“CHEAP”

“SKINFLINT”

(Save flint shavings)

“SQUEEZE A NICKEL UNTIL IT CRAPS!”

  (Reference to old style Buffalo Head Nickels and holding on to them so tight they…..well, you know the variations.)

JUST OLD TIME DEROGATORY TERMS FOR MODERN COMMON SENSE CONSERVATION?

 

While showering this morning I had a realization of how a common practice integrated into my life (for various things),  had been skillfully taught by my Father whose “trick” had been INSPIRED from his living formative years during the Great Depression when millions of Americans desperately wanted for almost everything.

I recall this simple procedure started for me back in the sixties when my brother and I were deemed old enough to “make” our own breakfast orange juice without adult supervision – but with permission naturally.  Of course this milestone of maturation may have also doubled as a form of temporary child distraction to insure some limited (and valuable) “parental privacy” that was rapidly disappearing like……, well, orange juice.   My brother gave Dad’s eulogy during which he humorously noted how Dad had returned from TDY (Tempory Duty – often extended periods of time when the aircraft was  away from home base) and had a sort of TREASURER HUNT set up for us – how a certain amount of money – made up of various denominations of coins (both my brother and I collected coins when younger) – had been placed in a certain area for us to find –  kind of like an Easter Egg hunt….. [UPDATE @ 1900hrs:  didn’t recall for sure when first posted but Mom confirmed….as my brother had said…..the coins were actually tossed in a snowbank in Grand Forks North Dakota upon Dad’s return!   LOL!] – however, in this “returning from TDY reality” there was not quite the “total amount of treasure” as previously understood which naturally kept the two of us preoccupied trying to locate the remainder while Mom and Dad could privately discuss everything that had transpired while separated.

Find a couple….do another count.

Find a few more…do another count….”What’s missing?”  Do some math…..

“Keep looking!  ….. They’ve got to around here here somewhere!”

lol

“Anything valuable requires protection”

Yup, what a modern and convenient miracle concentrated orange juice was back then without having to cut oranges in half, place them on the “juicer”, pressing and twisting down on the halves with juice, pulp, and seeds squirting and popping out all over the place…especially your eyes!

How could concentrated frozen orange juice in a can possibly be made any better?   Well, Dad had a secret to share with us boys regarding his tried and true recipe:

when such containers instructed add “three cans cold water” to that “glob” of previously frozen concentrated product, 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 cans of water could easily be added without noticeable decrease in consistency or flavor.  

And like magic an “extra” glass or so of orange juice could be created with every can of prepared concentrated juice!   Naturally, subsequent child conducted experiments to increase production of “extra juice” failed because like so many things in life there is a natural and definitive “sweet spot” and regarding concentrated orange juice that spot was a mixture of between 3-1/2  to 4-1/2 cans of water (depending upon the manufacturer) – otherwise the taste and appearance of “too watered-down orange juice” resulted.  (As I recall Mom wasn’t wild about the added water recipe but reluctantly went along with the concept – perhaps a result of acknowledging the benefit of having kids also preoccupied with the correct mixture of their breakfast juice as in their searching for treasurer?)

So why did I think of this orange juice recipe while in the shower this morning?

(NO, not the obvious humorous possibility…..

Morning…..?  Fluids?   Orange juice?  Shower drain?—Lazy…?  Pressure…?    

never mind.)

So why did I think of this orange juice recipe in the shower this morning?

Because I have been using the same “almost empty” shampoo container for about a month now without any negative effects – still have plenty of suds, cleansing capability, and a lasting scent just by adding a little water to the bottle after each use.

Just a habit.

So while adding a little water to the shampoo bottle this morning I laughingly muttered to myself and companion

(who was outside the stall patiently waiting for her traditional licking of the shower floor routine)

“what a cheap bastard” –

yet, simultaneously appreciating the fact I was actually sensibly conserving, smiled, looked up and said,

“Thanks Dad”

All a matter of perspective I imagine.

 

 

My best to you and yours, Lew

 

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Then for some reason felt the urge to share.  Go figure.