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Health & Fitness

Convenience For Convenience's Sake

Cutting corners can be expensive but worth it

There’s no doubt that all of us lead busy lives. The rigors of our jobs and family life unfortunately come with a price. . .not having any time to one’s self. For those of us who’ve been in the rat race for the last twenty years or so, we’ll do anything to try and eke out those last few minutes for ourselves. 

So when Friday night rolls around and the family breadwinners drag themselves from their cars into their homes for dinner, it would make perfect sense that, for the sake of convenience, a night out with the kids would make perfect sense. No cooking, no cleaning. . .just dinner without all the fuss afterwards. 

Convenience has been around for a long time, but its place in the world didn’t really take hold until after World War II, when the baby boomer generation began. The fast food industry was borne out of convenience. Imagine going to a restaurant, ordering a meal in under a few minutes, and then continuing on with one’s busy day. 

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Convenience has also spawned other businesses as well. Barber shops and beauty parlors became unisex styling salons, gas stations turned into mini-marts, and the corner food stores evolved into shopping centers that carry everything from cookware to books to compact discs and DVD’s. Some of them even have their own buffet-style restaurants built into them so you can eat a meal while you shop. 

As long as you can do many things at once or not do anything at all, you can thank convenience for all of that. In my family, it isn’t unusual for the missus and me to go out for dinner two times a week, sometimes three times. For example, after a long hard day of work on Thursday when she works from 7:30 in the morning until 5:30 at night, my wife is just too tired to cook a meal for us. So, for the sake of convenience, it’s either a night out at one of the great local restaurants around the Jersey Shore, or eat soup and a sandwich prepared for by yours truly. 

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There is a down side to convenience that we all need to be mindful of. Most of the time, convenience costs money. Yes, we pay for convenience. The dinner you buy instead of eating at home is probably above and beyond what you may have allotted for your family’s food bill. The hair cut you’re getting nowadays is more expensive, because instead of just a haircut, you’re getting it shampooed, moussed, and blow-dried. And the food that you’re buying in that shopping center is more expensive to make up for the additional shelf space needed to display every item for sale.

We used to eat out about five or six times a week until we realized that our reliance on convenience was taking a toll on our bank account faster than we wanted. So we cut back to around two times a week, and by doing so, we're saving a little bit more each month in the process. 

Even the convenience of purchasing things on the Internet is questionable. You can buy clothes from many websites, but you can’t try them on beforehand, so you risk having to return those items until you get it right, which means additional shipping and restocking costs. Then there’s the security issue. Are the websites you purchase things from secure enough so that your banking information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands? 

I guess the worth of convenience is based on each person’s feelings and whatever the situation is. For some, it’s become almost second nature to do things out of convenience -- paying extra for something to save time. For others, it’s something that’s not a priority in their life. Time is theirs to be used while not trying to jam everything into a fraction of it. 

Now if you’ll all excuse me. . .the missus and I have a date tonight at one of our favorite Italian restaurants. Writing this blog took a lot out of me. 

(The entire Jersey Shore Retro Blogography can be found at http://longbranch.patch.com/blogs/kevin-cieris-blog .You can also follow Kevin Cieri's blog on his Facebook page, "Jersey Shore Retro" as well as on Twitter @jsretro).

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