Those little things...

[jodi]

that add up over time...What do you do?

Draining one bottle into another, i.e. ketchup. Similarly, I turn the shampoo and conditioner bottles upside down in the shower when they get near empty to squeeze out every last drop. And I make sure to get every possible bit out of the toothpaste tube by using one of those things that squishes all the toothpaste to one end.
DH thinks I am nuts - he throws his toothpaste out as soon as it gets too inconvenient to get any more, which drives me nuts. Please let me know I am not alone...
(as I write this I can't help but think of the "latte factor" article posted a while back!)

[robex]

Tell your DH you are not nuts (or alone). I do the same thing. If I can stretch it out a bit, you bet I'll do it. One more day of use is one more day that I'm not paying for something...

[PRICEPLUS]

Ditto!

[TBH]

Somebody posted on this list a while back that she actually cuts the toothpaste tube open to get a few more days out of it. I won't go that far, but I do squeeze the last little bit out before I throw it away.

The one thing I will toss before it's completely gone is bar soap. My spouse always has these teeny slivers of soap in the soap dish that he's still using. Once it's about a milimeter thick I can't get a good lather so I toss it.

[Ima saver]

I pour from one bottle to another also. But I agree with Claire about the soap.

[tamip]

I also try to use every last drop of toothpaste and shampoo.

With those little slivers of soap to small to use, I collect them in a jar, and add water. I let it sit for a while, shake it up when I think about it, and voila! I refill my liquid soap dispenser in the bathrooms!

Tami

[FrugalTexan75]

My last tube of toothpaste lasted for nearly 4 months. The last two weeks I used it, I kept thinking that there was no way I would be able to get any more out of it. But lo and behold, I was able to squeeze 42 more dots of toothpaste before it finally gave up the ghost.

[Fern]

Jodi, you are most definitely not alone.

I am, perhaps, a little overboard on this subject. something i grew up with, and it stuck.

I don't usually throw away a tissue after one nose blow, cus i don't really 'use up' a whole tissue. i'll leave it there on the bathroom counter, available for one more use!

[LittleGopher]

I do the bottle thing and squeeze the last bit of the toothpaste out too. As far as the soap, I squish the small sliver soap onto the back of the new bar. My dad always did that, so I brought this tradition to my marriage, and can't remember ever throwing a bar of soap. I also use half (or less) of the recommended amounts of detergent. I rip my dryer sheets into thirds and get three times the uses on a box of Target generic sheets. I'm sure there is more, but they are alluding me at the moment...

[Ima saver]

I don't fill up the dishwasher dispenser to full and my dishes are always clean. I don't use the dry cycle in the dishwasher either, that adds about 30 minutes to the cycle and costs a lot more.

[shadon]

I'm with you jodi m. My DH is lazy and would rather throw out the "empty" toothpaste tube but I take it off him and keep using it myself and give him a new tube (he brushes in the shower, I brush at the basin. Still trying to break him of this habit as it such a waste of water and power!).

DH also likes only one type of soap. Naturally this type of soap is expensive, at $1.99 a bar so when he has finished with a bar I delay buying another and give him a Hotel bar of soap (of which we have heaps as I used to travel for work and so does DH). I won't buy him a new bar of soap until he has used at least one Hotel bar. My girls use the main bathroom and all they have ever used in their is Hotel soap.

I use our dishwasher only when guests are over for dinner. I handwash every day (my power bills are already over $600 without using the dw).

[flash]

Originally Posted by Fern

Jodi, you are most definitely not alone.

I am, perhaps, a little overboard on this subject. something i grew up with, and it stuck.

I don't usually throw away a tissue after one nose blow, cus i don't really 'use up' a whole tissue. i'll leave it there on the bathroom counter, available for one more use!

You aren't alone there! I thought of posting that in the thread for extremely frugal things you do, but thought it might offend some. In my poverty days, Mom even had us let the tissue dry, and if you could open it flat, it was reusable. I'm not quite there anymore.

[PrincessPerky]

I would rather use a 'snot rag' (ok so my kids are gross, but it makes them laugh for the fiftymillionth wipe of a cold) and then wash it (takes up almost no room in a load already running)

And the little things are all I have left practically! so we use them. Though I don't marry my conditioner, I add water and use it to spray (no it isn't as good as comercial sprays, but it is close)

[Ima saver]

I just read in a newspaper that hot water makes up for about 35% of your electric bill, so I always wash in cold and only run the h/w heater before a shower or running the dishwasher. Then I turn it right off. I don't leave the house when it is running if possible.

[joeswife]

Originally Posted by Ima saver

I just read in a newspaper that hot water makes up for about 35% of your electric bill. Then I turn it right off.

i was thinking id try to get a hot water heater timer, but i havent gotten to it yet..do you save alot this way? because if you do, then i may just do that when i leave, insted of working for a timer. and a heater blanket..any thougths on that??

the little things i do, my major one is i put a bit of water in my detergent when the bottle is empty and get one more load out of it.

ericka

[lrjohnson]

I love that I'm not alone!

I put a little hot water in condition/shampoo/ketchup/etc. bottles. I don't buy liquid handsoap, but there was a container when I moved in 4 years ago. I put old bar soap in that container, and sometimes water, and sometimes I shake it- still going strong. I wash ziplocs. I dpn't use paper plates or paper napkins, or even paper towels. I did get an old-fashioned diner aper napkin dispenser, and if we ever get take out or fast food I always take the paper napkins and put in the dispenser (sometimes I need to fold them) so if something is too gross for a rag I do have disposable.

I take the small tissue boxes, and refill with toilet paper. I gently lift the flaps. I take a roll of TP and pull out the inner cardboard, and pull a little from the middle. I put the TP in the box and tape down the flaps. I never buy the tissue boxes, but I was given one at work as a joke because they found my TP roll funny (I had a cold!). Actually, just the other day I "scored" an empty box-an exciting moment.

[Ima saver]

Joe's wife, you will save a lot if you turn off the hot water heater. In my first house, I went out in the garage and turned off the breaker switch . I only turned it on 20 minutes before a shower or when running the dishwasher.
We are so used to this, that my husband installs a switch in the kitchen of all the houses he builds. You flip the switch to turn on the hot water. We have a really big house and our elec. bill is usually under $100 a month.
My weakness is: I usually keep all three tv's running all day.

[flash]

Those nasty slivers of bar soap can be chopped up fine, or even a regular bar of soap shaved/shredded, to make hand soap or bubble bath.

Lubriderm or good lotion/creme can be used as is to calm frizzy hair in humidity, or define curls, or a leave in conditioner. Add water and mist as a lightweight leave in. I save extra hairspray pump bottles and spritz my hair with a mist of water, reshape, scrunch, blow dry, etc to refresh whatever styling product is in there; my hair isn't oily, so it can add a day or two to the style without washing or using more product.

I also take the "free" bath gels that come with things, dilute it down into hand soap. My mother-in-law, who is quite wealthy, still dilutes liquid hand soap down so it covers well without wasting. Concentrates are great to buy, but if you don't dilute them, it's easy to use more than ever.

[lrjohnson]

Flash-I go ahead and just break the pieces up small enough to put in the top of my soap pump, so it's pretty easy. Sometimes just once in half does the job. My soap probably isn't the smoothest consistency, but if the water and soap sit long enough they mush nice. I'm not trying to discourage your choppin', just want people who might be lazier (like me) know that soap slivers can be reused with low low effort. Though i suppose piggybacking to the new bar is really even lower effort.

Thanks for the lotion/water/pumpspray idea.

[acezz4e_tish]

i read about the dishwasher by jeffrey and lol i have the rinse and hold so when i noticed it got there today, i opened it and did i ever get a steam facial.lol 2 birds one stone i guess, it felt so good i stood right there a couple mins.lol i laughed so hard. theres another steaming idea.lol i do overfill my soap dispenser, but cascade reccommended i do so. i have oversoft water. so soft, that daughter had her hair done and it took half hour to get all her soap still in her hair out. and we dont use a whole lot i even started a new trick i think i read on here, all on recipes for green living. put it in a hand soap dispenser, use two squirts.