Soap slivers solution

I use products until they're gone. Not just pretty much gone, but gone gone. I roll up tubes, leave bottles upside down overnight and squeeze with all my might so not a drop is wasted.

Matt thinks this is crazy. He thinks an extra dose of toothpaste here, an extra day's worth of lotion there, will never add up. When there's only enough ketchup left for, let's say, four hamburgers, he'll want to throw it out and open a new bottle. I say, why not use it on four hamburgers and then open a new bottle? So frequently we have his and hers ketchup bottles in our refrigerator.

Admittedly, this IS a little crazy. I really do know that it is. No one will ever get rich (or save the planet) by stretching out a $1.99 bottle of shampoo over six weeks versus five weeks and four days.

Still, those little slivers of soap always bother me. There comes a point when they're too tiny and slippery to use, but there's nothing wrong with them except their size. So I hate throwing them away.

Figuring out how to deal with this problem is on my list, so I did some research. I was surprised to find quite a bit of information. According to one article I read, 50 billion bars of soap are produced every year. Fifty-billion thrown-away slivers adds up to a whole lot of wasted soap, especially when you consider that in many parts of the world, soap is either prohibitively expensive or simply unavailable.

There are many ways to extend the life of a sliver of soap, but I'm going to focus on these easy three:

a) Add them to a sock, keep it in the shower and use it as a sort of lathering washcloth.
b) Keep them in my dresser drawers and/or under the front seats of my car for a nice clean scent. (I've tried the car trick before and it works well.)
c) Combine them with larger bars of soap. (I've tried this before with no success, but apparently the key is to briefly soak the sliver in warm water first.)