Down to the Last Drop | ABC30 Fresno | abc30.com

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By ABC30

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Fresno, CA For Debbie Schiro, getting out the last bit of mayo isn't just a way to save money. It's a way of life. "It's just the philosophy of not being wasteful."

Consumer Reports' Bob Karpel understands. He just spent weeks pumping, pouring, and squeezing a plethora of products from all sorts of packages and containers. They included lotions, liquid detergents, glass cleaners, and toothpastes; 22 products in all.

"Some held much more than others. And some you could get almost everything out," said Karpel

Bob weighed what was left, and lotions proved the toughest to empty. The pump bottles held onto about 20 percent of the cream! When it comes to the end of laundry detergents with push buttons, the flow slows to a dribble. "See how much is left inside. It's about 15 percent."

As for toothpaste, who hasn't struggled getting out the last bit? Consumer reports found plastic squeeze tubes can trap about 10 percent of the toothpaste. But some tubes have a foil liner that lets you squeeze out practically everything.

For those annoying toothpaste tubes, a toothpaste squeezer can come in handy. They cost about three dollars. Or you can just cut the tube at the bottom to squeeze out that last drop.

And glass cleaners shined, too, delivering almost all the cleaner from the bottles. With tough-to-empty containers, Debbie has found a little persistence pays off. But she has her limits. "If it's going to take you ten minutes to squeeze the last drop out of something, you know, it may not be worth it."