The chain cleaned regularly carries effort more easily than the rusty one does.

Neglect does not announce itself as a cost, it just makes everything slightly harder from then on. A chain left dirty takes a portion of every push you make afterwards, and because the loss is spread thinly you never notice the moment it began. Maintenance is unglamorous for exactly this reason: it prevents a problem you will therefore never experience.

Pick the thing you rely on most and give it fifteen minutes. A tool, a bike, a file that has gone messy, a relationship that has gone quiet. It is cheaper now than it will be after it has been ignored for another season.