I hate to pay money for some things.....like liquid hand soap.
And since I can't always get it for free at Rite-Aid, I do weird things, like this.....
I buy clearanced gift sets after Christmas.
You know, those fragrancey shower gels and gift set stuff that go 50% off and even more off if they sit on the shelf long enough after the Holidays.....
Here's a bottle from a set of 8 shower gels I got for 75% off after Christmas 2 years ago. The whole set of 8 had been $14.99 and was marked down to $3.75 or something equally ridiculous.
Comparing the ingredient labels, I found that the liquid hand soap and the shower gel were composed of the same stuff.
So I took this.....
An almost empty bottle of hand soap and did this......
Added the shower gel and left a little room to add about a 1/3 cup of water since the gel was thicker than the hand soap had been. Since the hand soap had a little left I couldn't use the whole bottle of gel so I put another 1/4 cup of water in the shower gel bottle and refilled the hand soap container later as it emptied.
By slowly tipping the container up and down, the water and old hand soap mixes with the shower gel without a mass of bubbles. The old hand soap floated to the top but eventually it emulsified with the gel.
Voila!....you have a full bottle of liquid hand soap for far less than buying more hand soap, even a refill sized jug!
Those 8 bottles of shower gel were each 8 oz., so that's 64 oz. Add 1/2 cup of water per bottle to thin to hand soap consistency is 32 oz. more, so a total of 96 oz. of new hand soap for $3.75.
That's about 10-12 bottles of hand soap for under .40¢ each.
Sluggy
And since I can't always get it for free at Rite-Aid, I do weird things, like this.....
I buy clearanced gift sets after Christmas.
You know, those fragrancey shower gels and gift set stuff that go 50% off and even more off if they sit on the shelf long enough after the Holidays.....
Here's a bottle from a set of 8 shower gels I got for 75% off after Christmas 2 years ago. The whole set of 8 had been $14.99 and was marked down to $3.75 or something equally ridiculous.
Comparing the ingredient labels, I found that the liquid hand soap and the shower gel were composed of the same stuff.
So I took this.....
By slowly tipping the container up and down, the water and old hand soap mixes with the shower gel without a mass of bubbles. The old hand soap floated to the top but eventually it emulsified with the gel.
Voila!....you have a full bottle of liquid hand soap for far less than buying more hand soap, even a refill sized jug!
Those 8 bottles of shower gel were each 8 oz., so that's 64 oz. Add 1/2 cup of water per bottle to thin to hand soap consistency is 32 oz. more, so a total of 96 oz. of new hand soap for $3.75.
That's about 10-12 bottles of hand soap for under .40¢ each.
Sluggy
You're always teaching me something, aren't you? Fred, as had imagined he would, has become obsessed with couponing. But I forgot that his obsessions can get on my nerves. This morning, he forgot to feed the kids before school. I had to remind him in the last 10 minutes and he rushed to put something together. m.
ReplyDeleteSluggy, I posted my shampoo solution to buying hand soap on my blog some time ago. Short version: I purchased shampoo my hair liked, but had ceased to like for 37 cents a 15 oz. bottle, poured it into the old soft soap dispenser and have been collecting bottles of shampoo for free, ones no one else wanted or tired of. I think I spent less than a quarter on each of the shampoo refills in the beginning and in a month or so it will be free shampoo-turned-hand-soap...just another idea for your repertoire of amazing savings tips. from your biggest fan....Linda Of course, you know I am not trying to outdo you. How on earth could I???
ReplyDeleteGood job!!!! I think I'll be cleaning out my cupboards this weekend looking for old shampoos and old shower gels...
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! You are so resourceful!
ReplyDelete