Shower savings

I could have titled this... how I've managed to not buy shower products for myself for over a year!

It's no secret that we're on a bit of a budget here. With T in full time grad school and myself working (I consider it highly underemployed) we've had to cut back some. No new clothes, vacations, less organic food, no shopping trips, lots of couponing, no dining out, etc. You get the point.

One way I've managed to save lots (well some) money is by not buying shower products for myself. Either I'm very stinky, or very frugal. Frugal it is. Quick. that's the answer, before you think anything else.

How did I do it?

I get almost all my bath products for FREE! This is a run down of my latest free cleaning products.

a. free shampoo from product testing survey site. Yes you can tell it's pantene. Not sure why they had me test it in it's original packaging.

b. free body wash I got from my MIL about 3 years ago when we stayed at her place

c. free mystery shampoo from survey site. (I think it is herbal essences)

d. free mystery conditioner from survery site.

e. organic shampoo I bought 13 months ago! I remember it was 50% off @ $4.10.

f. organic conditioner I bought 13 months ago for $4.10

g. free body wash/bubblebath I got as a Christmas gift last year from my husband's grandma - grandma in law?!

h. free mystery shampoo from survery site. This one really is a mystery.

not shown: 1. free full sized conditioner from survery site (to match the pantene), 2. bar of white dove soap I've had since 2004 (currently using (not actually right now... as I type)), 3. free Avon body wash Christmas gift thats used up, 4. another free bubblebath gift set from last Christmas that I used, 5. samples and samples of individual use shampoos/conditioners I get free online/through the mail & 6. free shampoo bar I got as a blog perk 13 months ago.

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I'm really into free. Especially if it involves a full sized bottle for me to test, or even if its just a one time use packet of high end salon shampoo that I got free in the mail. If it means putting off spending money at CVS I'm all for it! They all add up. Each free bottle I get means I put off buying something for myself another month (or much more!).

So far I've spent $8.20 on shower products in the last 13 months! And I've still got plenty of product left in those bottles! I use a couple different product testing/survery sites. Lately I've been busy though, and haven't done enough surveys to get many free products. If you're interested try these: Toluna, SurveySpot, Ipsos i-Say, & Pinecone Research. They're all legit.

I'm proud of saving lots of money on basically an entire year's budget of shower/personal cleaning products! I'm going to see how long I can go without buying more. I've got a bunch of s/c samples I need to go through after what's left in those bottles, then some bars of soap I need to use (Ivory & Kiss my Face). Then I have a great Alba coupon. Really coupons haven't even been an issue since I haven't even needed to purchase anything for over a year. My fav free sample websites? http://www.all-free-samples.com/ & Krazy Coupon Lady.

Happy free shower savings!

*i are blueberry muffins :)