Make Your Own Foaming Dish Soap

After seeing the exorbitant price of foaming dish soap in the store, I figured I could make the same thing for much cheaper.  I use dish soap samples, which makes the soap completely free, & a few pumps work just as well as a squirt of regular dish soap. Yeah!  Here's how to make it:  

Simply take an empty foaming soap dispenser & your dish soap. (The same method can be used to make hand soap, just replace the dish soap with hand soap.)

Fill 1/4 of the pump with soap & fill the remainder with water.  Gently mix together.

Voila, you have foaming dish soap! Just add a few pumps to a sink of dishes & you're good to go.  Look forward to long lasting bottles of dish soap & fewer trips to the store!

Freebies In My Mailbox

I love getting the mail every day.  I look forward to it primarily because our mail is frequently peppered with free samples.  I definitely feel conflicted about the amount of waste that smaller sized samples create, but I do try to only order the samples I'll use & recycle all possible materials from the packaging.  I've found that for our budget, samples are a HUGE blessing, as are the coupons that often accompany them.  Here is an example of what we've received in the last week and a half:

Tide Pods
Sample box of Quaker Oat Squares & $1 off coupon (not pictured)
Purex Ultra Pack
Purex Detergent & $0.50 Purex coupon
3 bags of Lipton Tea (Not pictured) & $0.75 off coupon
Marley Organic Coffee
Gevalia Coffee
2 Dr. Weil for Origins Mega-Bright Serum
Garnier Pure Clean Shampoo sample
3 Tampax Tampons & 3 $1 off coupons
1 oz Craisin sample with accompanying coupon for a free bag of Craisins
 And I'm still waiting on my P&G sampler

 If you're interested in learning more about samples, find out my methods for getting free samples here.

Repurposing an Unusable Sample

I love to try new things, especially if they're free, so I always sign up for samples.  Usually they are wonderful & a great supplement to our household supplies, but occasionally I get one that I just cannot use.  

Enter Downy UnStopables, something that I assumed was a fabric softener.  In actuality they're little pellets you add to your wash that are meant to make your laundry smell flowery (chemically) until you wash it again.  The problem is that it smelled so strong inside the packaging that it literally made my lungs hurt. 

Then I had a thought, use this putrid smelling chemical concoction to cover a more putrid smell--diapers.  Our diaper pail has a built in little tray at the top for a refresher.  I simply poured the little pellets in & reattached the tray.  

They're working beautifully & I'm happy that my sample didn't go to waste.  If only everything in life had such a simple solution.  

Mail Time!

Anyone remember that song from Blue's Clues?  Mail time is seriously one of my favorite parts of the day. With regularity the mail truck pulls up in front of our house & brings me many wondrous treasures.

Here is an example of my mailbox one day last week.  It contained 3 tampons, 2 sticks of deodorant, 1 biscotti, 2 flossers, 2 coffee creamers, 1 laundry detergent sample, a coupon for a free Glade product, a coupon for a free coffee creamer, E's Dolly Parton book, a $15.99 rebate check, and many other high value coupons.  It's seriously better than Christmas! 

I do realize that sending away for samples might not be the greenest of choices, but it is something that I need to do to live our frugal little life.  I try to be as responsible as possible & recycle all of the packaging, but I do realize that this can create a lot of extra paper. 

 

If you do send away for samples, please be responsible about it & RECYCLE the packaging, as well as all other envelopes, etc. that come in your mail.  

Speaking of recycling, have any of you seen the best stamps of all time?  The post office has released new forever stamps that show different ways to go green.  They're seriously so awesome I'm going to stock up so I have enough to last me till I'm 82! 

JC's aunt & uncle got these for me as a birthday present.  Do they know me or what?!

Yet another reason to love mail time...

Meet Grandma

I believe in relishing in the kitch of childhood for as long a possible.  My going to grandma's suitcase is still my favorite way to travel.  Unfortunately it is too petite to fit any of my clothes, but it makes the perfect train case.

Not only do I not like to buy toiletries, I also don't like to buy the small bags that keep all of my petite little sample sizes organized.  I've tried to reuse as many little things as possible to keep everything organized.  Let me show you...

This held a Kiss My Face gift from my mom & dad.  It comes in so handy for holding larger travel sized items.
 

This little container was from a sample from a pharmaceutical company I believe.  

Our travel sized first aid kit is held in an old Strawberry Short Cake Band-Aid container,

While hair accessories are held in an old Altoid tin. 

 

I've found this way of traveling with samples to be highly effective, and using my grandma suitcase always makes me smile.  If you have any tiny suitcases, or find a vintage train case in an antique store, I highly recommend using samples and found/reused containers.

Shampoo Samples

I have written before about the money saving wonderfulness that is sampling.  I just wanted to show one of the many benefits from collecting samples.

This is my linen closet.  I can honestly say that I probably spent around $15 for everything you see here.  What wasn't received as a gift, I either purchased with a coupon for free or less than one dollar, or I got the item as a sample.  Now what do I do with all of these lil bottles, besides save them for travel?    I simply collect enough of a like kind of shampoo, etc, and fill a regular size bottle. 

 

I just set it on a high shelf, undisturbed, and then whenever I'm in the bathroom during the day I switch out the empty bottle.  It doesn't require much time, and by the end of all those samples I had nearly filled the whole shampoo bottle.  Not bad, for free.  

Samples received a day in November

If you haven't already considered sampling, it is a serious money saver.  Additionally, samples usually come with high dollar coupons that, when combined with a sale, can result in very inexpensive full sized products.  And always, the excess can be donated to local food banks and women's shelters. 

I highly recommend it.

Bag O' Toiletries

Today I packed all of the toiletries I would need for our trip in India in this tiny little bag for free.  How is that possible you ask?  Why samples of course!  The entire contents of this zipper pouch, and the pouch itself were all free samples that I have joyfully collected. 

Now I know some people find a 0.05 once package of toothpaste completely useless, but here is a totally wonderful use!  These tiny sample packages will go through airport security, and after collecting them through the year, I most certainly have enough to last our entire Christmas vacation!  Plus, you can't beat the price!

If you haven't considered sampling, try it out!  In my opinion it is definitely worth the time and effort.

You can find more ways to save money on your toiletries here.

Take A Peek At My Frugal Shower

The best frugal living book that I know is The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn.  In fact, I would go as far as saying Amy Dacyzyn is the Godfather of the modern frugal living movement--if there is such a thing.  I adore her book and use it as a reference continuously.  

One of the more charming features of her book are the hand drawn photos of what a frugal person's home would look like.  A picture of their fridge, a picture of their garage, etc.  When thinking of what to write today I thought I would present my own frugal shower.  NOW, before I get people jumping down my throat, I want to explain something.  I try to be as green as possible, but I do not extend that effort to my toiletries.  I would like to, LOVE to in fact, but natural toiletries are about triple the price of mainstream products and are rarely free with coupons.  My friends and family know that I like natural products and often provide them to me as gifts, but I cannot see making room in our budget to pay for things that I can otherwise get for free.  If that makes me a horrible environmentalist, I own it.  

But I digress...

This is what our frugal shower looks like:

In our shower caddy, on the right, we have multiple bottles that I have filled with samples.  I send away for them, wait until I have a few of the same kind and squirt them all in a little bottle.  I realize to some that this might seem tedious, but I genuinely enjoy it.  Call me a freak, but I find it relaxing to fill up those little bottles.  I like switching brands often, and dare I say it, I find it EXCITING to try something new.  (I'm sure I could get help for this condition somewhere).    On the left that yellow tub is a sugar scrub that was a Christmas gift.
On the bottom left there is a toothpaste sample and on the right a bar of soap that was a gift. 
 

On the other side, the Gillette body was wash free after a coupon.  The orange tube of body wash was a gift.  The water bottle is from the hospital and is now holding Emerson's Hiney wash.  The bottle of Citre Shine conditioner was a gift from my Dad.  It was $3 for a salon size at Big Lots and I couldn't rationalize spending money on it (even though it is my absolute favorite) when I can get conditioner for free.  My dad, seeing my freakish tightwad struggle, bought me not one, but two bottles.  If that isn't fatherly love, I don't know what is.  The last bottle is a leftover from JC's bachelor days.  It is probably a million years old, but he sometimes uses it, so it's still hanging around.

Total Amount Spent on Entire Shower of Toiletries:  $0


I try not to pay anything for toiletries for our household if at all possible.  If I can't get shampoo and conditioner for free after coupons, I will use my stockpiled samples until I can find a deal on a full sized bottle.  For Emerson, I try to pay less than $1 for Aveeno products, and $0.50 for Johnson & Johnson products after coupons.  The largest expenses we ever have are razors and I tend to be able to find JC a sample or two just about the time he needs them, so I don't think I've had to pay for any razors for him in the last three years.  For my razors, I buy whatever is on sale and the cheapest.  Last week, after two coupons, I paid a little under $0.50 a blade for me.   (I try to keep a bottom price for each toiletry and stick to it. It helps me stay on budget).

How I do it in 3 easy steps:

1.  Give Samples a Chance--  I adore sampling.  If it could be considered a hobby, it would be mine.  I find many, many samples linked from MoneySavingMom.com and StyleforFree.com.  I have also found in my years of sampling, that samples are cyclical.  For instance, when I first started sampling deodorant samples were being given out like candy.  At the moment, I'm find that toothpaste and laundry detergent samples are prevalent.  If you stock up, when samples are being given, you should be able to get by for a long time without having to purchase anything.

2.  Don't Be A Monogamist--Switch brands.  A lot.  Buy what is on sale or the lowest price after a coupon.  Sure, I have personal preferences and I try to find them at my absolute bottom price, but most of the time, I just use whatever I can get for free.  Gotta love free.

3.  Ask & You Shall Receive--If you must have a certain brand of [insert toiletry here], put the word out that you like whatever it may be.  My mom and sisters always make a point of trying to buy me a few special bottles of lotion or body scrub that they know I will like.  That usually keeps me pretty stocked through the year.

Try to adopt just one of these methods, and I am certain you will see a HUGE dent in your toiletry budget.