Dealing with this kind of person was simple. The best method was to "answer with a question." But the way you did that depended on whether they were strangers or acquaintances.
If you barely knew the person, or were only on nodding terms and had exchanged a few words, then when they asked, "Why aren't you doing this or that?" all you had to say was, "How did you notice? You're paying that much attention to me?"
It might sound a little sarcastic, but in reality, it shifted the subject back onto them. What it conveyed was, "You're paying too much attention to me. That's your problem." Since the two of you were not that close to begin with, yet they immediately noticed something as minor as you changing your household supplies, that was clearly inappropriate attention. It was equivalent to pointing out their mistake, and now they were the ones who had to explain themselves.
That kind of counterquestion was actually hard to answer. If they admitted it, it was almost like affirming your appeal. After all, if someone who barely knew you paid that much attention to you and even noticed something as trivial as changing household supplies, it proved that you were important enough to be noticed. But if they denied it, they would seem a little guilty. They had noticed all those little details, yet insisted they were not paying attention, as though they had done something wrong and were deliberately trying to distance themselves from it. Either way, they lost.
For acquaintances, or rather, people you were fairly close to, you could ask, "Don't you usually do this or that?"
Mind you, it was not an aggressive counterquestion, but something entirely natural. Take biking to work, for example. If you usually took the bus but