apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I grew up with a mom who insisted we press from the bottom of the toothpaste tube, a habit I still have. No need for a bulky gadget if one just remembers to pinch from the bottom.

There's a very inexpensive (and much smaller) little device that I got at Bed Bath and Beyond for the same purpose.

The Container store also carries the little device.

No need to purchase anything!

My dad taugh me this trick:

Once you start running a low, lay the tube on a flat surface & press the flat back of the head of your toothbrush onto the end of the tube and smooth the remaining toothpaste toward the cap. Once the end is totally flat, roll the tube up as far as you can and secure with a binder clip.

I push from the bottom and use a binder clip to keep the toothpaste at the top. Just keep rolling up the tube and clamp it with the clip and you'll get every bit of paste. No waste and no need to buy yet one more gadget that we really don't need.

Oh, hahahahaha - I just saw that thepeoplescortney does the same thing!

I use the toothbrush-flattening method also, but no need for a clip, really. Just re-flatten every few days until you have an empty tube.

I love that so many people post on this topic.

I hold it on both ends and run it along an edge of the sink counter. That's what I've always done with my paints and inks as well. Much cheaper than these gimmicky gadgets that just take up space...

We are using one of the cheap ones...am I only one who is thinking to 'upgrade' the tool to the art paint tube wringer?
It is chromy and cute to me.

Does toothpaste cost that much that you have to buy a contraption to squeeze out every last bit? Roll the tube as you go.

I like the gadget. I'm unlikely to get it, but I'm amused at the Yankee practical ingenuity of binder clips and running the handle of your toothbrush or the edge of the counter against the tube. Does anyone cut the crimp end off the tube eventually and get all the toothpaste up near the business end that refuses to be squeezed out?

I have usually found it unnecessary to squeeze the tube as I go, I try to squeeze from the bottom, but not thoroughly. I even have the luxury of not having anyone who is annoyed with how I squeeze out my toothpaste. Eventually, I will realize I need a new tube of toothpaste yet forget to include it in my list. I don't think it's harder to squeeze toothpaste from the bottom of the tube toward the end of its usefulness rather than as you go, and eventually, you sense that things will suddenly become dire if you do not buy a new tube of toothpaste.

So, yeah, it's not that I'm too cheap not to use it all up, it's that I need to brush my teeth just one more day for a few days, and it always has worked for me so far.

Super cool.
Metal, gadgety, with gears and dangerous parts.

Come on, laugh a little.

Toothbrush flattener here.

I use K T G's method for my own toothpaste, but my kids use that Tom's of Maine kids' toothpaste, and it comes in a much stiffer, more metallic kind of tube which makes sharp little folds all over that tend to split if it's not very, very carefully squeezed from the bottom from the beginning. That's hard for little kids, and the tiny plastic gadgets I've gotten aren't sturdy enough. Like redbonnie, I'm going to look for one of these shiny, cute, chromey things!

If you know any hairdressers (or painters) I bet they have a spare tube key to give you. Not quite as big and substantial, but still fun to use for the easily amused crowd.

Fingers flatten tubes just fine
Free, Animal-Friendly and Recyclable.

This is so funny...my parents do marriage counseling and one of the first questions couples are to ask each other is "how do you squeeze your toothpaste?" and then "do you care if I don't do it the same way?" Apparently this is an issue that spans generations :-)

There's somethign to be said for the artistic wave pattern created in the toothpaste as you use this device. Something you DON'T get from binder clips or a half uncurled tube on your counter.