Author Topic: Frugal intentions... horribly executed  (Read 92978 times)

Laura33

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #100 on: August 02, 2017, 02:34:11 PM »
Decided to save on potatoes. Instead of buying the amount I needed, I picked up a big bulk bag of them.

Was going to use them today, and all of them were soft and wrinkly. Boh.

How long ago did you buy them?  If they haven't gone bad, you can peel them and stick them in ice water for a few hours, and they will plump back up (jr. high science experiment I actually remember -- and use!).

PencilThinStash

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #101 on: August 03, 2017, 10:53:30 AM »
I know the actual OP of this thread was a full year ago, but... how can that have been anything but a bad joke by the bro?

OP reporting in...

Like I said, BrotherStash was probably in 7th grade at the time. Have you ever talked to a middle schooler? They can be pretty dang stupid sometimes.

dragoncar

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #102 on: August 03, 2017, 01:13:47 PM »
I know the actual OP of this thread was a full year ago, but... how can that have been anything but a bad joke by the bro?

OP reporting in...

Like I said, BrotherStash was probably in 7th grade at the time. Have you ever talked to a middle schooler? They can be pretty dang stupid sometimes.

If my kid did this to me today, I figure it would cost me about $60.  Not great, but hardly the end of the world.

zephyr911

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #103 on: August 03, 2017, 01:20:40 PM »
I know the actual OP of this thread was a full year ago, but... how can that have been anything but a bad joke by the bro?

OP reporting in...

Like I said, BrotherStash was probably in 7th grade at the time. Have you ever talked to a middle schooler? They can be pretty dang stupid sometimes.
I like to think I was always this smart. Now get off my lawn! *shakes cane*

Roe

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #104 on: August 03, 2017, 02:51:22 PM »
Decided to save on potatoes. Instead of buying the amount I needed, I picked up a big bulk bag of them.

Was going to use them today, and all of them were soft and wrinkly. Boh.

How long ago did you buy them?  If they haven't gone bad, you can peel them and stick them in ice water for a few hours, and they will plump back up (jr. high science experiment I actually remember -- and use!).


This batch was sadly already on the wrong side of the tracks. The wrinkles matched with a distinctive "we probally shouldnt eat that"-smell.

Good advice tough, I will try to remember it for the next time!

PencilThinStash

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #105 on: August 04, 2017, 11:02:14 AM »
I know the actual OP of this thread was a full year ago, but... how can that have been anything but a bad joke by the bro?

OP reporting in...

Like I said, BrotherStash was probably in 7th grade at the time. Have you ever talked to a middle schooler? They can be pretty dang stupid sometimes.
I like to think I was always this smart. Now get off my lawn! *shakes cane*

Hahaha man, I wish I was as smart as I was back then. Middle/high school me knew EVERYTHING. (In my own mind, at least)

Now I just keep realizing how little I know. And the more I learn, the worse it gets!

Laura33

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #106 on: August 04, 2017, 12:08:51 PM »
Decided to save on potatoes. Instead of buying the amount I needed, I picked up a big bulk bag of them.

Was going to use them today, and all of them were soft and wrinkly. Boh.

How long ago did you buy them?  If they haven't gone bad, you can peel them and stick them in ice water for a few hours, and they will plump back up (jr. high science experiment I actually remember -- and use!).

This batch was sadly already on the wrong side of the tracks. The wrinkles matched with a distinctive "we probally shouldnt eat that"-smell.


Good call.  Or you could have been in the next iteration of this thread, detailing your hospital visit from trying to save 10 cents on a potato.  ;-)

Ashyukun

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #107 on: August 04, 2017, 01:45:03 PM »
So, my primary hobby (besides doing whatever the wife needs done for her non-profit, which I seem to spend more time on than anything else these days...) is working on cars, and if I have less than the max number I'm allowed to have (3) I tend to always be looking for the next project. About 15 months ago, I was looking to pick up another project and so went out to look at a $500 car that fixed up would have sold for solidly over twice that but had battery/charging issues. Most likely needed an alternator- less than $100 in parts and I'd make around $500 in profit. Test drove it, and sure enough it died a short ways from where we started on the way back.

Hopped out along with the seller to push it the rest of the way and end up pushing entirely the wrong way and snapping an Achilles' Tendon. Didn't get the car of course and had many thousands of dollars in medical bills from having the surgery to repair the tendon & the physical therapy for the next 3 months.

It's worth noting that I didn't learn a damn thing from that, as I bought a Jeep Grand Cherokee for $300 earlier this week to fix up. But I sure as hell won't try and push it anywhere! :P

paddedhat

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #108 on: August 04, 2017, 05:01:09 PM »
Much admiration for anybody poster here with the stomach to salvage a fridge or freezer that has been off for a while. As An apprentice electrician I worked on a fire restoration crew. As we drove to my first day on the job the foreman asked, "Kid, do you know the first rule of fire jobs?  No, of course you don't. It goes like this kid, never, ever open the door on the fridge. Got it?"   The first thing that happens when the crew arrives on a serious house fire rebuild is they ratchet strap the fridge and freezer doors tight, then careful load them in the dumpster. I know of guys who were on their knees, violently puking just from the smell of the contents of a rotting fridge.

MoMan

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #109 on: August 07, 2017, 09:51:21 AM »
In the mid 1990s, my love of beer made me want to try my hand at home brewing. My girlfriend's family bought me a cheapo kit for Christmas, and that Spring I took the plunge carefully (I thought) following the instructions. With everything bottled and stored in the cool, dry comfort downstairs of her garage apartment, we packed our bags for a 2 week trip to Japan.

When we returned home and opened the garage door, the entire floor was littered with broken beer bottles. Apparently, I put too much sugar in the batch and every bottle exploded. Fortunately, I owned a good-sized wet/dry vacuum.

I think I'm ready to try home brewing again now that I'm closing in on retirement. But I will talk with some knowledgeable people first.

Inaya

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #110 on: August 15, 2017, 12:10:05 PM »
I got lucky and scored some fresh Hatch green chiles at Whole Foods on Saturday (I popped in as I walked by to see if they had any good free samples). They couldn't find the right code, so they charged me the price for jalapenos, which I think was like $.50/lb less. I like to buy the cans from time to time, but I figured it's way cheaper (and tastier) to just roast and peel these while I can. So there's the frugal intentions.

Horribly executed?

1) I didn't wear gloves while peeling them. I didn't wear gloves last year and was fine, so I thought I'd be fine this year. Yeah, no. I was nursing chemical burns on my hands for two days. Imagine the worst sunburn you ever had, and then imagine it's on the palms of your hands. Not fun.
2) These were some HOT chiles. You can buy cans according to heat (my Gringo-mouth demands mild). Fresh chiles are a crapshoot. Last year's were perfectly fine and mild. This year's were extremely hot for me. And that's probably why my hands got burned so badly. I'm not sure I'll be able to eat them.

Lucky Recardito

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #111 on: August 15, 2017, 12:30:55 PM »
I once celebrated not driving my car for two weeks, and instead left it safely parked down the block from my apartment while I settled into a new biking habit.

And during those two weeks, major tree work was done on that  block, and I was totally unaware. As a result, I received two parking tickets for about $250.

Cost me a lot to not drive those 2 weeks.

Roe

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #112 on: August 15, 2017, 01:12:01 PM »
I once celebrated not driving my car for two weeks, and instead left it safely parked down the block from my apartment while I settled into a new biking habit.

And during those two weeks, major tree work was done on that  block, and I was totally unaware. As a result, I received two parking tickets for about $250.

Cost me a lot to not drive those 2 weeks.

The execution was perfect, it was the circumstances that were horrible.

DangleStash

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #113 on: August 24, 2017, 02:20:35 PM »
When I was in college and had a relative's house to myself for 6 weeks... There was only one condition: Have parties, drink, have fun, but just make sure the dog gets a lot of love!  I had a lot of friends over.  Specifically, every night for a month except 2 nights that I fell asleep when I got home from work.

When you have 15-20 people hanging out in the part of the house that doesn't have central air... what do you do?

CRANK THE AC ON THE OTHER SIDE AND PUT FANS IN THE HALLWAY!  If you set the dial to the coldest, it must come out of the vents colder too, right?

It definitely worked well enough, until said relative came home to a $350 electric bill.  Whoops.  I also woke up most mornings shivering. 

But that summer was and will always be legendary.

misshathaway

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #114 on: August 25, 2017, 12:02:16 PM »
I have a pair of former running shoes, now walking/yardwork shoes. They are about 5 years old and used daily. I patched the black soles which were separating from the inner white sole with ShoeGoo about 6 months ago. Yesterday I had them on while I was driving and the black part of the sole of the driving foot separated and got caught under the brake. Fortunately I was on a side street, not the highway. When I got home and checked, both shoes soles were in shreds. Not ShoeGoo's fault. I could not tell which part was the repair at this point.

The cheap could have come out very expensive.

slugline

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #115 on: August 25, 2017, 01:25:22 PM »
I have a pair of former running shoes, now walking/yardwork shoes. They are about 5 years old and used daily. I patched the black soles which were separating from the inner white sole with ShoeGoo about 6 months ago. Yesterday I had them on while I was driving and the black part of the sole of the driving foot separated and got caught under the brake. Fortunately I was on a side street, not the highway. When I got home and checked, both shoes soles were in shreds. Not ShoeGoo's fault. I could not tell which part was the repair at this point.

The cheap could have come out very expensive.

I would take that as a sign that I wasn't logging enough miles to properly supply the retired running shoe pipeline. :)

misshathaway

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #116 on: August 27, 2017, 10:51:37 AM »
I would take that as a sign that I wasn't logging enough miles to properly supply the retired running shoe pipeline. :)

Actually it's true. I used to run 7 days a week. Now only on weekends, swimming on the other 5. When I was running every day the cushioning would give out between 6 and 12 months. Now they last much longer.

Tossed the danger shoes at the end of the pipeline, but not the laces, because some day they will come in handy for something.

GuitarStv

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #117 on: August 27, 2017, 11:43:44 AM »
Young GuitarStv worked as a telemarketer during highschool while saving for university.  At this job he met several people with pretty terrible stories.  The worst of which was a 40-50 year old lady.

When I met her she had been a housewife all her life and her husband handled the bills.  He died of some kind of liver problem without any life insurance and they had no savings, with about half the mortgage on their house paid off.  She took the job telemarketing to just barely make enough to pay the mortgage and feed herself.  At some point they cut the electricity to her house, so she would use candles at night to see.  One night she fell asleep and one of the candles was too close to some drapes . . . Long story short, the house burned down.  She had cancelled home insurance a couple months prior.

There were many stories like this at that telemarketing company.  It's one of the reasons I've always been a good saver, and one of the reasons I try not to be a dick to the annoying guys who call in the evenings.

talltexan

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #118 on: August 30, 2017, 07:07:56 AM »
While the story about the widow and the drapes-fire is horrifying, mustachian skepticism requires me to ask: if she still had a mortgage on the house, how could she cancel home-owner's insurance?

theadvicist

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #119 on: August 31, 2017, 04:00:06 AM »
While the story about the widow and the drapes-fire is horrifying, mustachian skepticism requires me to ask: if she still had a mortgage on the house, how could she cancel home-owner's insurance?

I had to provide proof of insurance when I took the mortgage out years ago, but have never had to provide anything since. Presumably I could have cancelled or let my policy lapse in that time? I'm in the UK, so things may be different, but it made sense to me.

I mean, I'd be in breach of the terms, but as far as I can see, the mortgage company would have no way of knowing.

Laura33

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #120 on: August 31, 2017, 06:48:56 AM »
I'm guessing that there's something you can do about the lack of fruit. Whether you want to do it is an entirely different thing however. Find a garden place and ask?

I skipped that part of the story -- we've tried a number of different things and looked for guidance in a bunch of different places.  We've been working on it every year, but the problems seem to change -- one year it's fungus, the next it's bugs, the next it's weather -- and we just haven't gotten ahead of it yet (channeling Roseanne Roseannadanna: it's always something).  This year we have tons of peaches and three surviving pears, though, so I have my fingers crossed that some of them make it.

And to complete the humiliation:  we had easily 100+ peaches this year.  Except it turns out we had planned our vacation for when they were going to be ripe.  The day before we left, they were still hard.  The day we returned, we had none -- not one.*  So now I'm in for another couple hundred bucks for all the effort this year, with still nothing to show for it. 

*I seriously think someone must have known we were gone and picked them all, because the trees were picked clean and there was nothing on the ground, and I can't believe every peach would have ripened, fallen, and been eaten in 8 days.  So at least our efforts probably made someone happy, just not us.

dragoncar

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #121 on: August 31, 2017, 09:02:32 AM »
While the story about the widow and the drapes-fire is horrifying, mustachian skepticism requires me to ask: if she still had a mortgage on the house, how could she cancel home-owner's insurance?

I had to provide proof of insurance when I took the mortgage out years ago, but have never had to provide anything since. Presumably I could have cancelled or let my policy lapse in that time? I'm in the UK, so things may be different, but it made sense to me.

I mean, I'd be in breach of the terms, but as far as I can see, the mortgage company would have no way of knowing.

In the US, I believe the bank is a named party and is thus notified of any cancelations or changes

Goldielocks

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #122 on: September 01, 2017, 12:20:32 AM »
I'm guessing that there's something you can do about the lack of fruit. Whether you want to do it is an entirely different thing however. Find a garden place and ask?

I skipped that part of the story -- we've tried a number of different things and looked for guidance in a bunch of different places.  We've been working on it every year, but the problems seem to change -- one year it's fungus, the next it's bugs, the next it's weather -- and we just haven't gotten ahead of it yet (channeling Roseanne Roseannadanna: it's always something).  This year we have tons of peaches and three surviving pears, though, so I have my fingers crossed that some of them make it.

And to complete the humiliation:  we had easily 100+ peaches this year.  Except it turns out we had planned our vacation for when they were going to be ripe.  The day before we left, they were still hard.  The day we returned, we had none -- not one.*  So now I'm in for another couple hundred bucks for all the effort this year, with still nothing to show for it. 

*I seriously think someone must have known we were gone and picked them all, because the trees were picked clean and there was nothing on the ground, and I can't believe every peach would have ripened, fallen, and been eaten in 8 days.  So at least our efforts probably made someone happy, just not us.

?!?  how long were you gone for?  were your trees in your back yard? 
That is ghastly.

The only persons I know that would do this are my MIL (If I am gone for extended time, but she would leave me half, or leave a picked case on the counter), or my rear neighbor (tree hangs over yard and he always asks first, and yeah, our city can be prone to rats eating fallen fruit).

theadvicist

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #123 on: September 01, 2017, 03:32:24 AM »

In the US, I believe the bank is a named party and is thus notified of any cancelations or changes

Ah, makes sense. Although, even if the bank were notified, they could surely only start foreclosure proceedings or something. It's not impossible for a mortgaged house to go uninsured because there would be a lag time between the bank being notified and taking action.

Laura33

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #124 on: September 01, 2017, 06:35:23 AM »
I'm guessing that there's something you can do about the lack of fruit. Whether you want to do it is an entirely different thing however. Find a garden place and ask?

I skipped that part of the story -- we've tried a number of different things and looked for guidance in a bunch of different places.  We've been working on it every year, but the problems seem to change -- one year it's fungus, the next it's bugs, the next it's weather -- and we just haven't gotten ahead of it yet (channeling Roseanne Roseannadanna: it's always something).  This year we have tons of peaches and three surviving pears, though, so I have my fingers crossed that some of them make it.

And to complete the humiliation:  we had easily 100+ peaches this year.  Except it turns out we had planned our vacation for when they were going to be ripe.  The day before we left, they were still hard.  The day we returned, we had none -- not one.*  So now I'm in for another couple hundred bucks for all the effort this year, with still nothing to show for it. 

*I seriously think someone must have known we were gone and picked them all, because the trees were picked clean and there was nothing on the ground, and I can't believe every peach would have ripened, fallen, and been eaten in 8 days.  So at least our efforts probably made someone happy, just not us.

?!?  how long were you gone for?  were your trees in your back yard? 
That is ghastly.

The only persons I know that would do this are my MIL (If I am gone for extended time, but she would leave me half, or leave a picked case on the counter), or my rear neighbor (tree hangs over yard and he always asks first, and yeah, our city can be prone to rats eating fallen fruit).

8 days, and yep.  I had the same thing happen last year with the black raspberries, but I assumed that was a herd of deer.  But I don't think deer can get 15' up a tree.

Adventine

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #125 on: September 01, 2017, 07:52:36 AM »
I finally have one for this thread:

A twentysomething family member decides to go solo backpacking in Southeast Asia for a week, waits patiently for cheap flights, books cheap hostels, takes public transport everywhere, and even quite sensibly buys some travel insurance for the trip... but at the same time, this family member doesn't have any kind of regular savings or investment plan and still lives with parents who pay most of their living expenses, even if the parents don't have any steady income and are stressed every day about paying the bills.


BTDretire

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #126 on: September 01, 2017, 08:50:59 AM »
It was summer, and our neighbor invited us over.  Mom & I went ahead, my (older) sister was coming right behind us.  After about an hour and no sister arriving, Mom sent me back home to see what was taking her so long.  I walked in the front door and noticed a trail of water coming down our very long hallway, nearly down the stairs.  I called out to my sister, who was in a panic.  I took my socks off to walk down the wet hallway, to find her in the bathroom, with the toilet overflowing.  She was filling up buckets and dumping them down the bathtub drain, and had been doing so for a while, trying to stem the flow.  I was probably 10, and I turned off the water to the toilet.  I didn't know if i would work, but it made sense to me to try!

We called my mom back over, and we all spent the rest of the afternoon mopping everything up, getting things off the floors in the closets that had flooded, etc.  Not one of us thought about what might have happened below us, in our tenant's apartment.  I felt horrible for her when she came home from work, surveyed the damage, and then rang our bell.  Doh!  I can only imagine what it cost my parents to fix that water damage, but I will always remember my sister furiously filling and dumping buckets of water, hoping that the flow of water would eventually stop.  Root cause analysis was never her thing...

  This one reminds me of when I was in 5th grade art class. Someone broke off the drinking fountain on the sink. I reached under the cabinet to turn off the water, I turned it the wrong way and then the water was hitting the ceiling, at that point I panicked and left the wet area.

Laura33

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #127 on: September 16, 2017, 12:38:12 PM »
Once again, nominating myself (sigh).  Inlaws are coming tonight, we're feeding a crowd, so I wanted to make a nice meal and planned to make my lamb ragu that everyone loves,* along with a salad and a peach crisp.  Then I looked at the prices and realized the lamb was @$8.50/lb and it would cost me like $40-$50 just for that, and I thought, well, crap, that's stupid.  And then I thought, wait a minute, I can make pizza -- I have a pizza stone in the oven, Wegman's has pre-made dough for cheap, and everyone loves making their own.  I even got to the store and realized the pre-made dough was going to run $10 by the time I got enough for everyone, and said screw it, I can make my own for like a buck.

The problem is, since I didn't plan this before about 30 seconds before leaving the house, I just kept seeing "good ideas" for toppings for people to choose from -- here's some Italian sausage, oooh, I can do a bratwurst-and-mustard pizza, oh look there's a salad bar with artichokes and roasted peppers and olives; wait, I know they like veggies, so how about mushrooms and onions and such; DH likes pineapple and ham; oh wait, I can do a s'mores pizza so I need mini-marshmallows and dark chocolate chips -- wait a minute, DH likes white chocolate, let's add those too; oooh, and that raspberry jam-brie-chocolate one is good, too; oh, wait, there's truffle paste, taleggio-truffle-garlic is DH's favorite.  It wasn't until I got home that I realized exactly how much I had bought:  $128 of stuff.  One hundred and twenty-eight dollars.  For pizza.  Fuck.  I could have ordered enough pizza for everyone from the pizza place with the wood oven for that -- the place I limit my visits to because it's so expensive. Hell, I could have made everyone a prime rib roast for half of that. 

It's not a total waste, because I will use only little bits tonight and then find other things to use the rest in.  But still, damn.

*My MIL is going through chemo and struggling with her appetite, so I was really focused on making something that she would find tasty.

jinga nation

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #128 on: September 17, 2017, 07:17:59 AM »
Laura33,
I wouldn't have left the store or even the parking lot for $128. Maybe your mustachian sense had been rendered ineffective temporarily in the course of trying to accommodate your MIL.
On the bright side, enjoy it and laugh.

Laura33

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #129 on: September 17, 2017, 08:41:56 AM »
Laura33,
I wouldn't have left the store or even the parking lot for $128. Maybe your mustachian sense had been rendered ineffective temporarily in the course of trying to accommodate your MIL.
On the bright side, enjoy it and laugh.

Yep, that's exactly what happened.  I am awesome at saying no to myself, but apparently making other people happy is a serious trigger to just turn off some circuits in the brain.  So one more learning opportunity; I already knew that I can stay under control better when I plan everything out and leave the kids at home, but I hadn't realized that doing nice things for other people circumvented those "control" circuits quite so effectively.*

I guess the only good thing is that it worked - MIL ate a ton, and FIL said I had ruined pizza for him forever.  ;-). But I could have accomplished all of that for 1/4 the price -- if I had taken the time to plan out a few pizzas, I would have guessed accurately which ones they'd go batshit over (truffle paste/tallegio/garlic), and I could have given everyone a huge treat that was still a splurge, but only $25-$30.

*You'd think I'd have figured this out, given that it's also how I ended up with a 3-legged cat - totally not in the market for another pet, but someone had shot her and she lost her leg, and she was so sweet, and aaaaalllll of those protective instincts kicked in, and presto, cat #3.

faithless

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #130 on: September 17, 2017, 01:19:40 PM »
Yep, that's exactly what happened.  I am awesome at saying no to myself, but apparently making other people happy is a serious trigger to just turn off some circuits in the brain.  So one more learning opportunity; I already knew that I can stay under control better when I plan everything out and leave the kids at home, but I hadn't realized that doing nice things for other people circumvented those "control" circuits quite so effectively.*

I guess the only good thing is that it worked - MIL ate a ton, and FIL said I had ruined pizza for him forever.  ;-). But I could have accomplished all of that for 1/4 the price -- if I had taken the time to plan out a few pizzas, I would have guessed accurately which ones they'd go batshit over (truffle paste/tallegio/garlic), and I could have given everyone a huge treat that was still a splurge, but only $25-$30.


Yeah, not ideal, I've done similar overcatering before, but not to quite such a percentage overspend!

On the other hand, $100 to learn something about your motivations, which could save you a bunch of money in the future if you plan not to fall into the same trap in the future, maybe isn't such a bad deal?

Hotstreak

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #131 on: September 17, 2017, 03:00:17 PM »

In the US, I believe the bank is a named party and is thus notified of any cancelations or changes

Ah, makes sense. Although, even if the bank were notified, they could surely only start foreclosure proceedings or something. It's not impossible for a mortgaged house to go uninsured because there would be a lag time between the bank being notified and taking action.


Check your contract - your lender will buy a policy and bill you for it (at a rate much, much higher than what you paid your former insurance company).  It's called forced-placed insurance or lender-placed insurance.  This is in the USA, currently, not sure what GuitarStv's coworker's contract would have said a few decades ago in Canada.

penguintroopers

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #132 on: September 17, 2017, 07:54:35 PM »
Decided to save on potatoes. Instead of buying the amount I needed, I picked up a big bulk bag of them.

Was going to use them today, and all of them were soft and wrinkly. Boh.

How long ago did you buy them?  If they haven't gone bad, you can peel them and stick them in ice water for a few hours, and they will plump back up (jr. high science experiment I actually remember -- and use!).

This batch was sadly already on the wrong side of the tracks. The wrinkles matched with a distinctive "we probally shouldnt eat that"-smell.


Good call.  Or you could have been in the next iteration of this thread, detailing your hospital visit from trying to save 10 cents on a potato.  ;-)

I have an expensive potato story.   Bought a mandolin (fancy vegetable slicer).  Broke it out one day to make a potato dish.   Got annoyed with the finger guard thing because it was keeping me from using the whole potato.  Next thing I know I have sliced off the top of my thumb and blood is spurting everywhere.  Managed not to faint while getting it wrapped in a towel and getting a taxi to the ER (only a few minutes away).   No stitches -- hadn't brought the missing flap of skin.  Still ended up paying several hundred dollars for the visit ($200 annual deductible + 20% copay for the ER visit, which I think was around $1000).

I have not used the  mandolin since.  Though I did keep it/bring it back from China.   Paid $40 for the thing (+ those medical costs), and it wasn't heavy.

I love my mandolin! This post finally made me order a pair of cut-resistant gloves from amazon ($7). Hopefully I won't have to post about this being a frugal intention (via avoiding medical trips from me cutting my finger) that was horribly executed.

chaskavitch

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #133 on: September 18, 2017, 06:50:43 AM »
Decided to save on potatoes. Instead of buying the amount I needed, I picked up a big bulk bag of them.

Was going to use them today, and all of them were soft and wrinkly. Boh.

How long ago did you buy them?  If they haven't gone bad, you can peel them and stick them in ice water for a few hours, and they will plump back up (jr. high science experiment I actually remember -- and use!).

This batch was sadly already on the wrong side of the tracks. The wrinkles matched with a distinctive "we probally shouldnt eat that"-smell.


Good call.  Or you could have been in the next iteration of this thread, detailing your hospital visit from trying to save 10 cents on a potato.  ;-)

I have an expensive potato story.   Bought a mandolin (fancy vegetable slicer).  Broke it out one day to make a potato dish.   Got annoyed with the finger guard thing because it was keeping me from using the whole potato.  Next thing I know I have sliced off the top of my thumb and blood is spurting everywhere.  Managed not to faint while getting it wrapped in a towel and getting a taxi to the ER (only a few minutes away).   No stitches -- hadn't brought the missing flap of skin.  Still ended up paying several hundred dollars for the visit ($200 annual deductible + 20% copay for the ER visit, which I think was around $1000).

I have not used the  mandolin since.  Though I did keep it/bring it back from China.   Paid $40 for the thing (+ those medical costs), and it wasn't heavy.

I love my mandolin! This post finally made me order a pair of cut-resistant gloves from amazon ($7). Hopefully I won't have to post about this being a frugal intention (via avoiding medical trips from me cutting my finger) that was horribly executed.

My dad cut off the end of one of his fingers on a mandolin while chopping a head of lettuce for salad for a church picnic.  I was 10 or 12, and I still remember him holding his hand and stomping around the kitchen trying not to curse in front of me and my little sister.  She refused to wash or use it for, oh, the next 10 years or so.

dragoncar

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #134 on: September 18, 2017, 12:56:18 PM »

I have an expensive potato story.   Bought a mandolin (fancy vegetable slicer). 

Stopped reading there because I already know where this is going and I'm squeamish

Ze Stash

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #135 on: September 19, 2017, 05:16:15 AM »
My dad is pretty mustachian, especially when it comes to energy related issues because he is an environmentalist. He rides his electric bike the 20km (12 miles) to work almost every day in his fifties, dislikes air travel because of the environmental impact it has, makes sure no one showers too long and so on. One day he realized that the temperature in the big freezer in the basement could be adjusted and was currently set on the coldest option. He thought this was not neccessary and sligthly increased the setting to decrease the energy use of the freezer. A day later he checked again and found everything to still be frozen and very cold, so he adjusted the temperature slightly upwards again. This repeated for a few days until they went on a 2 week vacation. When they returned from their vacation my parents found the whole basement reeking of spoiled meats and it turned out that his last temperature adjustment had finally defrosted the whole freezer. They lost more than €100 in frozen meats and fish and had to spend a significant amount of time cleaning the freezer and getting the stench out of the basement. All of this just to save a few bucks in electricity costs.

Sibley

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #136 on: September 19, 2017, 08:30:47 AM »
My dad is pretty mustachian, especially when it comes to energy related issues because he is an environmentalist. He rides his electric bike the 20km (12 miles) to work almost every day in his fifties, dislikes air travel because of the environmental impact it has, makes sure no one showers too long and so on. One day he realized that the temperature in the big freezer in the basement could be adjusted and was currently set on the coldest option. He thought this was not neccessary and sligthly increased the setting to decrease the energy use of the freezer. A day later he checked again and found everything to still be frozen and very cold, so he adjusted the temperature slightly upwards again. This repeated for a few days until they went on a 2 week vacation. When they returned from their vacation my parents found the whole basement reeking of spoiled meats and it turned out that his last temperature adjustment had finally defrosted the whole freezer. They lost more than €100 in frozen meats and fish and had to spend a significant amount of time cleaning the freezer and getting the stench out of the basement. All of this just to save a few bucks in electricity costs.

If I were your mother, I'd flat out tell him that I'd set the temperature of the fridge/freezer and he wasn't allowed to touch it, under pain of death. Because that is just awful. The SMELL. OMG.

Ze Stash

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #137 on: September 19, 2017, 09:12:44 AM »
My dad is pretty mustachian, especially when it comes to energy related issues because he is an environmentalist. He rides his electric bike the 20km (12 miles) to work almost every day in his fifties, dislikes air travel because of the environmental impact it has, makes sure no one showers too long and so on. One day he realized that the temperature in the big freezer in the basement could be adjusted and was currently set on the coldest option. He thought this was not neccessary and sligthly increased the setting to decrease the energy use of the freezer. A day later he checked again and found everything to still be frozen and very cold, so he adjusted the temperature slightly upwards again. This repeated for a few days until they went on a 2 week vacation. When they returned from their vacation my parents found the whole basement reeking of spoiled meats and it turned out that his last temperature adjustment had finally defrosted the whole freezer. They lost more than €100 in frozen meats and fish and had to spend a significant amount of time cleaning the freezer and getting the stench out of the basement. All of this just to save a few bucks in electricity costs.

If I were your mother, I'd flat out tell him that I'd set the temperature of the fridge/freezer and he wasn't allowed to touch it, under pain of death. Because that is just awful. The SMELL. OMG.

She wasn't aware he was fiddling with it until they returned. He is not allowed near it any more, but the story still gets told sometimes and everyone has a friendly laugh at his expense.

A few months after I moved out of my parents house for university I noticed some ice building up in the freezer in my apartement that made it difficult to store larger items. Because I was impatient and didn't want to defrost the whole thing I thought I could just scrape at it with a fork until the ice falls off the wall. I ended up stabbing a hole in the wall however, which lead to the coolant leaking out and the freezer breaking. This story mostly gets told soon after my dads story.

Inaya

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #138 on: September 19, 2017, 04:12:50 PM »
Mine's not as bad as what you guys are saying, but here goes:

A coworker is getting married this weekend and we had a little bridal shower for her on Monday. I didn't feel like tossing $15 bucks in for the gift card and decided I would make some nice cloth napkins with her and her future husband's initials on them. I had the perfect fabric at home and fabric paint and could make up a stencil no problem. To save on fabric I decide to make 4 napkins out of my fabric length, and start cutting squares. Once it's all cut, I make the stencil, dab on the paint and let it dry while making/ eating dinner.
Feeling rather proud of myself I start the process of folding and pressing to do some fancy mitered corners on the hem. Can't do it with my preferred 1/4" hem so do a 1/2". Get it all sorted, pinned and ready for the sewing machine. A napkin falls on my lap and I realize that my cheaping out by squeezing 4 napkins on the length, plus the bigger hem means that I have measly 9" napkins which look awful. Give up on the whole project, see that target is still open for another 30 minutes and run out and buy a gift.
Wasted an entire evening and a good chunk of lovely fabric and spent the money I would have if I had just thrown money in the pot in the first case.


This is pretty much how my wedding planning went. Attempt to save some money on a thing via DIY. Spend money on DIY supplies. Fail miserably at DIY, wasting time and supplies, and end up buying the thing after all. I think maybe 2 of my DIYs actually worked as intended, but they took so. freaking. long. that I would have been better off just buying them to begin with.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #139 on: September 19, 2017, 08:51:39 PM »
Relevant.

Goldielocks

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #140 on: September 19, 2017, 09:17:57 PM »
I made Relish for the first time this week from an old recipe that I was given by an older acquaintance.

The recipe was so freaking huge.  Her hand written comments on it were to use a "Very large pot", and to pre-heat the vinegar / salt / spice / flour mixture prior to adding in the chopped veggies because cooking takes a very long time otherwise.
 
I have a "That's-a -bowl" from tupperware (the big one).  It was too small and I needed to use my extra large turkey roaster instead.  I preheated the 8 cups of vinegar + 6 cups of liquid from the veggies, with sugar, tumeric, spices, etc all mixed, in my large dutch oven  (about 3/4 full) on the stove.  It was taking a long time to boil, so I went to get dressed for a meeting.   I was gone 10 minutes and the mixture was boiling over.   Vinegary syrupy mess, with tumeric, all over the stove top, rolling down the front of the stove, and all over the floor.  Under the stove and seeping behind the toekicks.  The biggest, staining mess ever. Took three bath towels (now stained yellow) to clean it up.

I had to buy more vinegar and remake the solution, I still have to pull the stove out to fully clean under it.

The worst part is the the syrup got under the canner (very large pot with boiling water on high heat) also on the glass top stove, and yep, I can confirm that sugar badly burned onto a glass top will indeed pit and damage it.  Damn.  First glass stovetop damage I have ever caused, in over 15 years.  I certainly hope that I don't need to replace it.

Now I have 18?! jars of relish of various sizes.   I think we usually eat about 3 per year....   

honeybbq

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #141 on: September 20, 2017, 11:15:13 AM »
Decided to save on potatoes. Instead of buying the amount I needed, I picked up a big bulk bag of them.

Was going to use them today, and all of them were soft and wrinkly. Boh.

How long ago did you buy them?  If they haven't gone bad, you can peel them and stick them in ice water for a few hours, and they will plump back up (jr. high science experiment I actually remember -- and use!).

This batch was sadly already on the wrong side of the tracks. The wrinkles matched with a distinctive "we probally shouldnt eat that"-smell.


Good call.  Or you could have been in the next iteration of this thread, detailing your hospital visit from trying to save 10 cents on a potato.  ;-)

I have an expensive potato story.   Bought a mandolin (fancy vegetable slicer).  Broke it out one day to make a potato dish.   Got annoyed with the finger guard thing because it was keeping me from using the whole potato.  Next thing I know I have sliced off the top of my thumb and blood is spurting everywhere.  Managed not to faint while getting it wrapped in a towel and getting a taxi to the ER (only a few minutes away).   No stitches -- hadn't brought the missing flap of skin.  Still ended up paying several hundred dollars for the visit ($200 annual deductible + 20% copay for the ER visit, which I think was around $1000).

I have not used the  mandolin since.  Though I did keep it/bring it back from China.   Paid $40 for the thing (+ those medical costs), and it wasn't heavy.

I also had a trip to the urgent care after making lasagna. Get the metal gloves from amazon!

Ann

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #142 on: October 04, 2017, 10:20:16 PM »
Okay, this story wasn't HORRIBLY executed but I was trying so hard to be a bad ass Mustachian I forgot to be a regular person:

The second hand on my bathroom clock was stuck.  It was still "trying" to tick, so I googled Wikihow.  I disassembled the clock.  I took off the hands, even removed and opened the clock movement (and learned what that was).  Nothing I could see.  I googled another YouTube video and the very helpful watch repair woman said that, first of all, try a new battery because that is often the problem EVEN if the second hand is trying to move.

Yup.  Just needed a new battery.  But I was able to put the clock back together and it works!  So I am both embarrassed AND proud.  I usually don't ever try to "DIY" and am trying to grow some MMM stubble here.

I wasn't sure where to post this.  I have far more shameful anti-mustachian moments, but sadly most of those were just me being lazy or hedonistic.  Lots of ignorance too, though.

misshathaway

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #143 on: October 05, 2017, 07:40:42 AM »
Okay, this story wasn't HORRIBLY executed but I was trying so hard to be a bad ass Mustachian I forgot to be a regular person:

The second hand on my bathroom clock was stuck.  It was still "trying" to tick, so I googled Wikihow.  I disassembled the clock.  I took off the hands, even removed and opened the clock movement (and learned what that was).  Nothing I could see.  I googled another YouTube video and the very helpful watch repair woman said that, first of all, try a new battery because that is often the problem EVEN if the second hand is trying to move.

Yup.  Just needed a new battery.  But I was able to put the clock back together and it works!  So I am both embarrassed AND proud.  I usually don't ever try to "DIY" and am trying to grow some MMM stubble here.

I wasn't sure where to post this.  I have far more shameful anti-mustachian moments, but sadly most of those were just me being lazy or hedonistic.  Lots of ignorance too, though.

You made other MM's laugh with you, and you honed your DIY confidence. This was a win.

Astatine

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #144 on: October 06, 2017, 12:58:48 AM »
This is utterly trivial but I still managed to eye-roll myself.

We use liquid handwash in the bathroom and get cheap refills from Aldi. Unfortunately the top of the redesigned refills don't allow you to easily balance it on the top of the soap dispenser to allow all of the dregs to drain into the dispenser.

So I thought I'd be clever and carefully prepped the near-empty refill by lying it on its side for a few days for all the soap to accumulate in a puddle inside the bottle. Then I thought I'd be super clever and tipped it upside down, balancing on the lid. Which meant that pouring it in to the dispenser it went all over the place. Some went in the dispenser, but most of it dripped on the outside and over the freshly-cleaned sink. I then had to spend quite a bit of time wiping up the slippery mess. Ick.

Easy to fix but super annoying, specially since I don't have much energy to spare atm.

Laura33

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #145 on: October 06, 2017, 07:26:42 AM »
This is utterly trivial but I still managed to eye-roll myself.

We use liquid handwash in the bathroom and get cheap refills from Aldi. Unfortunately the top of the redesigned refills don't allow you to easily balance it on the top of the soap dispenser to allow all of the dregs to drain into the dispenser.

So I thought I'd be clever and carefully prepped the near-empty refill by lying it on its side for a few days for all the soap to accumulate in a puddle inside the bottle. Then I thought I'd be super clever and tipped it upside down, balancing on the lid. Which meant that pouring it in to the dispenser it went all over the place. Some went in the dispenser, but most of it dripped on the outside and over the freshly-cleaned sink. I then had to spend quite a bit of time wiping up the slippery mess. Ick.

Easy to fix but super annoying, specially since I don't have much energy to spare atm.

Gah.  I do this sort of thing all the time, if it makes you feel any better.  Like the other night I put my half-drunk glass of tea in the fridge for the next day, and in the morning DH opened the fridge door and it fell out on top of him; unfortunately, he was wearing his suit and nice white shirt on his way out the door for an important meeting, so he had to change, wash the shirt, hope the stains came out (they did), and then rush out the door late (and very pissed off).  I've also done things like used a pen to try to squish out the last of the tube of toothpaste and squirted the toothpaste all over the countertop.  And, yeah, poured the remaining bath gel all outside the new container because it wasn't balanced appropriately. 

I think that's called being human.  :-)

Just Joe

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #146 on: October 06, 2017, 08:42:07 AM »
I just put a tiny bit of water in the soap bottle, shake it around to loosen the soap in the bottle and use that as the final shampoo or hand wash for that bottle. No transfer mess b/c I'm not that talented. My kids do the same with chocolate syrup (a rare treat since it is mostly sugar). Final use pour in a little milk over the sink, put the lid back on the chocolate (make sure it is closed) and shake it. Squeeze into a glass and add milk to taste.

GuitarStv

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #147 on: October 06, 2017, 10:26:19 AM »
This is utterly trivial but I still managed to eye-roll myself.

We use liquid handwash in the bathroom and get cheap refills from Aldi. Unfortunately the top of the redesigned refills don't allow you to easily balance it on the top of the soap dispenser to allow all of the dregs to drain into the dispenser.

So I thought I'd be clever and carefully prepped the near-empty refill by lying it on its side for a few days for all the soap to accumulate in a puddle inside the bottle. Then I thought I'd be super clever and tipped it upside down, balancing on the lid. Which meant that pouring it in to the dispenser it went all over the place. Some went in the dispenser, but most of it dripped on the outside and over the freshly-cleaned sink. I then had to spend quite a bit of time wiping up the slippery mess. Ick.

Easy to fix but super annoying, specially since I don't have much energy to spare atm.

Gah.  I do this sort of thing all the time, if it makes you feel any better.  Like the other night I put my half-drunk glass of tea in the fridge for the next day, and in the morning DH opened the fridge door and it fell out on top of him; unfortunately, he was wearing his suit and nice white shirt on his way out the door for an important meeting, so he had to change, wash the shirt, hope the stains came out (they did), and then rush out the door late (and very pissed off).  I've also done things like used a pen to try to squish out the last of the tube of toothpaste and squirted the toothpaste all over the countertop.  And, yeah, poured the remaining bath gel all outside the new container because it wasn't balanced appropriately. 

I think that's called being human.  :-)

Toothpaste Pro-tip:
Just cut the bottom off the tube.

ixtap

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #148 on: October 06, 2017, 10:28:57 AM »
I have done this with laundry detergent. The big, cheaper per ounce (sometimes) bottle is too awkward to handle regularly, so I wanted to put it in the smaller bottle. I can't really hold the spigot and the smaller bottle, so I set up the larger bottle to come out the vent...It splurted out, all over the floor and me and goodness knows what else.

Laura33

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Re: Frugal intentions... horribly executed
« Reply #149 on: October 06, 2017, 11:55:22 AM »
This is utterly trivial but I still managed to eye-roll myself.

We use liquid handwash in the bathroom and get cheap refills from Aldi. Unfortunately the top of the redesigned refills don't allow you to easily balance it on the top of the soap dispenser to allow all of the dregs to drain into the dispenser.

So I thought I'd be clever and carefully prepped the near-empty refill by lying it on its side for a few days for all the soap to accumulate in a puddle inside the bottle. Then I thought I'd be super clever and tipped it upside down, balancing on the lid. Which meant that pouring it in to the dispenser it went all over the place. Some went in the dispenser, but most of it dripped on the outside and over the freshly-cleaned sink. I then had to spend quite a bit of time wiping up the slippery mess. Ick.

Easy to fix but super annoying, specially since I don't have much energy to spare atm.

Gah.  I do this sort of thing all the time, if it makes you feel any better.  Like the other night I put my half-drunk glass of tea in the fridge for the next day, and in the morning DH opened the fridge door and it fell out on top of him; unfortunately, he was wearing his suit and nice white shirt on his way out the door for an important meeting, so he had to change, wash the shirt, hope the stains came out (they did), and then rush out the door late (and very pissed off).  I've also done things like used a pen to try to squish out the last of the tube of toothpaste and squirted the toothpaste all over the countertop.  And, yeah, poured the remaining bath gel all outside the new container because it wasn't balanced appropriately. 

I think that's called being human.  :-)

Toothpaste Pro-tip:
Just cut the bottom off the tube.

I am now flashing back to the earlier discussion of ER trips involving sliced-off fingers.

Yeah.  I know myself a little too well -- if I can't be trusted to operate a pen correctly, then Laura + metal/thick plastickey tubes + sharp implements is not a good combination. :-)