Roscoe Car Wax Method
The Lens:
My car, a RAV4, hasn’t been washed in ages. Just ask my husband. He keeps telling me how dirty it is. I have never been one to keep up with the care of my vehicles, but certain factors have contributed to the current condition of my car.
One problem is the prices ballooned at the car wash where I used to take my car. I haven’t found another car wash (honestly, I haven’t really looked).
Another problem is I am pretty short. I need a stepladder to wash the top of the car. Even then, it is a huge stretch for me to get to the middle of the roof. We have an inclined driveway. I have decided I no longer want to climb up on a teetering stepladder.
If you think I just don’t want to wash the car anymore, that isn’t true. We have a Miata which I wash on occasion. It is tiny so no stepladder needed. (Another plus, is it takes a fraction of the time to wash than the RAV. But I digress.)
Our neighbor, on the other hand, is a bit more particular about the outward appearance of his vehicles. His cars are spotless. Years ago, I am talking at least 25 years ago, he had a Chevy van. Even at that time, the van was old. Still, it was in mint condition. It was his baby.
He was always washing and waxing it. With a good amount of surface area to cover, waxing it could take some time. He had what my husband and I came to call the “Roscoe method of car waxing.”
Think about how the Golden Gate Bridge is painted. It is not a start to finish project. It is ongoing, never really stops.
In the same way, this is how Roscoe would wax his van. He would apply wax to one area of his van at a time, maybe taking 10 minutes on a spot. Then a few days or more later, do the same thing in another spot. Until, after now much time I am not sure, the entire van had been waxed.
Of course, by that time, the spot he started with would need to be waxed again, so he would start the process over. There was no beginning or end to his waxing. It just kept on going.
The Refraction:
When was the last time you felt overwhelmed by a task?
My husband’s family is in one of those situations. His stepmother recently passed away. His father’s health is not great and he is experiencing some dementia. So, he is now in a board and care home where he can be looked after 24/7 and get the care he needs. That leaves their house vacant for now.
My husband’s father and mother bought the house in the late 1970s. His father remarried after his mom passed away. He and his second wife had lived there for nearly 40 years.
Have you ever had to clean out a house that someone has lived in for close to 50 years? When my mom moved out of her house, it had been her mother’s before hers, so it had been in her family in the neighborhood of 60 years. The amount of stuff accumulated was a jaw-dropping.
My father-in-law’s is about the same. It doesn’t look overwhelming until you start to think about what to do with all of the stuff.
We aren’t trying to clean out the house just yet. But, we would like to make it a little more usable for family who need a place to stay when they come to the City.
So, how does one tackle a project like this? Use the Roscoe method of car waxing. Don’t look at the entire project. Just look at one little piece at a time. Once that piece is finished, pick another piece to tackle.
When you think about it, you can apply the Roscoe method of car waxing to just about any task that is overwhelming. Don’t look at the entire project. Just look at one little piece at a time. Once that piece is finished, pick another piece to tackle.
As they say, slow and steady wins the race.