Yesterday’s post got me thinking a lot about the amount of time and effort it takes to live a frugal lifestyle. In fact, last night I tried to create a list of the ways one can be both frugal and lazy. I have to admit that my list didn’t grow very long. In fact, in my world frugality often takes a lot of patience and planning.
But last night I encountered an easy example of frugality and laziness. As I was washing sheets and towels I ran out of laundry detergent. When I say ran out, I mean I held the bottle upside down over the washing machine and waited a full sixty seconds for the last drip to drop out. There was detergent in the closet downstairs, a large bottle of Tide I purchased on sale with coupons, but it was a full twenty steps away. In an effort to squeeze out suds for a few more loads of laundry I filled the plastic jug with water, tightened the lid, and shook with all my might. Of course, a ton of watered-down soap poured into the washer.
Now I’m not new to this trick by any means. Any underfunded college student will tell you to squeeze the last bits of soap, detergent, dish washing liquid and shampoo by using the old water in the bottle trick. But this simple act demonstrates that some frugal actions become second nature. They become such a part of your lifestyle that you can’t imagine not doing them. In fact I can’t remember the last time I threw out a bottle of soap without pouring water into the bottle.