What do you do when your favorite bottle of lotion [appears] to run out? Do you toss out the bottle (or recycle it, if possible) and add it to your shopping list?
Did you know that there can be up to four more weeks of product left in the bottle when your pump or spout no longer puts out? Ah, the wonder of package marketing. With a few extra steps, you can be sure that you’re getting your money’s worth on every last drop of your favorite lotion, moisturizer, concealer, etc.
If it’s a pump bottle, unscrew the pump and use it as a dip stick to dig out more of the product. When this no longer works, hit the bottle upside down on your palm until more of the product comes loose. When this no longer works, it’s time to break out all of the stops: cut the bottle. By cutting a larger opening into the bottle, you can use your fingers to scrape along the sides and bottom of the bottle, extracting every last drop of product.
If your product is in a tube or screw top bottle, skip directly to cutting the container.
When working with a soap product (liquid hand soap, face wash, shampoo, dish soap), you can extend the last bit of it by adding a little water.
Over time, you’ll save yourself money on the amount of products you buy and you’ll save landfills from additional waste.
Photo by tanakawho.
Love this post. This advice seems so commonplace and sensible but we forget these basic facts and need to be reminded every now and again.
I wondered if you would like to link this to “Buddy’s”. It’s a group of us who are trying to promote ways of dealing with the present economic situation and to help families who have never had to think “frugally”. We have “Buddy’s” every Friday and would love you to join us. The link is on my blog.
Margaret
I always mix my dish soap with water in another bottle that way I don’t use to much and it makes a bottle last way longer
Another way I use to get out all of the lotion is to add a very little bit of olive oil, which thins the remaining lotion just a bit and helps it to come out better. I have “cleaned” up many lotion bottles this way. The key to it is only adding the least amount of oil it takes.
What a great idea Cara. This really is a fantastic blog, which is why I’ve got an award waiting for you over at my rubbish site. Please feel free to give it a polish and reuse or share it
Here’s a tip that I use all the time. I found it on another blog (I can’t recall which). Instead of cutting the bottle or scraping the bottle with the pump stick, take the pump stick out completely and try screwing a soda bottle cap onto the bottle. You can then turn the bottle over and leave it turned over so the product drips down and you’ll get every last drop over time. Not every pump bottle will be the right size for the cap to fit, but most are.
[...] There could be several weeks’ worth of product still lurking in a pump bottle that will no longer pump anything out. Make sure you get every last drop of your lotions and soaps. [...]
[...] every last drop. Whether you drain bottles to make sure you’ve used every bit of product or cut them to get at those last bits stuck to the sides, you’re doing yourself a favor. Many manufacturers set bottles up not to let you get all the [...]
The Beauty Spoon® is the solution to this problem!