Cleaning the Bathroom

After returning home from school, I decided to finally clean both bathrooms. My incentive in cleaning the bathrooms was so that I can write an essay about it for Economics class, which I am writing right now. Of course, there is no need to write the essay at the moment, nor was there any need to clean the bathroom at that moment. I could well have decided to write the essay at some later date. My incentive in writing the essay at the moment is so that I can receive possible extra credit points on the test. As with any decision, there was an opportunity cost. Instead of spending this time writing the essay, I could spend it studying for a test, doing homework for other classes, sleeping, or a variety of other activities. However, after doing a cost-benefit analysis, and weighing the values of the different economic choices, I decided to write the essay (and clean the bathroom too). This is the basis for my economic decision.

Having decided to clean the bathroom, I began the task immediately. First, I had to obtain all the necessary resources, the tools needed to clean the bathroom. Those resources included a brush, soap, spray, and things of that nature. As I was looking for the resources, there appeared to have been a scarcity. I noticed that a necessary brush is missing, preventing me from doing the task. Therefore, I asked my mother for a brush, which she soon procured. Having obtained the brush, I immediately solved my scarcity problem. It was then that I truly began the task.

The first bathroom to clean was the downstairs bathroom, where I decided to tackle the more disgusting part of the bathroom first – the toilet. After putting my rubber gloves on and spraying the cleaner into the toilet bowl and on the seat as well, I started scrubbing the toilet with a brush. After having been satisfied, I flushed and set to work on the sink, which was much easier, and was already fairly clean to begin with. I simply sprayed the cleaner, and then rinsed the sink. To finish it, I mopped the floor. The downstairs bathroom is small, so there wasn’t very much to clean.

After the downstairs bathroom is the upstairs bathroom, which is significantly larger. I felt that I could not clean the whole bathroom by myself, since it would be too time consuming. After all, I still had homework to do, and I certainly did not plan on staying up all night to finish it. So, I came up with a plan. I called my brother over, and asked him if he would like to help me clean the bathroom. Being a shrewd businessman, he certainly would not agree if he did not gain some benefit. So, I proposed an offer to him: he would get five dollars if he helped. He attempted to bargain with me, but after realizing that it’s a take-it of leave-it deal, he ultimately accepted. There was an opportunity cost involved, for now I am five dollars poorer. To convince him to help, I had to give up that benefit I initially had. But, the tradeoff, or the value of the benefit I receive, is that I get an additional pair of helping hands, facilitating the completion of this task in a shorter amount of time. After another cost-benefit analysis, in which I determined that the benefits outweigh the costs, I made an economic decision by giving my brother the five dollars. On my part, it was a rational choice.