h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well - today would have been my father's 94th birthday. I might ring my mum this evening, but she is certainly not one to mope about on such days.

I ought to be writing my shopping list but got caught up reading everyone's journals. This will now have to be quick because I want to get the shopping done!



Can't find another suitable smiley for today's subject.

CLEARING OUT!!

Like many people, I am trying to declutter and one recent project involved what one could loosely call my dressing table. It's an old table in the bedroom which things get dumped on. It had got really bad and I gingerly sorted out all the bottles and packets of various cosmetic products and removed the dust and fluff, and in some cases the yucky gunge that had leaked from them.

I threw loads of things away - including 30 year old bottles of perfume (the dustbin smelt quite strongly when I'd finished). And sorted the little sample sachets of shower gel, etc, into little boxes.

The intention, presumably, is always to take these mini-bottles and sachets when I go away for short breaks or especially swimming. But somehow I never do and they have been gathering dust for years and many of them will probably be rancid and way past their sell-by date.

So for the past few days I have been using them up - and have apologised in advance to the girls at work for possibly turning up smelling a bit odd at times over the next couple of weeks.

Which gave rise to a small discussion in the office. What is the purpose of those fiddly little sachets of samples anyway?

1. They are fiddly and awkward to use and the contents are in danger of shooting out and staining your clothes or making a mess on the mirror.

2. They are never the right amount - too much shampoo, too little face cream, as a rule.

3. To get to know a product, using it just once won't help you decide - you need to try it out at least three or four times in a row to see if it makes any difference to your skin/hair/figure.

4. If you do decide within a day that that sample you tried that morning is jolly good and you would buy it OR if you come to the conclusion that it's rubbish/it stinks/you're allergic to it and on NO ACCOUNT would you EVER want to buy it ...... by that time you can't remember where you put the packet, or the dustbin men have been and you can't check what it was.


What do other people do with them? Is there any point to them?

I take them camping, on the days we come back mud sodden, or salty and sand blasted we all want a shower at the same time, then we get out the pick and mix bag that my Mum has given us

Shampoo and shower gel can be used as either, and also as washing up liquid at a push, so long as not too strong smelling

I try not to pick up free samples if I don't think I am going to use them, that is hard though.

I was gutted though when a certain fabric conditioner company sent me a wardrobe fresher, smelt like their latest scent

took that on a camping holiday, and shoved in back packs etc, brilliant it was, I wanted one of those that you could just have in a pack back, hang in your wardrobe,if they sold them I would buy them, didn't last a week, lasted months I tell you

but no, only promotional tool not product...

for a while when i was expecting monster#2 I would collect some of the coupons for money off baby things,
I think i used a few but by no means most of them...
and there were loads of coupons for wipes but none for nappies...
or you would get them for products you would never use (quite a few of the weaning ones went in the bin) I thought I'd cleared them all out till a found some a few days ago which are now out of date

samples... I dont think I buy the right magazines to get samples (is that where you get them?) but I used to love the smelly perfume pages which i suppose might help you pick a perfume if you could ever remember what it was

[Amy P]

My Granny used to be a great collector and hander out of those sorts of samples. I used to use the perfumes, actually, but in general, no, they are just cutter generators.

I save them and take them camping - easier to pack than 'travel' products. I admit I've still got some from my trip to India in 2010, but I haven't had a lot of time to go on holiday in the last few years.

I also keep them around for when I keep forgetting to add 'shampoo' to my shopping list and run out...

Well, I suppose the system may be different here in Germany. You inevitably get samples in sachets when you buy something at the chemists (face cream, hand cream, little impregnated cloths for cleaning your glasses..).

Many samples come with junk mail in the post - I chuck all the paperwork out but it seems a pity to waste the cream or soap. I order quite a lot of things on line and there are always samples in the box. And sometimes I bring back the mini bottles and sachets from hotel rooms. The hotels with big dispensers at the sink and in the shower are far more sensible.

I don't buy magazines very often - about 2 a year - but then, given a choice, I might prefer to take the one with a freebie stuck to it.

So that's where they've all come from.

I think my camping days are over. But if I did camp, it would be for longer than overnight, so I'd take a normal-sized bottle of all-in-one shower/shampoo in a flavour of my choosing.

However, I do a lot of flying with just hand baggage, and I'm not sure if you're supposed to, but I never include them in my see-through liquids bag. Just slip them in a side pocket.