The Watered-Down Approach: Making Less More

I would hope that out of all the places that I would tune down my willingness to observe, it would be a public men's restroom. However, today I was at the sink and tapped the soap dispenser, and instead of the thick, soap-like goo that usually comes out, out came some half-soap, half-water diluted solution. I thought to myself: Those cheapos. Now they're watering down the soap.

Then I realized that we all do this. You know what I'm talking about. You get in the shower and realize that you're getting low on shower gel or shampoo. What do you do? Screw off the top and put some water in there. You've just transformed your two-day's worth of remaining shower gel into at least ten-day's worth. The same goes for dish soap -- in college I witnessed a bottle of Dawn last for at least a year -- and any number of other liquids. Efficiency? Laziness? Good hygiene exchanged for frugality? Tomato, Tomahto.

Chris Rock pointed out that his parents did it: When I was a kid, we didn't have no insurance. All we had was Robitussin. My parents thought " 'tussin" could fix anything. "Daddy, I got a cold" "Drink some 'tussin, boy" "Daddy, I broke my leg" "Pour some 'tussin on that bone, boy...let it work its way down to the bone, it'll set it straight...What? We're almost out of 'tussin?? Pour some water in the bottle, shake it up! Mo' 'tussin! Mo' 'tussin!" (the italics used to indicate Chris' monologue were not used because he was yelling, but to more clearly illustrate his shrill, high-pitched voice ringing in your ears.)

I suppose the only time I'll really feel this approach is worth it is when I can work a watered-down gasoline situation; you know, 50% water (free), 50% gasoline ($3+/gallon)...you know, without the whole ruin your engine part of it. Then we'd be sticking it to OPEC.