Body Wash?!?

[Paintbrush]

Have you tried making your own salt scrub? You can find sea salt in the stores and then just add your favorite oil which can either be found in some stores or online. Almond, Olive, Coconut, Peach, Cherry Kernel and just about any oil is great. Then if you want it scented you'll just need a couple of drops of essential oil or fragrance oil if you don't mind some unnaturalness. You can even add regular vanilla if you like the smell.

You're a genius! IDK why I never thought of this before. I'm normally a bigtime DIYer.

I think I'm going to go look at the Arbonne ingredients now. I gotta get the scent right!

[Niddi]

I will never buy hand soap again, I just use body wash to refill all the dispensers. It also is great for a quick cleaning of the tub and sink, gets rid of soapscum, a quick squirt on the toilet brush and a few swishes around the commode keeps it clean as well.
I also donate it and put it in giftbaskets at Christmas. I love the suds on my bath puff and some of the great fragrances, DH on the other hand won't use anything but his bar of Irish Spring.

[JulieDB]

I've been using it for years. Used to be I would use a scent to match my perfume. Now I just use Dove. I got a big pack at Costco so won't have to get any more for a looooong time.

I actually threw a lot of it out. I had some from Yves Rocher. Due to the way they used to do their orders, I got tons of it for free or a reduced price. Then there was some kind of big mess up with a couple of orders I placed and the end result was a ton of free stuff that I didn't really need. I had ordered it as Christmas presents but it didn't come in time. Yes, body wash does expire. You could probably still safely use it but the color will dim and the scent can dim as well. I just threw it all out.

You can use it for hand washable clothing provided it isn't the moisturizing kind.

[amyjk]

FREE items are needed and wanted by somebody, even if that isn't you and your family. why not use your coupon skills to bless someone else? there are shelters, churches, missions, retirement homes etc. that have contact with people that are really in need and would be so grateful for FREE items they cannot afford-- people that don't have the luxury of saying, "oh, i don't really like the texture or smell of that bodywash."
i'm not slamming you, i'm just pointing out that you are fortunate to be in a position to make choices like that, while many people would put to good use all those things your family doesn't 'need'.

i always figure-- if it's free, SOMEONE needs it-- fixodent, noodles, prep h, glucose monitors, etc. there are many items my family doesn't use, but they still go right in m y cart-- i see my savings as a gift that i can share with others-- one that only costs me a little of my time.

[cheapdate29]

Sure, they are recyclable, but most communities aren't set up to recycle plastic and things like shampoo and body wash bottles go straight to the landfill. A bar of soap only has a piece of paper or cardboard to recycle.

I have the same concern with packaging and yeah, lots of that plastic ends up in our oceans and kills wildlife. I make my own drinks and tea reusing glass bottles (before Fuze went to plastic) but DH still likes his Sobe Lifewater which results in a mountain of bottles. So far I've been able to reuse them as water reservoirs in self-irrigated planters (similar to Earthboxes) but haven't found a way to recycle the body wash containers. Rinsing them out wastes a lot of water!

We live outside the city limits so don't have curbside recycling and the market isn't that great for plastics anyway. Every scrap of paper gets tossed into the recycling bins in town after I've fished the inserts out of the bin, of course.

[buffalobarb]

Just my two cents but if you don't like using it because it feels "slimy" I found that if I use one of those pouf scrubbie things it takes on a totally different feel. I hated it before I started using that to apply it.

[fluttervale]

I'll use it in gift baskets at Christmas. After all, it's stuff that people do pay for.

I also intend on donating to local charities.

Right now, HBC has to be free (or nearly so, for razor cartridges) since I've got enough. Same with household cleaners. I'm working on crunching my food budget. Still not sure what the kid's going to eat. (My friend's 16 y/o son is coming to live with me on Sunday for 4.5 months or so.) So trying to have lots of choices.

I've always donated to the Pine Ridge Reservation and am thinking about doing a "free drive" sort of thing. We'll see what happens in 2012. But I think it'd be a great idea to see how many people you can help with things that retailers are giving away.