A Single Resolution

Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.  Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.  ~Mark Twain

I'm not really one for making New Year's resolutions, and I rather resent the resolutioners who crowd up my gym and my yoga classes and whatnot in January, though I am glad to see them leave in February, when all their resolutions have gone to hell. 

He who breaks a resolution is a weakling;
He who makes one is a fool.
~F.M. Knowles

Me = Big Talker, since I really have been awfully sporadic in the gym for several months myself, but there goes my big head again. 

Anyhoo. When it comes to the usual resolution fodder -- e.g., eating right, not drinking to excess, not smoking, exercising enough, watching what I spend, trying to be a better person, and all that jazz, I try to do those things on an ongoing basis, so it seems kind of pointless to make a big resolution about it in January.

I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the year's.  ~Henry Moore

However, I did make one resolution this year: To use up all the dribbles. 

I have so many partial bottles and jars of lotion and hair conditioner and shaving cream and body wash, if I use them all up before buying more, I could probably fund my IRA for next year just on those savings alone. All right, slight exaggeration. But still. RESOLVED: to use up the dribbles.

So I have rounded them all up and corralled them into this basket, and don't even TRY to make me buy another bottle of lotion or potion until this basket has run dry! If I hate the scent or feel of a hair conditioner on my hair, I will use it to shave my legs. If I hate the feel of a lotion on my skin, I'll use it anyway or foist it off on someone else if I can. I can't bring myself to throw it away, and I will not let it sit in a cupboard or on a shelf or in a closet for ONE MORE .... um..... decade year. A lot of this stuff is leftover crap from my dearest daughter...stuff that she just had to try, had to have, whatever. And here it sits. 

I'll be having another blog contest SOON (heads up!), but be careful -- if you win, I might send you a 1/3-used Costco-size bottle of TRESemmé hair conditioner.

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions.  ~Joey Adams

Comments

[Bonney]

I started using dribbles a few months ago and I'm still not using the products I really want to use. Hair volumizer shampoo? Using it! If I see one more half bottle of after sun whatever I'm going to scream; but I'll be moist!

[Geri]

Crowded gyms; least favorite time of year! Love that my yoga studio does not encourage drop ins. Dribbles...I'm not sure how it happened but somewhere along the line I became a bit fanatical about using them up. Must seek counseling.

[gayle]

I've got a similar batch of hand lotions kicking around my bathroom. I'm pretty good about using up the shampoo and conditioner, but lotions just seem to multiply when I'm not looking...

[Becky]

Me too, Norma! I started doing this a while back when they took over the bathroom. Not a damn one of them was the miracle it claimed to be! If you discover a great body lotion during your excursion to dribble-land, please let me know what it is. I have the driest skin south of Vermont!

[Betsy]

Hey Norma...this is a great site for when you can't/won't get out to the gym...there are long videos and on the blog there are short videos...
http://www.yogatoday.com/
I'd forgotten how much better I feel when I do a little yoga every day...

[Margaret in Ontario]

Okay, good, but what happened to whatever it is that the asterisk points to?
:)

[Laurie]

Probably the most unique resolution on the Interwebs. And yeah, the johnny and janie come latelys are a PAIN.

[Joannah]

I'm still not ready to make a New Year's resolution. "Use up dribbles" is mighty tempting, but I'm not ready to commit...

[thea]

And any dribble more than a year old, chuck.

It can be goo that goes between the resolution paving stones.

[Patty]

Love the quotes!

[marianne]

Heh. I put all mine in a big box, and it's out in the 'big walk in cooler', available to Havala and Deidre for 'shopping'. They're the dribbles my skin just will not tolerate. Shampoos and conditioners have been long gone ;^) I had noted that Ryan pushed Lubriderm :^)

[margene]

There is great satisfaction in tossing out, or recycling, an empty plastic bottle. Happy New Year!!

[Vicki]

I love using conditioner to shave my legs... when I get around to shaving my legs. You must have reclaimed some bathroom cupboard real estate after filling that basket!!

[Jennifer]

That's a great resolution and a completely manageable one. Of course, I do throw things away as sometimes I believe that's the right thing (or I put them in my Scout camping gear and the stuff miraculously gets used up). I think you'll be thrilled with this resolution. You might even fall into the trap of using twice as much of that crappy conditioner or lotion... just to use up the rest and throw away the empty bottle. 'Fess up when you do that one! Good luck and have fun with all your new found space.

[Joansie]

Smart! I'll have to talk about my resolution on my next blog post...and this is one that I can keep. Oh, girl, do not send me any lotion or conditioner, etc. I have such a truck load of those along with lipsticks. (sigh)

[Debbie]

I did the same thing with my various lotions and soaps and when I saw your photo, I thought you had taken a picture of my basket! I look forward to recycling empty plastic bottles.

[Holly]

That's a good resolution. I think I will gather up a basket and do the same... but I am not resolving! Too much pressure!

[Carrie]

I resolve to drink more (good) beer and eat more cheesecake. Oh, and sex. More sex too. I'm going to have to stay focused...

[Kym]

Gosh, I do hate this time of year at the gym. Having to share my swim lane for, oh, about 3 weeks is bad enough. But having to fight for a spot to park my pilates mat makes me a Crazy Woman.

Love the very term . . . dribbles! Great resolution.

[michelle in california]

1/3-used Costco-size bottle of TRESemmé hair conditioner.

best prize evah! '->

[lisa]

I use the face cream that doesn't work there as hand lotion... just to use it up anyhow. But since I've been making my own, it's the one I prefer for hands and bod.

So, here's my single resolutionish thingy... get rid of the less than stellar panties. I'm usually on this one, but on a one at a time basis... I'm thinking to just toss them right out of the drawer. But that feels like such a waste because I laundered them. Best is when you can toss them in the trash versus the hamper. Double best when you do it at the gym, because that means you don't have to (1) wash them and (2) carry them home. Being that they are such big items and all..

[claudia]

The resolutioners better not be taking up the only and one squat rack in my gym, or there might be bloody war.

[Cookie]

Lovely post!

I've been working on the last dregs of conditioner for a while now. Great for making house socks softer if nothing else.

Flip those bottles over so it will be easier to get the product out and you might use them up even faster. ;^)

xo

[kmkat]

Best.Resolution.Ever. Also the one most likely to be kept.

[Sara]

Great quotes! Happy New Year!

[Mary Fran]

Love it! And such a great idea.

[Lorette]

Ha! My resolution is a bit different. Round up all those dribbles, and get rid of them if I'm not going to use them. I wonder if shelters would take opened products? Maybe we could organize a dribble swap!
(ducking)

[elizabeth a airhart]

heres a line from dorothy parker
my name will never be writ large on the roster of Those Who Do Things.I don't
do anything.Not one single thing.
I used to bite my nais,but i don't even
do that anymore.

any thing over three months toss

[Manise]

I have made a similar resolution to use up all of my bars of various soaps from fiber fests and elsewhere that never got gifted or used. They should last me into 2011.

[noonie]

Bottles I've bought wanting a miracle and then used once I pass onto my sister, who is saving like mad to emigrate to Aussie and loves all that stuff.

Tip from her, she's a hairdresser, use hair conditioner as a hand and foot cream. Works really well.

[Renee]

Good resolution, I should incorporate that one too.
Cut the 1/3 bottle of Tresemme with an equal part of water and use it as a cream rinse conditioner for Mr. Jeffries after his baths at home. Rinse well and he's coat will feel wonderful.

[kathy]

I just ran out of conditioner. How funny. Living with all guys means when I run out of lotion, there is none stashed away to steal from. You are sitting on wealth, Norma.

[Jan Pelfrey]

A basket is a wonderful & pretty idea, but I don't have the counter space. I went out to Bed, Bath & Beyond and bought a lovely rose & gold antique-looking lotion dispenser that would go with my bathroom colors. Then I squished all the leftovers one by one that lovely dispenser, left right by the sink. It's so tempting to use it every time I wash my hand hands. You will be so surprised at how fast it goes. Disappointing conditioners go into a plain plastic pump for Harley, my white ShihTzu who can snarl 2" long hair just standing there! Happy New Year.

[Rhonda from Baddeck]

I recently found a 'flip top' from one bottle that will fit on some of my almost-empty 'pump' dispensers, so I can invert them. I find myself using them more often now. Great idea to collect them in a basket to see what you have, and to watch the pile dwindle. Happy New Year!

[Kelly]

Normally I don't make resolutions since it's just setting yourself up for failure, but this year hubby decided he'd like to start exercising (he's got good genes so he's always shrugged off fitness regimes) and it's just the kick in the pants for me to get back on the treadmill, too. It coincides with the beginning of the year simply because we're starting other new routines so it's a time for change for us.

At least we won't have to pester people at a gym, since there aren't any local ones and we'll just make due with what we have. For those that put up with the first quarter gym explosion, remember that those people just want to improve themselves, even if only for a short while.

[Gillian]

I agree with your comment "I try to do those things on an ongoing basis." So do I, so I don't make resolutions at New Years. I'm just looking forward to the gym re-opening so I can go there.

[Seanna Lea]

I'm looking forward to my time back at the gym. The last couple of months have been a death knell to my gym time and were replaced by extra baking time. Baking time means a lot of extra pounds. Ooof!

[Sarah]

I think I have been working on this one for a bit, too. I feel you on the conditioner. Once upon a time Costco sold an even larger jug of Tresemme conditioner.

[Carol]

Hilarious! I'm the same way with resolutions and, come to think about it, empty bottles of pfaff. I should really use up all those travel size things we pilfer from hotels...