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Work Must Be Economical

Work is sensible only if it is economically viable. The simplest of the kitchen chores often result in —

• using more resources than the output.
• using more energy than what is actually required.
• increasing the health risk involved to the worker.

Every work requires some energy and resources, and also poses some health risks. One must consider the risk-reward proposition before attempting any work. Here are some examples.

Frequent Bending

Some people cannot stand a speck of dust, a strand of hair or a clump of dirt on the floor. They bend down and pick them up every time they see such a thing — and that's several times a day. For a young person, this isn't much of a trouble. But for an elderly person such as an ageing housewife, constant bending is medically not advised.

Bending to clean up such undesirables frequently isn't worth the injury risk it poses. Your back is much more worth than a clean floor. Either keep a tall broom handy for such frequent cleaning or wait till you broom it again in the evening or next morning. Stop succumbing to your psychological impulses.

Drying Utensils Outside

Another example is the drying of washed utensils out in the sun for quicker drying — a practice that is prevalent among certain ethnicities in the east. The dried utensils are then taken back to the kitchen and used. However, this practice exposes washed utensils to the outside elements such as dust and insects.

While most people put the utensils in a basket, take it out and lay it there to dry the utensils, some prefer to lay the utensils individually out there in the sun. Then they are either stacked one after another or put in the basket and brought back to the kitchen. This makes things even worse since now the inside of a utensil is in contact with the outside of the other on which it was laid to dry.

In short, these utensils are now more dirtier or contaminated than when it was put for drying. The economics doesn't work out well.

A Tankful Water

A third example is people rushing to switch off their water motors when their water tank starts overflowing. When you run and switch off the water motor, you save only few seconds of electricity and some water. The energy you spend running may perhaps be more than the energy in those few seconds of electricity; and the water would be hardly a bucket considering that most homes use approximately a 1hp motor.

Even if this is wrong, there is a risk of injury involved in the rush which could cost you more time, money and pain than few seconds of electricity or a bucket of water. The probability of injury is extremely low with young people, but high with the elderly since their musculoskeletal system is weaker and they are likely to fall when rushing.

The risk reward proposition isn't attractive. Few seconds of electricity and your health isn't worth the (small and high) risk of severe injury.

That doesn't mean that resources must be wasted. The value of water and electricity would be high in certain places like a city. The idea is that the methods of conservation must be economical and healthy. In our context, either stay near the switch till the water is filled (the stupid way), or be smarter and figure out the time required to fill the tank and use a timer next time, or also consider putting the overflowing water to some use as a contingency plan.

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