Always check the label ... (Misc)

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Well, the chiggers have apparently finally discovered me living in their midst (little teeny tiny specks of brown? Crawling all over the place after I go swishing through the tall grass? Leave itchy bite areas?)

So yesterday while in town to get the DR back (yes, I AM going out momentarily to mow the pasture now that its back) I stopped at WalMart and picked up a tube of something called "After Bite", supposed to relieve the itch. Well, it does, sorta, by being an INTENSE counter irritant (MAN it burns sometimes!)

SO I looked at the label for the ingredients.

It's ammonia. I paid $2.67 for one half ounce (about one Tablespoon) of ammonia. You know, the stuff that's like 97c a gallon (I assume the non-sudsing, non-detergent, straight vanilla sort of ammonia)

That'll larn me to read the label first ... LOL!

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), July 15, 2001

Answers

Response to Always check the label ...

That's a cute story with a good lesson, too. I've found another good reason to spend an extra few seconds looking before I buy something. Many, many times the super giant family economy size is actually more expensive per unit (ounce, pound, inch, etc.). Many times it's substantially more, too.

Besides the savings, you can really enjoy the looks you'll get with a cart full of the two ounce size of something when everyone knows it's available in five pound bags, too. Sometimes you'll even have someone try to 'help' you by telling you of your oversight. LOL

Personally, I look at this as one of the advantages of being in that age group that grew up actually having to do simple math in our heads rather than punching buttons for an answer. ;o)

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), July 15, 2001.


Gary

I remember 20 years ago buying the little square faced freezer packs of frozen veggies because they were cheaper (supply and demand? plastic packaging was new?)

I remember those days when the opened, big freezer packs fall open and spill their contents!

-- rick K (rick_122@hotmail.com), July 15, 2001.


re frozen veggies used to be cheap:

It was because back then people still knew how to cook and knew that fresh tasted better. Nowadays people think "cooking" means putting something in the microwave to thaw ...

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), July 15, 2001.


I love your story and am a big fan of reading lables myself. It often amazes me that people will pay rediculous amounts of money for something just because the packaging/marketing. My very hip girlfriend is always carrying a small purse-sized bottle of Evian water (cost: about $1.50CDN). She won't reuse the bottles because of 'germs'. I paid $5 for a water bottle made of hard plastic with an attatched lid about a year and a half ago and get my water from the water cooler at work, or the tap. Haven't died yet from 'germs'. I figure I'll be able to retire on the money I will save from not following her example. If you think you were duped paying for ammonia, imagine being duped into buying water! What a laugh!

-- emily jane (emilyjanejenkins@hotmail.com), July 15, 2001.

Yea, I wonder how many people are thinking that they're getting something pure and wonderful when they buy name brand water. Most of it is coming straight out of the factorys faucet.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), July 15, 2001.


People that say they can only drink bottled water and refuse water from the tap, aren't really thristy!!

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), July 15, 2001.

i forgot about chiggers until i read about them here a week or so ago, and figured out that was what I kept getting. so, i tested it out and tried my grandma's remedy...a dot of fingernail polish (you pick the color)! Worked like a dream...no more itching! And a good use for that old bottle (about January I get stir crazy enough I grow my nails as long as I can and polish them every day or two...after about a month the phase is over, and then the bottles go bad, getting too thick to use the next year...).

-- marcee king (thathope@mwt.net), July 15, 2001.

My Grandma used to treat bug bites with a mixture of amonia and alcohol. I'm not sure what the proportions were. Probably half and half. It was potent smelling stuff but it did take the itch out.

I like to paint my toenails RED in the summer just for kicks. The clear polish is reserved for fingernails and stocking runs.

-- LBD, Maryland (lavenderbluedilly@hotmail.com), July 15, 2001.


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