As Benjamin Franklin said, "Waste not, want not." I have always been a saver. I save in every way possible. I turn off the lights when no one is in a room. I save leftovers, freeze them and use at a later date; I save old clothes thinking I'll use them sometime, old shoes, old dishes, old books, magazines, anything that might have any value; I save it. I never walk by a penny on the ground that I do not stoop and pick it up.
Like Ben said, "A penny saved is a penny earned." 
I even save steps. Yes, that's right. I plan my steps and save as many as I can. It's all the time management skills I've been taught. When you are a busy Realtor and Mom and wife, you learn to manage time and steps.
So waste is not something I like or even tolerate. Today, I was grieved by the waste that occurred while I was canceling an insurance policy on a home I sold. It was a simple thing for the insurance company to fax a one page form for me to sign and fax back. I did it immediately, took the copy and filed it and was finished with this one, I thought.
About 20 minutes later, here comes the exact same form over my fax again. I wondered why they were sending it to me again. Maybe they did not receive the signed copy I sent back. I called and talking to the receptionist, she informed me the lady I needed to speak with had left for the day. She was nice enough to go check on this herself. A few minutes later, she returned. Yes, they had received the signed copy and all was well. I thanked her for checking and said goodbye.
I stood there and wondered how much this simple mistake had cost. There was the extra paper in the fax machine, the ink, the long distance telephone charge and the receptionists' and my time. I thought how many times a day this sort of thing happens in every office around the country. What if we could just stop simple mistakes like this. We would save millions of dollars every year.
Efficiency saves and lack of efficiency costs lots of money. It may only be a penny or two, or a dollar or two but it adds up. It is amazing how much a few dollars a day times 30 days a month times 12 months a year times 40 years can be. It could be your retirement or your kids college.
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Ricki, I was raised with parents who grew up during the depression and they taught me to shake the ketchup bottle with a little water in it to use all the ketchup (lol). Since gas has become so expensive I have also become better about grouping my trips. I get my hair cut on the same day I have a business women's meeting. I'm better at it that my husband. He picked up a small pack of blueberries at the store and I said "I sure hope those aren't $5.00". We get to the check out and sure enough they were $5,00. We didn't buy them. I don't pick them up without checking the price, he is learning.