We always bring home the soaps, shampoos, etc. to my mother-in law. She loves them because she is such a skin flint. I always save the moisturizers for myself as well as the sun screen but after a while that stuff just takes up space in my home and I just want to get rid of it. She actually begs for us to bring this stuff home. She is the type who steals napkins, ketchup and sugar from restaurants. What bothers me most is that she has more money than God.

I don't bring them home with me, Thank God I can still afford to buy soap. But sometimes when staying in a really nice hotel, I will use their lotions. Never the shampoos, they are usually crap and make your hair feel like straw. And I still have not gotten to the point where I will steal condiments off the table.

oh dear! I admit I love all those little nik naks, shampoos, shower cap, etc. I do take them home, as a little souvenir (plus you have already paid for them with the room) But when I get them home, I too, have to try and 'get rid of them' as they cause clutter in my bathroom! what irony! what a skinflint!

The only thing I bother to take away with me is those little sewing kits you find in some of the nicer hotels. They are incredibly useful at the office when a button falls off or some other minor repair needs to be done. I still have one that I got from a Holiday Inn in Windsor, Ontario in 1981. There's a bit of yellow thread left.

I take them because they're convenient to use at the gym. I don't use the gym's soap or shampoo and the hotel size ones are easy to carry in the gym bag. The best is the sewing kit, definitely comes in handy eventually.

I usually take the sewing kits if they are nice or I am running low. I also like some of the soaps. They are a nice size for the bathroom sink.

I take everything they give, everyday so it gets replenished. I stick them all in one of the laundry bags they supply in the closet and then drop the whole thing off at a shelter for women or the like.

The shelters are always grateful to receive them as it helps their clients, either for use at the shelter or to give to clients many who have left with nothing. I heard about this from someone who works at a shelter and started doing it too.

Wow Klam,
What a great idea! I am leaving on a three week trip to Hawaii soon and that's exactly what I am going to do. We need more people like you in this pessamistic (sp) world. You made my day.

Klam!!
What a wonderful idea! I love it. Thank you so much.
There is so much waste in the world and that is a perfect thing to do, that does not cost the giver but gives someone that small pleasure.Thanks again!

Klam ,
thank you for the fantastic idea I too tend too collect these things and never know what to do with them,i also have lots of those free sachets you get in womens magazines.your idea will now be internationally implemented.thanks again.

doyou,
You should tell your mother-in law about klams idea and see what her reaction is? While you are doing that you should also ask her if she has any donations for the local shelter. That should make her think twice!

I have heard that these "amenities" are also good for handing out to the locals in third world places like Bali. I like to keep a small supply of the little shampoos to use when I travel and stay at relatives or at places that don't offer these things.

Okay, so now it's wrong to take the soap and shampoo? Why should doyou's mother-in-law be made to feel guilty for taking what she paid for? I take them because I use them for travel when we rent a house, to take to the gym and for the kids on sleepovers. Much easier than packing those big bottles. Our schools also collect them to give to shelters, so when I find I have too many, they go to the school donation bin. I guess that makes me cheap.

Question: "why should mother-in-law be made to feel guilty for what she has paid for"

Answer: Because SHE did not pay for it - she is begging others to bring it home for her, plus stealing napkins, ketchup and sugar from restaurants.

In my opinion, it is fine to use stuff that is there while you are there, and maybe take one or 2 home - but hiding it each day so you get more to bring home, even if it is for a noble cause like a homeless shelter, especially if you do it for 3 weeks - that is over the edge.

However, in the scope of things to get exorcised about, this would be close to bottom on my list. Just leave thew towels, hari dryer, lamps, charis in the room - even if you are going to donate them to a worthy cause.

Gail, hotels already factor in replacing all the bathroom amenities every day as the cost of 'doing business'. Whether you take them or not, use them or not, you've paid for them.

I adore Wyndham Hotels' bath items because they are from Bath & Body Works! I always use theirs, and I stash any extras that I get and use them on future trips. I also loved the bath products at the Monte Carlo in Vegas; theirs were from an English company and were just great. Other than those two, I never use the hotel's stuff because they are usually cheap and I bring my own stuff anyway.

Hotels that have spas attached to them have the very best bathroom amenities. I stock up!

I collect all the little bottles, soaps and sewing, shoe shine kits and deliver them to the local Ronald McDonald House. The parents of the ill children deserve some pampering.

I hoard, and I love them. My best stash was from the Four Seasons Scottsdale. Full-size L'Occitane lemon verbena soaps, and housekeeping re-stocked fully every day. I love them!

We get them re-stocked twice a day. Once in the morning and again at turn down. We give them to gran as she is on a fixed income and it gives her a bit of luxury.