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The Folly of Frugality

There are people my age who still have at least one living parent.  Had my mother lived past the age of 92, she would today be 105.  Had my father lived past the age of 73, he would be 108.

Well, that doesn't make objective sense, but you know what I mean.

I had older parents although I didn't notice at the time because all parents were old then.  My point started out to be that my parents were just coming into adulthood during the great depression and they were tremendously affected by it. Habits of frugality got handed down.

I don't leave lights on. I try not to waste food. I repair and reuse before I replace. So . . . in my shower this morning, I was determined to use that last little bit of shampoo.  I put water in and shook it, poured out the watery shampoo and suds up my head.

Then I decided to turn around and put the shampoo bottle on the back edge of the tub so I would remember to put in the recycle bin. I had to bend over a bit to place it on the tub rim and some got in my eyes. I whipped myself around to get my face under the shower water. My foot slipped. I reached for the grab bar which I couldn't actually see because of my stinging eyeballs. I found it but wrenched my back a little in the process.

I didn't really hurt myself. I thank my yoga practice for what strength and balance I may have. But the experience did make me contemplate the wisdom of a fraction of a penny's worth of shampoo versus the costs of medical care today.

And let's not even contemplate the scenario of falling, knocking myself out, drowning in the shower or, worse yet, having to be rescued while naked on the tub floor.


Stay safe and VOTE if you haven't yet.

Comments

  1. I have a separate shower and I just toss that plastic bottle over the shower door unto the bathroom floor to be retrieved and thrown out when I am all done. Stay safe!!

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  2. sorry for the accident. I'm a bad person for kinda chuckling a little, but you wrote about it so funny (intentionally or not.) Oh well, I own my evil. (and do the same things you do.)

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  3. Okay I am sorry I laughed at your expense/ accident, but you did make it funny.
    I'm sure you read how I broke my nose in a tub so I understand this all too well. And I was only 28!
    I had those parents too and my husband was very poor growing up so he is that way about things as well. Sometimes the soap is a sliver and I will say, get a new bar. He does finally and then sticks the sliver to the new bar and it will adhere. The man won't waste a thing! I get it and there are worse things in life right? :-)

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  4. Haha. God forbid if the paramedics find me naked in the shower. Hoo boy.

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  5. Bathtubs have become a very scary place. I don't think my parents were that frugal but I have become a Frugal person. My grandmother was probably the big influence. She wasn't really Frugal per se but very practical. So that's how I see myself practical and frugal. Makes sense to me except if you end up in a hospital bed to save the drippings from a bottle of shampoo.

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  6. So glad it didn't turn out too serious and I too have that fear of being found in the tub unconscious. As for people chuckling, that is a good sign. You told it well but it also means you are young enough for people to laugh. It is a sign you are old if no one laughs when you fall.

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  7. Hope it's OK that I laughed.
    Yep, safety first, thrifty when reasonable. Like Tabor, I do not shower in a tub. Shower stalls are much easier.

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  8. Whew, glad you're okay! I totally agree that reuse and recycle are good habits. But there's the law of diminishing returns. Don't risk major problem to save a little drop of ... anything. "Course, easier said than done. Just ... be careful!

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  9. Thank goodness you didn't get hurt. Showers become dangerous places as we get older.

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  10. I fear having to call 911 for help and having the rescuers find me without my wig on.

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  11. I was adopted when my parents were in their 30s. They died when they were 81.

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