That last half inch....?

Mrs_Boo_Boo

Goodness me yes I do all the things mentioned. Was taught well by my mum.
Am still using a lip gloss given to me by my friend which I cut the top off to get the last bits out. Add a bit of veg oil to mascara to extend the life.
Totally agree about the pump dispensers,a real pain,but can still do it. Find the Tupperware long,thin handled mini plastic bendy spoon very useful.
Why don't people use things up? Have to be a bit inventive with my hubbie cos he'll have loads of half finished toiletries around.
I even open out the puree container and use the bits. It then goes for recycling.

THIRZAH

I also do all the things mentioned-even open the bottom of sugar bags to get the last few grains and I cut oxo cubes in half.

I hate the pump dispensers and try to avoid them.I used to buy foundation in one and got so cross if I couldn't get it all out.Now I buy tubes and cut them open and scrape out what's left into a small pot so it doesn't dry up.

Those wooden coffee stirrers are good for getting the last bits out of small jars.

peb

Currently the shampoo, shower gel and face wash bottles are all balanced upside down in the bathroom to get the last out of them - the new face wash has been waiting for nearly a month since I thought the old one was nearly done!

katieowl_2

Maggie_Bob wrote: »

my Dad once told me that Mr Hellman's (or whoever) claimed they made all their money from the sauce that people don't use - ie the excess on your plate and left in the jar!

It was Mr Coleman!!! My Gran used to say it too!

Yep I use every last drop of everything too. Mustard jars get saved when they are nearly empty to make vinaigrette dressings in (shake in the jar collects everthing left) I sometimes use mayo jars for that too. Any tomato sauce, brown sauce or similar get a swill of water and go into shepherds pies etc.

I bought a special mini scraper to get into peanut butter jars but sometimes they get swilled out into curry or satay sauce.

I rinse tinned tomatoes out too, as lots of juice sticks to the sides, if I have say three cans, I put water into the first, swill pour into the second, swill, and then onto the third - well I have to rinse them before they go in the recycling so I may as well get the 1/4 can of juice?

I even rinse out the dog food tins with warm water to make 'gravy' for their doggie dinners.

I have been known to balance an empty bottle of cooking oil upside down in a pan for a while to get the last of the oil out...

Toothpastes get cut open, shampoo and conditioners are also swilled for a final use.

I can't abide waste...it brings me out in a rash :rotfl:

Kate

lostinrates

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

It's my weird thing and I accept that

we all have them

(my weird one is struggling to eat meat off bones: thus chicken wings sometimes becaome soup but more often...become cat or dog food). Thighs I eat because they are the yummiest part, but....dh picks my bones.

01001011

lol I am quite notorious for doing all that. For jam jars I just put a slice of bread into the jar and then wipe the inside clean with the help of a chopstick.

tahrey

Course I do. Waste not, want not. So long as you don't get absurd about it.

I can recall being a student and hitting my borrowing limits, trying to make a variation of cauliflower cheese on the last day before going home (train ticket already bought, thankfully) with all the leftover ends of veg, a tiny square of cheese, a splash of milk, a packet of mustard nicked from the halls of residence bar in more affluent times, and... no flour. Mayo and the last dusty remnants of gravy instead. Had I been as willing to toss unfinished stuff away as some of my fellows, or some members of my family, I wouldn't have had anything to eat.
(Yeah, I could have dialled home, to have mum call me back and drop some cash in my account to cover a couple days, but - stubborn pride in having ridden the term out without having to, I figured I could make the final week)

Discovering that if you put some water in an apparently finished bottle of shampoo and shook it up, it would dissolve all the crusty remnants off the inside and it'd last another week, particularly as you don't have to use anywhere near as much to get nicely clean hair as the adverts suggest. All that stuff.

So it still irks if I have to throw something away because it's unexpectedly gone bad, or I've forgotten about it, or - most particularly - I'm trying something new on a whim and it turns out to be disgusting. I can count off every single thing I've done that with in the last 10 years, on one hand... you can swallow a surprising amount of stuff if you find something even more strongly, and pleasantly flavoured to drown it out.

Because although I'm not getting every single last drop out of every carton, and don't expressly need to (meagre, but sufficient salary), I do try to stretch things out in a sensible way so that I NEVER _NEED_ to do that ever again.

Fasting is something I can do, by choice, if needs be... but being forced into it for whatever reason is a horrible state to be in... which I have experienced because of other wierd circumstances (a friend's stayover party that went BADLY wrong). Same as losing your normal form of transport.

lostinrates wrote:

(my weird one is struggling to eat meat off bones: thus chicken wings sometimes becaome soup but more often...become cat or dog food)

AH! I *knew* I was forgetting something. Soup bones! I've made particularly wonderful soup before from otherwise "finished" bony cuts of meat and otherwise unusable bits of veg and the like (use of a well stocked spice/herb rack, which costs comparitively little week on week to build up, also helps massively here). A great way of getting that last bit of nutrition out of it... which is surely honouring the animals' sacrifice better than taking a couple bites and hooning it in the bin... not to mention that meat is well expensive these days!

Don't think I've got any particularly bony stuff in the freezer right now (it's all mince, or leftover bbq burgers, or boneless fillets that were on the clearance shelf...) but I'll have to leave myself a reminder should I go crazy and invest in a roastable chicken or something.

It's almost free except for a few pence of electricity to boil and simmer the stock, and a similar amount for the seasoning (i have a particularly distinct jar of oregano which was bought abroad, and when i refilled it had lasted either the entire duration, or only been refilled once before... the refill was less than a quid), and is easy as anything.

euronorris

valk_scot wrote: »

But then I got to wondering...how many other folk do the same? Am I really that mean?????

Nope, I don't think so. I do the exact same thing.

OH thinks I'm mental for doing it, I think he's mental for NOT doing it. What a waste!

valk_scot

:)Well I'm pleased to hear I'm in such good company. And I've even picked up a few more tips...I especially like the one about making the next batch of vinigrette in the empty but not yet washed mustard jar. I'll remember that!

CH27

Margaret52129 wrote: »

The worse bottles ever to get the last stuff out of is my face serum (Aldi's). The pump stops working near the bottom and even if I turn the bottle upside down, the stuff never moves and it's too narrow a neck to get a finger down, but too long for a cotton bud! SOOOOOOO annoying!

In fact I really don't like any pump action bottles as there is always something left at the bottom that you can never get out!

Use those cotton wool bus on sticks:D

I use the last dregs of everything too.