My Dad knows how to squeeze out the last of everything to save a few bucks. Below is a guest post with some of his minor household frugalities. I may sound like a broken record here, but together they add up.
1. If you like liquid hand soap, buy a large container and refill small dispensers instead of buying new small dispensers. Saves money and reuses the plastic containers. In the Bay Area, gallon containers of soap can be bought at Costco and Smart & Final.
2. To use the last bit of a bar of soap, when a bar gets thin, get out a new bar. Use both in a shower, then press them together. They will essentially fuse, and you get to completely use the old bar instead of having the last thin piece break up and go down the drain.
3. I use liquid laundry detergent. When a container is almost empty, I start a new one. When the new one has some space, I put a large plastic funnel in its opening and invert the old container over the funnel and leave it overnight, so ALL of it can drain out, into the new container.
4. The new plastic mayo containers, that you store upside down, are actually not for the frugal. First, it’s so much fun to squeeze it that I almost always get too much on my sandwich (hey, the designers aren’t stupid; they want you to use as much as possible.) Then, because of the shape, it’s hard to get the last of the mayo out of the container. It doesn’t all run down to the mouth, and without a curved knife (or a very long finger), you can’t clean out the container. Stick with wide-mouth glass jars; eschew plastic.
5. When a tube of toothpaste gets near the end,I use the handle of a toothbrush to squeeze the tube flat and force the contents to the end with the opening. (I admit to never having cut open a tube. Squeezing the end flat is good enough for me.
6. For a few months, I’ve been taking my sandwich to work in a square plastic container (like Tupperware) instead of a disposable plastic sandwich bag. Money saving to me is trivial, but it does eliminate the cost of manufacturing, packaging, transporting, etc the bag; and essentially all plastics are made from oil (unless from recycled plastic.)
7. Then, there’s an idea I’ve had for years but never tried to implement, and I’ve never seen anything like it in a kitchen store. If you remember chemistry lab, there were things called ring stands: a flat base with a vertical rod, to which rings of various sizes could be clamped. If this were a kitchen tool, bottles like catsup and salad dressing could be inverted in the ring and allowed to completely drain. I store nearly empty salad dressing bottles upside-down in the fridge, but you can never get that last couple of tablespoons of think ranch dressing out.
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price.
Nice tips, Bargain Babe! I personally have been using # 1,2,5 & 6 for many years now.
BTW you make-up one of my Blogroll pillars 🙂
Thanks so much for adding me to your blogroll!
I am using many of these tips already, but #4 is one that I *will not* be doing. We don’t have any glass recycling in my community, but we *do* have plastic recycling, and that is why I buy my mayonnaise in plastic now.
What also works for the toothpaste is to simply hold the tube from both ends and press the bottom edge against the edge of the sink; then just swipe it along the edge in a downward motion. This flattens it too.
Another way to extend liquid hand soap is to dilute it with water. You don’t need such concentrated soap and often you have to rinse a lot to get rid of the last vestiges of it from your hands. If you dilute it, however, you’ll find that you have enough soap to do the job, AND you’ll save water by not having to rinse your hands for so long. A friend of mine made her own liquid hand soap by putting the little bar soap remains in a container, adding water, and shaking.
Great tips! I never thought of putting a sliver of soap into a bottle but it makes sense.
Great Tips, thanks Bargain babe
Another tip – buy the #10 size can (commercial size) of ketchup and put it into your existing plastic ketchup bottles. You can get a #10 can for around $3 and it fills 1 & 1/2 of the super large size plastic bottles (which usually cost around $4 each bottle)
hi i agree with all of your ideas about saving every last
bit of whatever you have to use, such as laundry
soap, toothpaste, etc. Hey we paid money to buy it
why throw away any of it. but i bought these little
things that you attach to the end of toothpaste tube
that squeeze it flat for you. they are basically two
small plastic rods held together by something like a
rubber band. I use these for other tube things like
hand lotion. but i do cut the tube open and use every
last bit. I also cut open many other tube stuff, like
hand lotion etc. I use the glass mayo jar and when empty i save and use for leftover food storage, such as soup, thus recycling the glass myself.
With my toothpaste, I use the toothpaste squeegee to get the last of the toothpaste out. When I can’t get anymore out of it with the squeegee, I cut the toothpaste container and scoop it out. This in turn gets another brushing or two out. You can buy them at the grocery stores or drugstore for a few bucks. Totally worth it! But, before you buy one, I’d suggest getting one with the rubber bands on the end versus the hard plastic mold one. I had the plastic one and it broke. Then I bought the one with the rubber bands on the ends and it works perfectly! Another bonus? You can use for any other tube to get the last bit out!
Another great tip for liquid soap: I bought one of the foaming soap bottles. I refill it with a mixture of half (or less) liquid soap and water. Works great! You can also use dish soap.