How long will you put up with a minor inconvenience or annoyance?

United States
September 4, 2007 7:02pm CST
Do you let little problems mount up until they are one giant problem to deal with or do you handle them right away? How long do you put up with a minor annoyance before it gets on your nerves forcing you to handle it? Personally, I've been known to suffer through minor annoyances for weeks at a time, before they simply get too much to bear and become major pains. Pain is not a minor inconvenience for me and likely to take a high priority. But, everything else can wait. For instance, once I had a smudge on my computer screen and just didn't want to stop typing for four hours to wipe it off. So, instead I posted about it. That may have been my lowest point. I'm not likely to put up with money troubles, though, because they cause too much anxiety and stress in my household. But, I will put up with not having some basic necessities in my refrigerator like salt or bread. I can work around those things. And, even though they're vital for certain dishes, I can live without them. And, this morning, I put up with the annoying noise that the fan was making for at least half an hour, just so I didn't have to get out of bed. Eventually, I got up and fixed the problem, when I couldn't go back to sleep. Barking dogs and crying cats are another thing I can't usually ignore, so they get handled right away, too. I've found that most minor inconveniences and annoyances can be ignored though if you just wait long enough. So, that is my philosophy. If I can live without it or put up with it, however uncomfortably, I'll usually wait to take care of a minor inconvenience and just do without. At least until I can afford to do better. So how do you handle minor inconveniences?
7 responses
@maddysmommy (16230)
• United States
5 Sep 07
If the minor inconvenience is only that, minor, then I just live with it until its gone like e.g. the friends that stayed with us, his fiance kept harping on about how much weight I put on and that ticked me off! she even commented on sports shorts I was wearing when we went to play tennis, i mean it wasn't a fashion show i was going to, i was playing tennis GRRRR I dealt with it by ignoring her and waited till they moved out on Sunday. She was very rude in my eyes and inconsiderate. Just shows how immature she is for her age (28) and doesn't have a clue about respecting other people. We opened our home to them and in return she said some rude and snide marks and I hope I don't have to befriend her any time soon. I don't know what her motive was for doing that but I am glad they have their own home. I chose to ignore it because if I didn't it would of been very uneasy for them living in our home until they found their own place. Since they left I have not even bothered to talk to them!! They are my husbands friends and he can befriend them!
@maddysmommy (16230)
• United States
5 Sep 07
And because I got off subject, if there is something that needs fixing, I usually leave it until it starts to really bother me then I get it fixed. If its something that is not used often, then I leave it until we need it again. I too don't sweat the small stuff like I use to - its only when it bothers me more than often, then i do something about it.
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
27 Feb 08
I can ignore it for a short time but then it starts driving me nuts. If it's something I can't stop like a barking dog outside, I'll put on headphones and listen to something just to drown it out. If it's something I can stop I'll hunt it down and put a stop to it. **AT PEACE WITHIN** ~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
5 Sep 07
I don't put up with things well, so I usually try to fix the problem, move away from it, or get my husband to fix it.
@KrisNY (7590)
• United States
11 Sep 07
can put up with a lot of things for a while until they bother me to no end. I too would try to sleep with a fan that was making noise- but usually I get up and fix it- Money issues- I try to take care of right away if I can- otherwise I won’t spend money until it’s fixed- Some things I put off for a while just because I’m too lazy to deal with them- Cat that is meowing- hungry- when I get up I’ll feed you- lol
@miamilady (4910)
• United States
5 Sep 07
Oh, I could put up with a minor inconvenience for a LONG time. I'm not sure if it's because I'm lazy or because things just aren't THAT important to me. There's a book called Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (and it's all small stuff). I kind of follow that idea in my life. It isn't that I don't care about anything. I care about many things. Primarily, the well being of my children. But most of the day to day stuff, a burned out lightbulb, for example. Those things just aren't urgent to me. I get to them when I can. I think I can ignore a neighbors barking dog. Not much prevents me from sleeping when I'm tired. Now MY dog scratching at the back door. I can't seem to ignore her for too long. Shes pretty pushy and besides if I don't let her out, then the minor inconvenience of her going out would be replaced by a less minor inconvenience. I guess it's all relative. Which is the bigger inconvenience. That's how I prioritize.
@thefortunes (2367)
• Netherlands
5 Sep 07
Hi Beautyqueen26, I usually handle problems right away. It is because I know that other problems will come and than I wont be able to take care of all of these at once. Certain small things I can try to forget for a while but still, try not to do that too often.
@carlaabt (3504)
• United States
5 Sep 07
If it's something I can easily handle, I fix the problems right away. Like if I wake up in the middle of the night and have to go to the bathroom, I'm going to go. My husband just goes back to sleep, and ends up waking up again every 30 minutes to an hour. I would much rather just go than keep waking up with the same problem all night long! Same thing if I trip over a toy. I move it, if it is somewhere it doesn't belong and it's the middle of the night, I will just move it to right outside my son's room, so I don't wake him up. My husband will trip over it three or four times before he finally moves it. And by then, he's got the whole house awake and cranky! lol If it's finances, I figure out a way that we can take care of whatever needs to be taken care of. I tend to stock up on food (I like to keep at least a month's worth at all times, right now since I just went shopping, I probably have enough for 2 months). If something keeps up that we need, we can cut into our grocery budget some, as long as we leave enough to cover things like milk and cheese and bread. We can also cut into the savings we were going to be putting back that month, so we rarely have anything that we just don't know how we can pay. It's much easier having a plan for unexpected things.