How to Get Through a Product You’re Completely Done With

We’re all familiar with the advice to 'use what’s already in your pantry,' but the reality is: we reach for the things we love first, leaving the rest of the food untouched until we’re faced with a choice of either A) consuming twelve cans of beans in a row or B) going grocery shopping again.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

One solution, naturally, is to convince yourself that you don’t need to buy more beans, chickpeas, or whatever’s been sitting in your pantry untouched. The evidence is right in front of you—it’s clear that you don’t want to eat it. So, why not spend your hard-earned money on food you’ll actually enjoy?

But that’s simply a waste of money, and you know it. In a post on The Financial Diet, Laura Tennant outlines six ways to save money you’ve already spent, and 'using up what you have before buying more' is a key piece of nearly every tip she shares, whether it’s about clothing, appliances, or food. 

Make it a routine to go through your fridge, pantry, and any place where you store toiletries. Keep track of what needs to be used up and the deadlines for each item.

I really like this idea and put it into action myself, but I also know how it feels to face a bottle of body wash or balsamic vinegar you bought on a whim because it was on sale (or in the case of the body wash, the word 'moisturizing' was written in a bigger font than the competitors') and tell yourself that you can’t buy another until you finish this one.

That could take months, depending on the product.

So instead, I have a different strategy—pun intended.

Switching between products keeps you from accumulating half-used bottles of shampoo (or 12 cans of beans).

When I started growing out my pixie cut into the current pixie bob, I bought a bunch of new products to suit the new style (like swapping a texturizing wax for a texturizing salt spray, for example).

However, I still had a lot of old products left over—which meant I needed to figure out what to do with them.

Yes, I could have just thrown away the products I no longer needed, even though the bottles weren't empty. But that felt wasteful—especially since hair products aren’t cheap! Tossing out perfectly good shampoo and conditioner simply because I had a new set that I liked more didn’t make sense, so I alternated between the two bottles (using a different shampoo and conditioner every other day) until they were both finished.

I’ve applied the alternating method to use up all kinds of products that I might have otherwise thrown out or neglected: a new hot sauce I wanted to try (but which turned out to be not as good as my favorite), and a bottle of laundry detergent my mom gave me because she didn’t like the smell (she was right about the scent, but it did clean the clothes).

I know you’re probably thinking don’t worry about it, just toss the stinky laundry detergent in the trash and move on with your life. But if you’re working towards a financial goal where every dollar counts, it’s worth asking yourself if laundry that smells like some corporation’s idea of a mountain breeze is really worth adding $15 to your savings account.

In some cases, sure. The detergent smells too awful, the balsamic is too sour, no one in your house wants to eat the beans. I’m not saying put up with something you can’t stand, although your tolerance level might shift depending on how much you’d prefer to keep that cash.

Alternating products allows you to experiment with new items without wasting what you already own

The great thing about the alternating method is that it lets you try new products without having to fully commit to them. It gives you the freedom to sample that new flavor, take advantage of that big sale, and more, even if you already have something similar at home.

I strongly believe in using everything up, whether you incorporate that can of beans into a batch of brownies or suggest your mom try one of the bottles of hair goo that didn’t work for you.

But you don’t have to finish it all in one go.

Swap your favorite product with the one that’s just okay, and when the okay one is used up, you can start using the better product all the time.

That way, you won’t have to choose between eating twelve cans in a row or leaving them until the next time your fridge is empty.