Never knew I was wasting so much!

Quasar

I know that you are probably all wise to this already so feel free to laugh at me and go :rolleyes: if you like, but today I was gobsmacked at the amount of body cream I found inside an allegedly empty plastic bottle. I decided to cut it up and all the inside was lined thick with the stuff, so much that I reckon it can do a full body.

And I've been throwing this away! Never again. Go on then, laugh.

On a plus note, I have been gathering together several soap "ends" into an old, laddered pop-sock and now have knotted it closed. I will use this "soapy sock" in place of the next bar of soap. Is this taking moneysaving to ridiculous extremes?

calleyw

Quasar wrote:

On a plus note, I have been gathering together several soap "ends" into an old, laddered pop-sock and now have knotted it closed. I will use this "soapy sock" in place of the next bar of soap. Is this taking moneysaving to ridiculous extremes?

You have paid for it so why waste it. Get as much as you can for you money. I cut open tooth paste tubes. Stand shampoo etc bottles on there top ends to get all of that item out.

You could turn the soap ends in to liquid soap if you add enough hot water to melt it.

Yours


Calley

mrbadexample

Is it just me that sticks the end of the old soap onto the new one then? I never have more than one end...

little_miss_thrifty

mrbadexample wrote:

Is it just me that sticks the end of the old soap onto the new one then? I never have more than one end...

No, me too! When the old bar is getting small, i stick it onto the new soap, until it 'blends' in!!

Churchmouse

No! Well done you. I did this for the first time some years ago, and was equally amazed how much was left in an "empty" container. DH laughs at me still but I don't care. I've paid for it, and I'm having it, I cut open all "cream" containers!!

MrsTinks

Get a dog... they'll "open" them for you before they're even near empty (can you tell who's pooch is in the dog house for chewing the brand new tube of savlon cream? not to mention being a pest and catching the cable to my mobile and breaking the charging point - thank crunchie it's insured!)

Tibbie's_mum

I used to have a flatmate who would turn every sort of bottle upside down when it was practically empty, from ketchup to body lotion. I would always make fun of her and get irritated when the bottles would fall over, since finding MSE I find myself doing the exact same thing; more fool me, think how much I could have saved!!!

Quasar

I have been thinking about all these "ends" of things and I reckon one can save a small fortune simply by having the patience and do what needs to be done to extract the last drop of whatever.

One thing I've always done with tubes such as toothpaste, tomato puree etc is that every time I use some I fold over the end of the tube so as to shorten it. This pushes all the stuff in it forward and in the end it's all rolled up like a snail shell, and there's very little left in it.

I tell you, since I joined MSE I've been looking for ways to save without going without things (I'm not in debt anyway), and so far I've saved £630 by various means. Having joined last August, that's £630 in a year.

There's my holiday flight home to visit mum and a few presents sorted.

tawnyowls

I bought some toothpaste squeezers in Morrison's for about 60p, and they're brilliant. They consist of a long plastic key with a slit in the barrel - you slide the end of the tube into the slit, insert the key into the base of the squeezer, which is roughly shaped like an inverted triangle, and start turning the key. The tube wraps round the key and the paste is squeezed up until it reaches its limit and then the tube will stand upright in the squeezer. They work well for ointment and other tubes as well. Once the tube is squeezed to its absolute limiit in the squeezer, I take it out and can usually roll it up a bit more, then finally it's cut open to get the very last bits out.

As for soap, I use squirty soap, as I find that more economical, and when I get down to the last bit, so it can't come up the pump any more, I just add a bit of water, shake well, and then just pour. I do the same with washing-up liquid.

Smashing

I'm past caring if people think I am 'sad' for not throwing away half of what I've paid for.

Aril

None of these tips are too far in my opinion...just standard OS practice I'd say. Just delighted to find that I am not the only one with my ketchup bottle currently stood upside down in my cupboard and a peg on the end of my toothpaste:D I've just chortled my way through a book called "Oi !!!!!!! A celebration of cheap living" and you know when you've gone too far in your money saving attempts when you coast down a hill in your car to fill up with petrol from the cheap garage at the bottom and then make your kids push it back up again so as to not use too much fuel!! I'll use that as my benchmark from now on!!
Aril