# Almost Empty Tube of Toothpaste **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 23, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-empty-tube-of-toothpaste/1015986 "2025-03-23T20:12:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-empty-tube-of-toothpaste/1015986/81 "2025-04-04T15:28:24Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > I had to find a use for that bar stock _somewhere_ . . . That would make a good cheaper (much cheaper) alternative to a [Reed Geek™](https://sax.co.uk/products/reedgeek-reed-tool) (It’s what I use !) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-empty-tube-of-toothpaste/1015986/82 "2025-04-06T11:12:00Z")
I don’t see this as a problem with toothpaste, but it certainly is with shaving gel and moisturiser. If I cut the tube in two, I can get several days’ worth of shaving gel and maybe even a couple of weeks more of moisturising cream. And I too was brought up on “make do and mend” and “keep that, it might come in useful”. Once I needed a bolt of a particular size for something on my bike and found just the thing in my tool chest - it must have been sitting there for 20+ years. My dad would have been so proud. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-empty-tube-of-toothpaste/1015986/83 "2025-04-09T15:21:15Z")
Via Amazon, I just ordered 3 tubes of the toothpaste recommended by my periodontist, Colgate Whitening Toothpaste for Sensitive Teeth. With tax, the total cost was $13.44. I looked up my order history and discovered that I last ordered 3 tubes in January of 2024. Some quick math shows that I’m spending about 3 cents per day on toothpaste. At 3 cents per day, I am quite happy in not cutting open the toothpaste tube or using a tube-squeezer to get a couple of more uses from each tube. (By the way, the cost of said toothpaste is about 25% higher today than it was in January of 2024. I blame the Trump tariffs.) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-empty-tube-of-toothpaste/1015986/84 "2025-04-09T15:45:05Z")
Fwiw, i recommend my toothpaste tube squeezer not because it saves money, and not because i waste less toothpaste, but because i waste less time. It makes it easier to get the toothpaste out of the tube. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-empty-tube-of-toothpaste/1015986/85 "2025-04-09T16:08:42Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > i recommend my toothpaste tube squeezer not because it saves money, and not because i waste less toothpaste, but because i waste less time. It makes it easier to get the toothpaste out of the tube. Fair point. I do expend a bit of energy to get the last few squeezes out of the tube. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-empty-tube-of-toothpaste/1015986/86 "2025-04-17T23:05:18Z")
For regular off the shelf toothpaste, it’s not the cost of it so much as the amount of waste that bothers me. And I’ve been using clips [made by this company](https://www.weloc.com/en-us/) to secure the cut open tubes; Dad got them at a trade show decades ago, and they’ve held up nicely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/almost-empty-tube-of-toothpaste/1015986.md?page=4)