I find that I can get a ton of toiletries, especially shampoo, deoderant, and toothpaste, free or close to it, when they're on sale and I have a (double) coupon. I like to get everything free that I can, then I donate those brands that I normally don't use to the local food pantry. That way, I feel like I'm still contributing to charity even if I don't have the cash to help them out.
I got the idea from
www.cutouthunger.org. They list the weekly sale items by grocery store, along with commonly available coupons. All they ask for in support of the site is that you donate some of the items to charity.