Savings thousands of dollars by using all your toothpaste.

One of the things I love most about freeganism is the mentality of getting absolutely everything you can out of what you have. It’s the essence of it. Sometimes it’s to the point of not being practical. A tube of toothpaste is a perfect example. 

I recently polished off a tube and it got me thinking. How much toothpaste could I save if I used absolutely everything in the tube?

When I couldn’t squeeze or roll out any more toothpaste, I began to cut open the tube. Starting from the back, I cut off one section each day. I cut it open the side and then wiped the tube section clean of all toothpaste, using that to brush my teeth. I cut until I was at the top of the tube and had nothing left to scrap off. Check out the progression:

For this tube, I started operating on it Wednesday night. By Monday morning, I had made my final incision. That’s 10 extra brushes from cutting open the tube! 

How much toothpaste can we save?

There is no clear answer on the internet for how long the average tube of toothpaste lasts, but I did my best guesstimating.

The standard tube of toothpaste is 6 oz (or 170g). Dentists recommend a “pea-sized” amount, or 0.25g, per brush. However, one National Library of Medicine study found that the average median American uses 0.38g per brush. Dividing the tube (170g) by the average amount (0.38g) means the average tube of toothpaste lasts 448 uses, or 224 days brushing twice a day. That’s 7 months and 10 days for one person and 3 months 5 days for a couple. Seems plausible.

By cutting it open, I got my full 224 days out of that tube instead of 219 days if I would have thrown it away prematurely. That’s 2.3% of the tube. Extrapolating the savings, that is a free extra tube of toothpaste every 44 tubes.

The savings could be even more though. These savings assume we were squeezing or rolling hard all the way before cutting open the tube to begin with! I’d confidently venture to say that most people aren’t even squeezing the tube as thoroughly as I do (let alone cutting it open).

How much money is cutting the toothpaste tube saving?

One free tube every 44th translates to a free tube every 26.75 years, or 3 free tubes over an 80 year lifetime. In most stores, a tube of toothpaste is worth $2. That’s a whooping $6 dollars in savings!

Depending on how conservative or aggressive you are with your pea-sized toothpaste application, this might be anywhere from 2 to 9 free tubes in a lifetime and $4-$18 in savings. But if we invest it, that $6 over 56 years could turn into ~$100 (or more!).

Now, I know what you’re saying, and I agree. This is highly impractical and you’re financially better off working at any job for a half hour one time and investing it. But this is assumes I am doing this purely for financial reasons.

Squeezing and cutting the full tube is highly enjoyable. It doesn’t matter that it financially or practically doesn’t make sense if I’m having fun and not hurting anyone. The full squeeze is about getting joy and fulfillment from the smallest things.

Furthermore, there’s an environmental benefit. We can save more oil from being pumped and more plastic from being dumped.

And while we’re at it, extending the toothpaste might even save a little bit of time shopping too.

Travel Size

Wait, there’s more! My above calculation wasn’t perfectly accurate because people often need a travel size toothpastes in a pinch.

This blogger, who like me enjoys efficiency and backpacking, estimates a small tube of 0.85 oz lasts 48 days brushing twice a day. (He measured it out and calibrated the weight – check out his article – it’s awesome!). His math assumes your average pea size is the recommended amount of .25 g. If we again assume the average pea size is .38g, the median American is only lasting 30 days with this tube.

Cutting open a little tube should get you about 4 additional uses. That’s 2 extra days of brushing for every 30 you buy, or one free travel tube for every 15 travel tubes. One free travel tube every 15 months.

Because they fill a need for convenience, the average travel tube similarly costs around $2. While it clearly is much more economical to have a big tube, sometimes it is unavoidable if TSA takes your big tube or you forget to pack one while traveling.

If you were to only ever use travel toothpastes over 80 years, that’s 64 additional free travel tubes and $128 saved. $2 savings with a $2 contribution every 15 months compounded annually over 80 years is over $5,000! Depending on how big your pea-sized toothpaste amount is, that could be more like $2,500-$15,000. That sounds incredibly hard to believe but the math adds up. Little things go a long way. Furthermore, this really illustrates the importance of avoiding buying small tubes whenever possible.

Most people are probably using a combo of both normal and travel tubes, and there are some healthier toothpastes that are typically more expensive. Thus, I think it’s fair to assume if you cut all your toothpastes open over your lifetime and invested every last morsel, you’ll likely save somewhere between $100-$2,000.

More than just a toothpaste tube

Of course, toothpaste is a rather extreme example of savings. It’s not about the toothpaste. It’s about a mentality of maximizing fun and appreciating what you have. This can apply to many areas and create an even bigger impact, such as:

• Fully using other cosmetics (think of all the deodorant crumbles!)
• Eating all of your food/food scraps/leftovers
• Turning old clothes into rags, sewing them back to life, or using them exclusively as workout clothes
• Generally not buying new things

There are countless examples. If you can think of any good ones or savings that bring you tremendous joy, let me know below.

Is cutting open a toothpaste tube worth my time? Was writing this article about it worth my time? Either way, I need to brush my teeth and get to bed.