The utter joy of 'finishing' a household item...

[Icantremembermyusername]

I'm not a scrooge, lol! But I totally enjoy using up 'stuff'. Today was a hat trick: filled the washing up liquid bottle with hot water and used it to do the dishes (new bottle in the cupboard), snipped the top of my moisturiser (enough in the tube for a few more days!), took the crusts left from the loaf of bread to dunk in my soup at work. Anyone else get a thrill out of an empty container?

And I thought it was just me - thank you @Icantremembermyusername excellent thread.

I just love finishing things, but I also love buying stuff to (more than) replace it.

I also like refilling things, like hand soap dispenser and washing up liquid from a big bottle
I keep a small Fairy washing up liquid bottle; and when I get the "50% free" big ones I decant into it. When you've got wet hands the big one is a bit difficult to handle.

@Winnietherose

Omg I have found my people. Most satisfying for me is always sun cream on holiday, when you take three bottles and finish them. I get very frustrated in the shower when my teens are always starting new bottles of shampoo etc before the old one has gone. I also like refilling things, like hand soap dispenser and washing up liquid from a big bottle. Small pleasures….

Aaargh, the teens. And DH. They never, ever finish a bottle before starting a new one. They seem to think the last 10%-20% of a bottle is toxic or something!

I love this too. Dp will throw away a washing up bottle that still has loads left I'm forever taking it out of the recycling for one more use.

Ohhhh I love this. For me the best thing is using up any medication that comes in a plastic and foil wrapped sheet - like paracetamol. I really dislike seeing the empty compartments once you have taken a tablet out and feel much happier when I can throw out an empty. I'm almost at the end of my huge box of dishwasher tablets and getting giddy that I'll soon be able to decant the remaining tablets into the new box

I'm the opposite and find it joyous to open any new household items! I particularly love opening a new box of soap powder and smelling all that freshness, a new jar of coffee / jam and a new box of tea bags and separating them all!

I get a special thrill from decanting multiple three quarter used containers into just the one. I have hand soap in the cupboard that I use for topping up. So I think my joy is more filling than emptying 🤭

I am currently trying to "use up" trainers. I usually buy a new pair to go on holiday as they're comfy for sightseeing and old pairs tend to get stuffed under the bed.

Didn't go on holiday this year and realised I had 6 pairs of trainers in various states of decay. I chucked one pair out last month when the soles fell off and I reckon the pair I'm wearing now might last till the end of the month till the toes go through, then I'll start wearing the next worst pair and so on. By the time I eventually go on holiday again I'll be able to justify buying a new pair.

@BordelDeMerde

Ooh, I'm your opposites, sort-of!

A few years ago, I bought a n
deodorant and the smell of it was a bit manky for some reason. Imagine my joy when, about halfway through the can, I realised I was a grown-up and didn't have to continue to use the horrible deodorant until it was all gone - I could just throw it out and buy a new one!

Since then, I have successfully managed to persuade myself to throw out various other things I wasn't enjoying, rather than just hanging on to them because there was still some left. The liberation!

I have bath crystals my dh bought me for Christmas. Normally I’d be in heaven, just my kind of thing, but sadly, they smell like Toilet Duck! If I throw them out, he might notice. I’m stuck, help!

For me the best thing is using up any medication that comes in a plastic and foil wrapped sheet - like paracetamol. I really dislike seeing the empty compartments once you have taken a tablet out and feel much happier when I can throw out an empty

I cut off the empty compartments

I have bath crystals my dh bought me for Christmas. Normally I’d be in heaven, just my kind of thing, but sadly, they smell like Toilet Duck! If I throw them out, he might notice. I’m stuck, help!

They sound perfect for freshening the toilet..

@Glenmarnoch

The best is the empty space in the fridge when the strawberries, grapes and blueberries get finished. All the plastic does make me a bit sad though

I refuse my plastic tubs - our snack drawer, box of paints, other fridge items (eg cheese strings etc) so they live on as storage containers.

@IWanderedLonely

How about lipstick? Takes me months to use up once it's got to the lowest it will wind out to. Use an old eyeshadow applicator minus the sponge. I'm not tight, honest

I scoop out the remaining lipstick that's in the tube, and put it in a little pot ...

Makes you realise how much gets wasted if you don't do this and throw things away when they start to feel empty. It's about 10-20% of most products I'd say.

I bought long handled teaspoons to get the rest of the peanut butter out of sunpat jars, you know the bit that lurks in the curvy out bits

The peanut butter thing has reminded me of something else I do. Whenever a jar of chocolate spread is finished, I heat up the last scrapings in the corner with some warm milk & my boys get a special hot chocolate

Also, any empty ketchup/brown sauce bottles or Marmite jars get rinsed out & the dregs added to bolognese or cottage pie.

Aaargh, the teens. And DH. They never, ever finish a bottle before starting a new one. They seem to think the last 10%-20% of a bottle is toxic or something!

Snap. So annoying. Especially things that I personally won't use or don't often use. They then leave them lying around because they can't be bothered to wash it out for recycling.

Yup. I used to buy moderately fancy toiletries by mail order and accumulated quite a stockpile. So there’s the double satisfaction of finishing things and watching the stockpile dwindle as replacements come out of the cupboard.

I absolutely love the achievement of using something up, the delight I feel in putting buying something off for an extra week or so, never wasting any of it saves so much money.
I hate my DH draw top though he has about half a million cans of deodorant, surely one is enough.
And I always take almost used toiletries on holiday to throw out when done I used to spend so much money on miniatures that I don't now even planning to have dregs left and putting them to one side to take away with me.

I can get at least a week's use out of a shower gel after DP declares it empty, just because he can't be arsed to tap and squeeze the bottle.

Yes I enjoy this too. I especially like taking the bag with the last bit of cereal and putting it into the top of the new box. I got very excited at the weekend when I was able to consolidate several open packets of fish fingers into one box!

Yes! Finishing all the veg in the fridge in a delicious soup is a particular favourite

I got very excited at the weekend when I was able to consolidate several open packets of fish fingers into one box!

Snap!! Although, my enjoyment was tempered by being peeved that someone had opened the new box without finishing the old one.

My particular joy was actually finishing a tube of lip balm.

Usually, I lose it before I finish it but that particular one I got to the mighty end and the feeling was glorious!

I'm off to buy a new one and relish opening it and using it for the first time.

Chills!

Ooh yes I love this! I buy a new bottle of something and put it in my storage cupboard ready for the old one to get used up. I particularly love decanting my shampoos/conditioners into a new bottle as I can never finish a set at the same time. That would be the holy grail! I always try and 'upgrade' each time I buy something new, i.e. laundry liquid or soap

@HumbugWhale

Yes I enjoy this too. I especially like taking the bag with the last bit of cereal and putting it into the top of the new box. I got very excited at the weekend when I was able to consolidate several open packets of fish fingers into one box!

🤣