How to Use a Product You Are Completely Tired Of
We all know the advice “eat what is already in the pantry”, but we also know the reality: we first eat what we like, and leave the rest of the food there until we are faced with a choice: A) there are twelve cans of beans in a row, or B) buying additional products.
It should not be.
One option, of course, is to tell yourself that you no longer need to buy beans, chickpeas, or whatever is in your pantry that you don’t eat. There is a lot of data in front of you that says you do not want to eat this, so spend your hard earned money on food that you do consume.
But this is a waste of money and you know it. In The Financial Diet, Laura Tennant lists six ways to save money you’ve already spent , and “spending what you have before buying something new” is part of almost every piece of advice, whether or not she offers advice by clothing, technology or food.
Get in the habit of peeking into the refrigerator, pantry, and whatever else you store your toiletries and noting what to use and when.
I love this idea and I’m doing it myself, but I also know how it feels to look at a bottle of shower gel or balsamic vinegar that you thought you could try because it was commercially available (or, in the case of body wash, the word “moisturizing” was written in a slightly larger font than its competitors) and tell yourself that you cannot buy another one until this one is used up.
This can happen after a few months, depending on the product.
So instead, I have an alternative strategy – a pun.
Rotating foods will keep you from being left with unfinished shampoo bottles (or 12 cans of beans).
When I started growing my pixie haircut to my current pixie bob, I bought a bunch of new products designed to support my new look (like texturing salt spray instead of texturing wax).
However, I still had a bunch of old products left, which meant I had to decide what to do with them.
Yes, I could just throw what I no longer need in the trash can, even though the bottles were not empty yet. But it felt like a waste, especially since hair products are not cheap! Throwing away the perfect shampoo and conditioner simply because I have a new set of products that I like better didn’t make sense, so I alternated two bottles (that is, I used a different shampoo and conditioner every other day) until the original bottles appeared … were empty.
I used an alternative strategy to use all kinds of foods that I might otherwise throw away or ignore: a new hot sauce I wanted to try (but turned out to be not as good as my favorite hot sauce), a bottle of laundry detergent that Mom she gave it to me because she didn’t like the smell of it (she was right about the smell, but it made the clothes clean).
I know you probably think not to worry about it, just throw the smelly laundry detergent in the trash and get on with your life. But if you’re working towards a financial goal where every dollar counts, it’s worth asking yourself if the wash that smells like some corporation’s mountain breeze idea is worth adding $ 15 to your savings account.
In some cases, of course. The detergent is too smelly, the balsamic is too vinegar, no one in your house wants to eat beans. I’m not saying that the suffering that you can not stand, but your definition of what you can endure, may change depending on how much money you have.
Product rotation allows you to try new things without wasting what you already have
The best thing about alternative strategy is that it allows you to try new things without having to use exclusively new ones. It also allows you to try that new flavor, take advantage of this big sale, and more, even if you already have a similar product at home.
I strongly believe in using everything, whether you’re mixing a can of beans with a chocolate brownie or asking Mom to try one of the bottles of gummy hair liquid that didn’t work for you.
But you don’t have to use everything at once.
Replace what you like the most with what is normal, and when everything finally disappears, you can completely switch to a better product.
This way, you never have to choose between eating twelve cans in a row or letting them sit there until your refrigerator is empty next time.