Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Got To Make The Toothpaste Last

Francine and I are frugal by nature. We've always tried to stretch our incoming funds as far as possible. It's not as bad as those “dry toast” weeks we had when we were living in Ottawa and both working at really low paying retail jobs and barely making the rent. But we have found similar ways to cut costs trying to survive on a single income -- despite the frustration of constantly doing creative budgeting, we both feel strongly that it’s important for one of us to stay home with Alexander while he’s so young.

Payday is tomorrow, and I can’t wait, because we get to buy a new tube of toothpaste. We've been squeezing this same poor tube so thin for several weeks that I've got blisters on my fingers.

It reminds me of this old Canadian saying about someone who is overly tight or frugal: "He's so tight he'll squeeze a nickel until the beaver shits." (I suppose it's funny if you're familiar with the beaver version of the nickel -- yes, here in Canada there's no President or Prime Minister on our money. On one side it's an animal and on the other the Queen. "God save the caribou" is printed in a tiny font on our Quarter.

It could be worse, I suppose, we could be taking the old 6 month old Arm & Hammer Baking Soda out of the freezer and brushing our teeth with that. Yum, old freezer taste flavour. Much better than freshmint. And we haven't yet gotten to the point where we usually cut the tube of toothpaste in half and then swish our toothbrushes around inside the tube to get the very last bits of toothpaste out of it.

But tomorrow is payday. We get to splurge and buy a brand new tube of toothpaste. Woo hoo! Until then, there'll still be lots of beaver shitting and caribou shitting in our house. (See, I stuck to the high ground and didn't say we'd squeeze our change so hard that we'd make the Queen shit. That'd just be crude)

5 comments:

lime said...

in the states we squeeze a nickel till the buffalo shits and pinch pennies til old abe screams.

i too am an expert as squeezing every last remnant of tubed paste, moistirizer, shampoo, or whatever other cream is contained. also, mr. lime nearly divorced me early on for putting a few drips of water in the ketchup bottle to get the last bits out. lol

so great that you and francine are committed to someone being home for alexander. we've done the same abd i am so very glad we did.

btw, can't wait to read your first job post. tyvm for such kind flattery:)

WestDoor said...

Ok, squeezing the Queen till she...ehmm...deficates...that's just not nice now.....that'd be interesting...but not nice.
I'd like to say that it's God Save the Animals. We're quite attached to them. The Loon, Cariboo, Beaver, Sail Boat, Maple Leaf, BAH I forgot what's on the Toonie, they should have a pair of Loons.....but that's a Loonie, so I think it should be a Toon of some sort.....
Toothpaste squeezing eh? eh? eh eh eh? I only buy toothpaste when it's on sale, like the 35 cents a tube....I stock up then..it's only once or twice a year. Or I just bum it off the dentist (hail to company benefits)

lecram sinun said...

I bought a new tube of toothpaste just yesterday!

O.K. now I can't get rid of the image of the Queen taking a dump. What happens after that? A royal flush? LOL!

Anonymous said...

LMAO, well Mark I can relate to this. By the way, could you update your link to me. I moved long ago and for some reason during my move, I lost your blog link. LOL

I found you through technorati.com. What do you say to being blogging friends? LOL

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

Been there...done that too.

My daughter stayed at home with her son and yesterday at 19 he moved to his first rental house. A job well done, but there is no retirement pay. I'm wondering if she will go out and try for a new career now that she's in her 40's.