When squeezing wont help...

A few days ago, I watched a Youtube video on skin-care, where the woman advised cutting open a tube of moisturizer after you think it's over, to "scrape" a bit more of what's left. I must admit that I did think of such advice condescendingly, until one day I ran out of my face-wash. No amount of squeezing could get anything out of the tube, and not cleansing before my nightly skin-care routine is a complete no-no. So out of sheer desperation (and laziness to make a drugstore run) I decided to give cutting open the tube a try. And lo! Guess what I found?! More than 10-15% of the product. Right there in the tube. Thats at least 10% of my money that I did not see was there! And to think that year after year I've thrown this stuff away! What a criminal waste!

I cannot imagine why product companies wouldn't package their stuff in such a way that all of what was purchased could actually be used. Wouldn't that be a win-win situation for both the producer as well as the consumers? Or is there some evil marketing strategy behind this? It also occurred to me that perhaps beauty product companies are the worst culprits! I walk into the kitchen and I don't see wasteful packaging for my cooking oil, salt, yogurt, dishwashing liquid, detergent, etc. But my face wash, moisturizer, shampoo, hair gel, face mask, body lotion containers are all designed to waste.

What's worse is that not only is the consumer losing all this money, but it's just a terrible waste of resources. And if you interpolate, it's not just the resources sitting in that container either. I live in New York, where everything can be found within 10 metres and can be reached by walking, but imagine living in almost any other town in the US. Every time a woman runs out of her favorite face wash or shampoor or such, she gets into a car and drives at least a mile to the nearest drugstore/mall to get another one. So in say every 10-11 such visits, she could easily be making one unnecessary one where she's wasting fuel, and perhaps a plastic bag or two, in addition to her money. Of course in reality she could also be doing her weekly groceries at the same time, but hey! how many of you haven't driven to a store just 'cuz u ran out of the only shampoo that won't frizz up your hair?.

Anyway, my point is, that it isn't cheap to get the most out of your purchase, so squeeze away, cut away, slice away - 'cuz not only are you getting your money's worth, but you're also helping the environment a little every time you do that.

P.S: Republished with a photo for added effect ;)

I'm thankful for...

For those who are still following my blog, my apologies for not having written a post in a long, long time. It's not because my enthusiasm for blogging has waned, but it's just that I'm one of those people who cannot write unless they feel passionately about penning down certain thoughts. So, I shall come out clean and let you know that I'm a somewhat "moody" blogger, who wont do posts just to keep 'em coming regularly, but will most likely post erratically.

Looking back, it's not like in the past several months I haven't had any interesting experiences or ideas. It's just that I have become so busy that I don't take the time to "muse" about them.

And this is where that-time-of-the-year comes in handy. Joy is in the air (and for avid shoppers, in every store), and I just had a great Thanksgiving (thanks to T and P), and all the good food and the R&R did give me an opportunity to look back at my life and think of all the good things that have happened this year. Here are a few:

1.. A great summer. My parents paid us a visit and we finally did our dream, family trip to Disneyland. I'm eternally thankful for a family that spoils me rotten :D.

2. Our vacation to Europe. It was the first time in my life that I'd actually travelled to the countries that I dreamed about visiting as a child.

3. Moving to Manhattan. After 3 years of working in New York, we finally moved to Manhattan. And yes, everything they say about Manhattan is true.

4. Friends. Having great friends like T, Butterfly and M. Here's to yet another year that we've continued to be best friends. After graduating, my big fear was that we'd slowly drift apart, but 9 years later, we're still going strong!

5. And last but not the least, the loving husband. There are of course all the big and important things that I love about him, but it's the little things that are so endearing - like the way he holds me real close under the umbrella when it's raining to keep me warm and dry, or the way he'll never let me skip my turn or give up when I suck at pool..or bowling..or video games...or just about anything else. You're my rock, sweetheart!

And then, of course, it wouldn't be true to my nature to not complain...well just a little bit.

OK, so it's my hair. This has been the year of bad hair. Actually make that terrible. One disastrous haircut after another - I'm a victim, guys! I'm yet to meet a stylist, who won't, for the love of God, insist on cuting a "frame" around my face, just to have my hair curl up all the way to my ears and make me look like a frazzled mother of 3. Hopefully next year will bring me my dream hair stylist...ah.

Thats pretty much it. I must admit, that though I sound a lot more positive in this post, I'm not one to always focus on things I have over the things I don't. But as I grow older, I want to emulate my mother. She has set us the perfect example of someone who's always focused on, and been content with what she has, and that's what has kept her, and those around her, very happy. She's my role model and this post is an attempt to becoming someone like her.

P.S: It does make one happy to focus on the good things, even if only for a few fleeting moments; so I invite my readers to post comments about what they are feeling thankful for (and if they can recommend a good hair stylist in New York)