Beware of Money Leaks

This post is not exactly about business topics or tactics although it most certainly does effect your business in a big way. This is something that happened to me over the weekend and although it really sucked, I’m also really glad that it happened.

On Saturday I was in the back of my house and I was planning on watering some plants and hosing some things down as well. On the side of the house is where I keep the hose. When I went to grab it I noticed that below the hose was a small puddle of water. I didn’t think too much about it because water collects there from time to time when I’m watering etc.

When I looked a little closer I realized that this water hadn’t come from the hose but was actually coming from under ground up through the cement. Needless to say I wasn’t happy. I’m certainly no plumber but I wanted to investigate the situation a bit further. I got a hammer and a screwdriver and started making a small hole where the water was seeping up. The pipe was only about 1/2″ below the concrete. I found it quickly. Sure enough, the pipe had a hole in it.

Just stay with me, I’ll get to what this has to do with money in a second .

It was obvious by the hole in the pipe that before laying the cement someone punctured the pipe and rather than fix it, they just poured cement over the top. I had already shut the water off to the house and I want to turn it back on to see how bad the leak was. Well the water shot up about 12 feet in the air like a small geyser. I couldn’t believe it, it was a huge leak.

I called the insurance company. I don’t know if any of you have ever called your insurance company about a situation like this, but it was the vaguest conversation I’ve ever had. They didn’t cover it because nothing was damaged inside of the house. Next I called my plumber. He came over to take a look and confirmed that yes there was leak and yes there was a hole in the pipe. My diagnosis was correct, I have more plumbing skills than I originally thought.

We made a deal that he would come over on Sunday and fix the leak. That meant that we had a night without water. That’s another story all by itself. When one of life’s basic necessities and the ease at which we receive it is cut off even for a short while, it changes your perspective on things.

Anyway, my plumber came over yesterday and fixed the leak. Now here’s the fun part.

The first shower that I took after the leak was fixed was different than any other had been since we moved in over 3 years ago. The water fresher was much, much higher. That means, that the leak was pouring out water underground for over 3 full years. It almost makes me sick to think how much water was wasted and how much money got leaked into that hole under ground. I’m sure it was thousands. ;-(

Now there was no way for us to know other than asking our neighbors what their monthly water bills were. We just assumed that our bill was what it was and  never second guessed. The house we moved into was a larger house and so we expected a larger bill.

I’m a believer in the concept that our outside surroundings are many times a reflection of what’s going on inside of us. If I believe that in this case, I’m actually very grateful. It means that some sort of leak, whether it be energy or money revealed itself and was stopped.

Again, we had no idea that the leak was there, but it was. Maybe we could have done some things to prevent all of the waste, I don’t know. The point is that it made me more aware that it’s possible to have these kinds of leaks in our lives and not even notice them because they are beneath the surface.

Do you have any leaks that you don’t know about?

Take some time to reflect on your life and see if you can find any areas where you might be leaking money or energy. If you don’t look you might miss it. We didn’t look and we did. Now it’s plugged up and so I’m sharing this with you in case you are leaking.

Hope this was insightful or helpful in some way.

Post a comment and tell me about any leaks that you may have experienced in your own life.