Upkeep, The Essential Concept in Life Design

It’s easy to acquire stuff in the developed and developing world.

However, there is another part of that stuff that you may not be giving a conscious thought to. Once you own something, or pay for a renewable service, there is another burden that must be dealt with: the upkeep of a service or the thing you own. By upkeep, I mean a maintenance cost. Nothing more, nothing less.

The Collectible Card Game Analogy

Keeping with the collectible card game analogy from the last post, I’m going to use an example from Magic: The Gathering because it’s the collectible card game I’m most familiar with and best exemplifies what upkeep is.

In “Magic”, most cards have no upkeep costs; once they are brought into existence within the game they remain there until something happens to them. However, certain cards require upkeep in order for their effects to remain in the game. For instance, the Breeding Pit card requires two black-colored resources every turn in order for a creature to appear at the end of the turn. If that cost isn’t paid, Breeding Pit disappears and creatures no longer appear. There are many other examples than this one, some of which have quite insidious upkeep costs, but I just wanted to share this one as an example as it’s easy to understand.

The concept of upkeep cost in “Magic” doesn’t mean anything in of itself until we look at the sequence of play for a player turn:

1. Reset all resources (known as “untapping” in the game lingo)
2. Upkeep: determine and pay for all resources necessary for the current turn
3. Draw resources from a face-down deck
4. Main phase: Implement resources and execute your strategy in order to defeat your opponent(s)
5. Declare the end of your turn

A quick analysis of the turn sequence above leads to an obvious yet important discovery: a card deck that requires more resources devoted to upkeep costs may constrain the possibilities later on in the turn. That card you just drew that will defeat your opponent may not be able to be placed into play right away (or ever) if all of your resources are spent in maintenance. Stated another way, if you’re spending all of your efforts trying to maintain the status quo, your future is likely to be static as well.

Upkeep In The Real World

Turning away from the game world, upkeep is a significant part of everyone’s life. Upkeep can require any of the following resources:

• Money
• Time
• Mental/Emotional/Psychological Effort
• Space
• Energy

There are obvious examples of upkeep and some that aren’t as apparent.

• Food and shelter. We must eat and drink, and unless you enjoy living on the street, paying for shelter is a must regardless if it is rented or owned.
• Services. The cell phone itself may be cheap, or even free, but typically you must agree to pay a certain amount every month for the service as part of a contract. To break the contract usually requires a cost as well.
• Transportation. A car requires gasoline, insurance for the drivers, registration costs, and regular maintenance costs at a minimum. Bus ridership requires less money but may require more of an investment in time to get to destinations. Walking is free but can be a huge time investment depending on how much you need to walk to get to places. What level of upkeep do you want to pay for your physical mobility?
• Repeated Purchases. Upkeep isn’t limited to the essentials. If you regularly spend $40 per month on alcohol, makeup, tea, or something else, that is a more subtle form of upkeep. It’s maintenance on a lifestyle.
• Exercise Regimens. You must spend time exercising regularly, otherwise the benefits are lost.
• Organizations. If you belong to an organization like Toastmasters, it may require a monetary investment and/or a time investment. The same goes with some volunteering organizations – there may not be a monetary cost but they may require some of your time.
• Credit and Debt. The most recent financial crisis has made people much more aware of their debts to others. Debts require upkeep in the form of repayment. Too much debt and not being able to pay the upkeep or repayment cost has led to undesirable consequences (e.g. foreclosure, repossession, and bankruptcy).
• Physical Goods. All physical goods require some sort of space for them to exist. The more physical goods you have, the more space and containers are required to store them.
• Other People. If you have friends, family or co-workers that are a “drain” on you, that’s another form of upkeep. For example, you may have to take care of Uncle Harry because he sadly can’t remember what he’s done, or you have friends who are a bad influence on you. You may have to spend time, money or mental “resources” to be with them.

This is not to say that we need to wage war on upkeep at all costs. Upkeep may be the price to pay for a significant upside. For example, there are certainly benefits from the time I spend in my meditation and yoga practice; I’m much more at peace and my physical and mental flexibility have increased significantly. By most accounts people state they are better off with a roof over their heads versus without. Most people also state that their children are something they would never give up, even though they cost a lot of money and require a lot of emotional and time expenditures. I’m not asking you to be a monk or an ascetic unless that calls to you; instead I’m asking you to be more aware of what you’re keeping up in your life.

Action of the Week

This leads to the action of the week that I encourage you to take on.

The best way to deal with upkeep is to be aware of it in whatever form it takes, and to consciously choose which things to keep and which ones to let go of. Take a look at your life and note what upkeep costs you are paying and what you are getting back by paying them. It could be beneficial (like rent), or it could be detrimental (a pack of cigarettes a day).

As a bonus, if you can make a list of things you want to stop paying upkeep on, feel free to do so. Then take action on that list. You still have to hold your agreements unless you renegotiate them or honor their termination costs, but in a lot of cases there is no cost in money, time or otherwise.

What you keep up goes a long way to describing who you are.

Photo credit: beadmobile