Sorting Things Out, Keeping Things Simple

All  my washing products.

I was up in Alan's top floor en-suite bathroom this morning.  We had emptied the main bedroom last weekend, moving the double bed down to Alan's middle floor bedroom after selling his large king-sized bed on Facebook Marketplace, so it seemed sensible to also empty out the bathroom.

That room was only ever used for the occasional overnight guests.  We decided when we thought of downsizing, that it made no sense whatsoever to have a spare room for guests that might only use it once or twice a year.  If people do want to stay with us we can make use of both our bedrooms for the length of their stay, and not have to pay extra to own a little used room.

Anyway, sorting out the bathroom made me realise just how many toiletries were up there.  I spent half an hour decanting myriad half used items into one bottle of each type and then relocated them to Alan's bathroom cupboard.  It made me realise that my way of only having the toiletries that are in use on show in my bathroom, and having one backup in stock for a refill, is my much preferred way of doing it.  My products tend to last me a long time as I decant shower gels and shampoo into a dispenser bottle each.

I have whittled the products that I use down over the years, and now there are just a few that are in constant rotation.  It's partly for simplicity, partly as my sensitive skin doesn't react to them, and also because still having no sense of smell, I do like to be able to remember what my products actually smell of, and these products have stood the test of time.

A couple of things that I have been experimenting with though are my Olay facecream ...

... and my Arm & Hammer toothpaste.

Both my usuals have shot up in price over the last couple of years, and there have been fewer and fewer offers to take advantage of when stocking up.  So I felt it was time to try some replacements.  Happily both swaps worked out well and will save me quite a bit of money overall.  Now, I don;t mind spending money on something if the quality is good and I can see a value in it, but when a cheaper, but just as good alternative is available I am very open-minded about giving it a try.

Of course I still want to get every last little bit of product out of the cheaper swap, something that is much easier when it is not in a pump dispenser style bottle.

Have you made any swaps recently to save money or to find better products?

Sue xx