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How Much Toothpaste Is Enough?

02.10.2012 by Matt Jabs //

When I was living in the dorms of Central Michigan University back in the mid-90’s I remember my friend (Michele L.) chastising me for the extraneous toothpaste slathered on my brush. I always scoffed at her scolding . . . until recently.

Too much toothpaste

Several factors led the realization that I have always used way too much toothpaste: my holistic dentist, the $6 price tag for my natural toothpaste, and of course my friend Michele.

Basically, I have been awash in poor toothpaste stewardship my entire toothbrushing life – but don’t blame me, blame Aquafresh.

Why do we use so much?

In a word, marketing.

Remember the Aquafresh commercials instructing us to, not only use an entire brush full, but to gob it on in beautiful bendy layers. Raise your hand if you ever tried getting that perfect Aquafresh-ish bed of curvy goodness on your brush. How the heck did the do that?!

Kudos to them for a great marketing campaign, but seriously . . . how much do we really need to use?

How much toothpaste is enough?

After much experimentation I believe I have found the perfect amount of toothpaste per use.

How much toothpaste

Try it yourself using various amounts until you arrive at your choicest gob, which I bet is less than you’re using now.

You’ll be surprised how little you need and how far the paste goes when amounts are reduced. The scant looking quantity in the photo produces plenty of lather, especially if you’re using a traditional fluoride toothpaste (they’re very frothy). If you prefer a fluoride free “health store” toothpaste as I do, your lather is less but still sufficient.

As an aside: it’s also easy to make your own homemade toothpaste and homemade mouthwash.

Do we need toothpaste at all?

As I eluded to earlier my holistic dentist was part of the reason I cut back. In a recent visit he told me toothpaste is unnecessary. That piqued my interest so I tried it out; here’s what I discovered:

  1. it’s true: you don’t need toothpaste, using a brush and water alone cleans your teeth
  2. breath test: while it does get the plaque off, brushing without paste doesn’t cut breath the same
  3. Do both: I find it best to brush with paste when I want fresh breath and without when I’m just looking for a quick cleaning.
Try brushing without paste and tell us what you think. I think you’ll come to the same conclusion I did – sometimes it’s needed, sometimes . . . not so much.

Michele was right

So there you have it – the answer to the age old question, “How much toothpaste per use is enough?”

What do you know . . . Michele was right all along!

Note: Be sure to brush at least twice and floss at least once each day, it is the best dental insurance you can employ.

*******

PS… don’t tell Aquafresh we’re rebelling against their beautiful layers of gleaming Aquafreshiness, it will only lead to a new and improved marketing campaign that might just pull the wool over our eyes for another several decades.

Categories // General Tags // hygiene, stewardship

My 2011 NCAA Tournament Picks

03.17.2011 by Matt Jabs //

Every year I join at least one NCAA tourney bracket as a way to make the tournament more interesting.  It’s fun, and it’s free – which is the best kind of fun!

Here is an image of my picks.  If you want to see them in greater detail, click the image and download them in .pdf format.

Enjoy, and don’t forget to talk trash in the comments!

GO BLUE!

Enjoy, and don’t forget to talk trash in the comments!

GO BLUE

Categories // General Tags // free

Money Crashers Top Personal Finance Blogs

10.13.2010 by Matt Jabs //

Cutting to the chase…

Looking for more Personal Finance blogs to read?  Check this out…

Money Crashers has developed the ultimate ranked list of the best personal finance blogs.

Introducing the Money Crashers Top Personal Finance Blogs list.  Enjoy.

For those who like details…

Up till now, similar lists have been easily finessed by simple efforts of cross-linking and targeting visiting, thus reducing the credibility of the rankings.  Enter Money Crashers.  Tired of the status quo, the MC team committed to formulating a unique algorithm that factors oodles of statistics to calculate a weighted score based on all data sourced.

For you nerds out there, here are the criteria used to assemble this balanced list:

FeedBurner subscribers, Twitter followers, Alexa rank, Compete rank, Technorati authority, Google PageRank, number of inbound links according to Yahoo, SEOmoz rank, and SEMRush organic search value, etc.

Money Crashers found that by accounting for all of these factors, they are able to compile a very accurate, continually up-to-date list of all of the top blogs.  Pretty cool stuff.

Another neat feature is that you can look at the rankings by category (e.g. Investing, Frugality, Deals & Coupons).

Introducing the Money Crashers Top Personal Finance Blogs list.  Enjoy.

How this helps you…

This list provides us with a solid list of credible resources all in one place.  Narrow the selection to your category of interest and beef up your feed reading and/or email subscription list.  I already added a few I was unaware of and I’ve been immersed in the PF blogging community for years.

Way to go MC, thanks for putting together this helpful resource.

Categories // General Tags // personal finance, resources

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