The new towels that hang in the bathroom are bigger and more enveloping, as the ad says. They are spa quality and just the thing to improve bathing.

Since there isn't a spa nearby, I don't know if these would qualify, but I do know that they are too big. They are soft, it is true, and pretty, but they don't dry as quickly when hung up after bathing. All that material seems redundant. The old 39-inch towels dry quickly and seem more satisfactory than the new 59 by 60 inch ones. The 40-year-old ones are useful, a little frayed, but easier to handle.

When did consumers get on the kick of bigger is better? The economy size, giant size and other superlatives make the products irresistible. Larger cars are in demand, never mind that some of them won't fit into the garages of modern, mid-priced houses.

Larger houses are a must, a status symbol. That means having a Merry Housemaid or the equivalent, or live-in help to keep the expansive square footage sparkling clean.

Even though there are smaller families, or maybe just one or two people, many of the stores want to carry only the large, economy size of most everything. A certain popular cereal also happens to be a favorite of our grandchild. However, by the time she gets to the last part of the big box, the cereal is stale. Some stores even refuse to package ground beef in smaller portions; the rationale being, what isn't used can be frozen for another time. But, maybe that is not the issue.

Then, there are the clothes. Have you noticed that the sleeves of blouses, shirts and sweaters hang down over the hand? The short-term solution is to turn up the sleeve, making a larger cuff, if you want to see your watch. A man's shirt now comes in ample cut, hanging over the shoulders, and with more fabric in the middle to accommodate the extended stomach. Probably that solution is to have tailor-made shirts, made somewhere out there in the USA, where they understand where shoulders are and recognize the trend to large middles.

One food company seems to recognize that we all don't need large, economy sizes. It started making small boxes of items. As I remember, one of their first products was cornbread. Since then, they have branched out into a variety of muffins and cakes. (These smaller sizes or fewer goodies reduce temptation for us not to eat as much.)

Looking for a small size of anything in the food stores reminds me often of the red-headed radio idol, Arthur Godfrey, on CBS. When one of his sponsors came out with a laundry soap in the giant, economy size, Godfrey read the commercial that emphasized the savings on the large size. Then, he made a fatal ad lib. "Save 100 percent, and don't buy any."

Someone else said, "Save a lot and buy only what you can afford."

We don't' seem to have much choice in this "bigger is better" merchandising craze.

T&D Correspondent Bettylou R. Terry can be reached by phone at 803-793-3381. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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