More Than A Dozen Ways To Make Sure You Get The Most Bang For Your Buck

When it comes to shopping, you’ve got it down to a science; you budget, haggle, comparison shop, and find the bargains. You always make sure you’re getting maximum bang for your buck. But what about those everyday household products? Are you sure you’re getting all your money’s worth? Most household product packaging just isn’t designed to get every single drop out. You’re very likely wasting valuable dollars throwing out the last of those cleaners, lotions, soaps, and some food.

Don’t despair, there are ways to get at those last few precious drops.

Gravity, that is. By storing bottles upside down, the product gets pulled towards the opening, saving you lots of shaking, pounding, and squeezing. If the bottles shape or lid makes it difficult to store this way, you can put it into a coffee mug or small paper cup.

Not every product can or should be mixed with water, but there are many that are just as effective, even when diluted. Add a bit of water and shake the bottle to loosen what’s left and make it easier to pour out.

Nail polish is a good example of a product that you wouldn’t want to dilute with water, but they make a product especially for this, called Seche Restore. You just add some to your bottle when it gets near the bottom and is too thick to get at.

These handy bottles allow you to use a fraction of the soap, but still get all the cleaning power out of your hand or dish soap. The only warning I should probably dole out for this is to watch your kids when they’re using it. These foaming dispensers are so much fun to use, your kids are likely to defeat the purpose by using it a lot.

When it comes to thicker products that come in a tube, you can access a lot more product by cutting the tube open once you’ve squeezed out everything you can. This also works for pump bottles. You’d be surprised how much is left in there!

When you’re dealing with thick creams, you can put the container into a bowl of hot water for a few minutes. The heat will liquefy it a bit so it will pour out easier. This also works for mascara and lip gloss.

Lipstick can be melted down, poured into a palette and then applied with a brush. The heat from a candle is enough to melt it, but it’s best to scrape the lipstick out into a spoon first.

Wetting that last sliver of your bar of soap will help it to adhere to a new bar of soap, making it much easier to use. It’s important to use this method before that sliver becomes an impossible slimy mess, though.

Foundation can be tricky to get at inside a glass bottle, but adding a little face moisturizer to it will make it a bit more liquid and you can use up that last bit as a tinted moisturizer.

Check out these awesome products especially for getting to the bottom of our tubes, bottles, pumps, and jars.

Sephora Swoon Lip Gloss Pick Up Artist is a lip gloss wand designed to get every last drop.

The Oxo Good Grip silicone spatula is made for getting under the rim and down to every corner of a jar.

Clorox Smart Tube Technology spray bottles will apparently get 98% of the product out.

Spatty is a tiny spatula made for getting the last of your makeup out of its jars. Norpro also sells some spatulas designed especially for this purpose.

My Botto is a handy plastic stand made for holding your bottles upside down so gravity can do its thing.

There are several toothpaste keys and squeezers available on the market for helping you squeeze your tubes (although a smooth glass or rolling pin will likely do as good a job).

FInally, the Last Drop pump bottle is designed with a unique shape in order to get the last drop of shampoo or lotion out of the pump.