I was thinking the other day that everything in the stores is shrinking! Except the price of course. One of the newest products to join the trend is bleach. Soon you will be unable to purchase 1 gallon bottles of bleach. Save your old jugs, they will be antiques someday! They shrink the product and raise the price and try to convince you that it is for your own good. I also think toilet paper should be sold my the pound! I finally figured out that is the only way to really determine if you are getting a good deal. I might take a bunch to the scales at the grocery store and figure the price per ounce of different brands! They will think I am crazy then...

What other incredible shrinking products have caught your attention lately?

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), March 15, 2002

Answers

Hi, Melissa, I haven't bought yogurt in a long time, as I usually make my own, but the other day I was going to buy some "on sale". Then I noticed they were 6 oz instead of 8 oz little tubs. I just growled to myself and passed on them.

-- Gina NM (inhock@pvtnetworks.net), March 15, 2002.

A few years ago they came out with "concentrated" soaps, especially dish soap. The bottles were smaller and supposedly you used less. Lately, I've been noticing they are no longer concentrated. Same amount of soap and same or increased price but now you have to use more. How dumb do "they" think we are? Anybody got a good recipe for dish detergent? We have such hard water most homemade soaps don't work good for us but I'm open to ideas. I did make the laundry soap and have been pleased with it so far although I do add extra washing soda to help with the hard water.

-- Barb in Ky. (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), March 15, 2002.

Also the tuna is now in 6 oz. cans instead of 6 1/2 oz cans. I don't like this whole trend either. Also on the bleach, it was much easier to measure 1 cup than it is to measure 3/4 cup!

-- Nancy (nannyb@huntel.net), March 15, 2002.

50# bags of dog food became 40 pounders long ago, now they are something like 36. The 20# bags are 17.6 or something like that. Catfood used to be 20#, then 18, recently I noticed many are now 16. And the prices continue to rise. When you're feeding 13 cats or more, that makes a big difference! I buy the highest quality I can afford in the 18# sizes, stock up when on sale and take advantage of coupons, double coupons, etc. If I can't find a sale when I need it I buy a cheaper brand and mix it with the better stuff. I also feed goat milk which cuts down on the dog/cat food consumed.

I noticed the change in the yogurt also. I'm going strictly to making my own.

-- Lenette in OR (kigervixen@webtv.net), March 15, 2002.

Is anybody old enough to remember when a 3 pound coffee can actually had treee pounds in it. If it ever was the case. Three pounds is 48 ounces, not 34.5...

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.com), March 15, 2002.

Yes, Ed, I remember 3# cans of coffee. They really insult my intelligence with all that "down sizing"!

-- Barb in Ky. (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), March 15, 2002.