lovie, well most of the time. We’ve learned to do without a lot of things.

We’re living with only things we can carry. Recently we hiked El Camino de Santiago with our girls. We even received our credentials. The degree, if you will, for completing more than 100 kilometers in succession without a break. (See pic of the degree in the responses). We’ve done without:

• Clothes
• Cars
• Makeup
• The family dog

As we finished hiking we all wanted something we hadn’t had in over a month. For me, it was Tabasco. This bottle of Tabasco came with me in my backpack from Santiago and now it’s empty.

It can’t be found in supermarkets, or I don’t know where to look. The local guy selling produce and fruit doesn’t carry Tabasco. It’s not even at the Walmart version of a big box store, Alcampo, at least not that we can find.

Tabasco contains capsaicin and has unmistakable health benefits:

• May help prevent cancer
• Is a natural pain reliever
• Reduces headaches
• Helps with weight loss
• Treats psoriasis

It has benefits, but I really like it for the spice. I need some spice in my life.

Will someone please send me some Tabasco?

What’s one thing you need to prevent the sky from falling?