Austerity Without Anxiety: “No soap for you!”

The habit of practicing austerity doesn’t come easy. Some weeks I have to beat down my consumptive ways with a large stick - mentally, that is. (I don’t condone hitting myself with a real, gnarly, pointed stick).

But this week I’ve been staying close to home, working on back yard projects using rescued lumber and only stepping out to meet friends or family for coffee and play the odd hockey game. (Talk about ‘odd.’ My team beat the opposition for the first time in about 6 or 7 weeks!)

However, just because I’m close to home doesn’t mean I don’t try to look my best. I shower and change my T-shirt regularly and shave every other day using the latest in shaving technology, i.e., an antique brush, mug of soap bits and a razor.


["Next week I may smell like lilacs": photo GH]

The only part of the kit that will ever cost me money will be the razor - because I must purchase new blades once in awhile, but not often, thanks to my bearded ways.

The antique brush (purchased for $8 at an antique barn in Fenelon Falls; it's the best one I've ever had) should last my lifetime, since after a shower I often apply a bit of soap to my neck by hand. And the mug of soap bits is always filled to the top because my wife tosses leftovers into it regularly.

I think I stopped buying round soaps for the mug about ten years ago after seeing the bill for three bars to fill it.

“No soap for you! There has to be a cheaper way!” I said to myself then.

And thanks to a highly-efficient system of using cast-offs from the tub, my neck smells like spicy coffee this week, my wife’s favourite choice. (Dove is number two).

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