Frugality Doesn't Come Cheap

[nakednatalie]

Frugality Doesn't Come Cheap
I am cheap. When shopping for items such as... let's say toothpaste, I scan the prices, choosing the lowest and then looking on the shelf above to see where my brand loyalty lies this week. It normally turns out to be UltraBrite, which is just fine with me. I squeeze the tube, it oozes out and remains on the brush as it

Comments

[robinskij]

I totally agree, especially about the swabs.

Once in college, my best friend and her boyfriend were making a run to the drugstore and asked if I wanted anything and I asked for qtips. They brought me back some generic ones which were made out of blue plastic tubes (which were apparently sharpened to a rapier point on the end) and about 1 micron thickness of VERY tightly wound cotton.

They said, "but they were cheaper!" yeah, I know I was in college and all, but you know, I kind of like having ears, most of the time, and didn't especially want to gouge mine out with bad q tips. Heh.

I like my thick and fluffy!

[nakednatalie]

Yeah!

[thetar]

ha. you even took the pic!

[nakednatalie]

I must confess I did have to do a bit of staging. There were a couple of superfluous items on the table that I had to remove, and I added the toothpaste for effect, but the rest of the things were just like that for the most part.

[zitronenhai]

You are absolutely right on all counts about the cotton swabs!

There are a few things that I refuse to scrimp on, no matter my financial situation. Shoes. Bad shoes can ruin your feet, and that's a chance I'm not willing to take. Shampoo and conditioner, because salon litres actually *do* last longer and cost less in the long run than premium store brands. Cotton swabs, for all of the reasons you state, razors, too. My thing on razors is that I feel guilty putting sharp, soon-to-be rusty things into landfills. I am really sparing with razors. The husband is all hooked up with an electric shaver and I use a Venus razor, and not daily.

There are many areas in which one really does get what one pays for.

[nakednatalie]

I do confess to buying cheap shoes. That's not to say I buy a bunch of crappy "pleather", but I will pick up some walmart sandals on occasion. But I have SO many pairs of shoes that I might only wear the non-everyday ones a few times a season, so not much damage can be done.

I also feel badly for using disposable razors, which is why I just can't bring myself to chuck all those unused ones. I have a lineup of razors. The newest ones are used for the "bikini" area, then after a while, they get demoted to "legs-and-pits" until finally I chuck it out.

[awesomeagent]

its funny... when I moved out on my own I had NO IDEA what things should cost... I was amazed that a tube of toothpase was SOOO CHEAP! and things like sugar.... it's a dollar! WOW, what a deal! (I have had the same sugar for 4 years...never actually USE it-I throw it away when I move and buy another package for the one tablespoon that I use every year)

BUT, it still brings me to tears when I have to buy new blades for my mach3 razor.... and i think toilet paper and paper towel is such a rip-off as well.... if you don't buy the dollar store stuff.... which is HORRIBLE.

[nakednatalie]

haha, that's funny.

We don't use sugar either, but sometimes I just want a big bowl of Cheerios with a gobs and gobs of sugar dumped in so that it creates a sugar quicksand in the bottom of the bowl.

Yes! TP and paper towels! That's another thing! In fact, I thought of TP when itemizing the things I'd cover in my little "piece" but I didn't get to it. If you buy that cheap junk, one roll will last for maybe three days. I get the Super-Mega-Big-Ass rolls and those suckers last forEVER. Same with paper towels.

[ihave_themoon]

ive been using cheapo german and austrian toothpaste for over 6 months now. my current brand is called "dr. best" and i cant read one word on the package. i like it because their toothpaste is exactly that. PASTE. i hate the gel toothpastes here, green, blue, full or sparkles and bits of mouthwash strips. bleh. give me old fashioned dr. best.

[nakednatalie]

I agree about the paste. Gel is awful. Ultrabrite is a paste. And they have all the other stuff like tartar control/baking soda/peroxide/whitening. And it tastes just as good, so I don't see the difference between it and all that other glorified crap.

I would SO buy weird foreign toothpaste. That sounds like fun. :o)

[ihave_themoon]

when i run out of dr best and blendamed i will go for ultrbrite!!!

[nakednatalie]

It's easy to find. I get it at Target and Walmart. Target only carries the whitening, but I think Walmart has the baking soda/peroxide kind.