The odds are good that your bathroom cupboard is filled with tubes, and the odds are even better that some of those tubes will be thrown out before they are empty. Here are the best tactics for getting every last drop out.
Our post on the D-TUBE-IT — a nifty device for ensuring you get every last drop out of a tube — inspired a host of comments and emails on other methods for making sure you don’t waste toothpaste/skin cream/anything else that comes in a tube.
The most popular suggestion was simply to squeeze the tube against a solid edge, such as the corner of the sink. You might need a few passes to get stuff at the very bottom of the tube, but this will work well (and if you do end up with an unexpected overflow because you forgot to leave the cap on, at least it will only land in the sink). A variant possibility is to use an aerosol can (deodorant, shaving cream, air freshener) as an impromptu roller.
The other major alternative is to cut the tube in off. Reader Nicholas notes: “Even after I have squeezed the life out of the tubes, when I cut it in half I average about two weeks more use out of every tube.”
Surprisingly, no-one mentioned the most important preventative piece of advice: always squeeze a tube from the bottom, not the top. That way there’s minimal wastage. I grant you it’s a hard habit to adopt first thing in the morning when you’re bleary-eyed, but it does make a big difference. Thanks Nicholas for the photo!
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