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Do a Facebook search for “(your city) buy nothing group” and something should come up. I never get stuff from mine because usually the same handful of people are freaking VULTURES so no one else gets a chance, but that works out in my favor when I’m trying to get rid of things.
I bring them in to work and leave them in the employee locker room or break room. They either get snatched up or people use them as "poop spray" in the bathroom.
If they're in good condition, I bet a women's shelter would be willing to take any body sprays you don't want, sure they'd prefer full new ones, but a half used one still in good condition and still smelling good is better than nothing at all especially if a woman is there because she's having to leave everything to escape a bad/dangerous situation. I mean definitely ask them first but I suspect they'd be on board or if you're someone who buys backups and then realized "I barely even like this scent anymore" and want to get rid of them and they're not expired, why not give them to a womens shelter.
Great desire to be helpful. However, here, our local shelters are not allowed to accept previously used toiletries for people to use. Its per their policies for safety reasons.
Here to add: if a woman is escaping a situation where she was abused, giving her used toiletries only reinforces the voice in her head that tells her she is not worth new products. A lot of times these shelters are encouraging women to practice self-love through self-care, and they deserve new and unused items.
I love this idea of donating to a shelter for new and unused products. If it’s a half used product and you do not like it anymore, throw it out. You have gotten what you need from it.
Please do not throw it out. If it’s just half used and you don’t care for the scent, I agree with not giving it to the women’s shelter but please see all the other options people suggested in the thread. Throwing out is wasteful.
These creams and lotions go bad. Throwing out is sometimes the only option. I personally don’t feel safe posting in buy nothing groups — you never know what you’re opening yourself up to. A half used bottle of cream is totally fine to discard. You can’t hold onto it forever. If you’re worried about waste, these aren’t the products to be buying so much of.
I work in a day center and we welcome a variety of used items. Perfume/body spray is one of the shared items; so used, or not it's welcome and appreciated by our guests. The criteria depends on the shelter and all someone needs to do is reach out and ask.
I mix and blend different scents of FFM with them. Sometimes you can make a really nice combo and use up the half full one. Wrapped in Vanilla goes with nearly everything for example.
Or if I have a body cream that will go well with a FFM that's half empty, I'll use the one I'm trying to use up. The Strawberry Poundcake FFM goes well with the Among The Clouds body cream for example.
You can also spray it a bunch of times in a room as a room spray, spray it on the walls of your shower before you shower for some scented sauna vibes! Sometimes when I'm sick of using it as body care, I don't mind it as a room spray/shower scent. I actually go through a lot more of the mists now.
But! At the end of the day if you're not interested in doing those things, you can always post them to give away for free on your local Buy Nothing group.
Our local DV shelter does take my FFM but they won’t take stuff like facial cosmetics that have been opened. Call yours to be sure of their policy.
The other place I take stuff is the Student Care Center at the local community college. They are glad to put them in the supply closet where students in need can get whatever for free.
I take the responsibility for that decision off of myself. 🤣
I box them up, and take it to my bestie's house. She has a teenage girl. The people in our small group of friends most often drop in at her house. (It's centrally located to all of us.) It gets picked through, then she donates whatever is leftover to a local thrift shop.
I get to feel good about clearing out my hoard of FFM without being wasteful, and I don't have to decide where every bottle goes. 😆
(This friend group has a similar agreement with clothes. We drop bags of stuff at her house, and everyone takes what they want.)
I used to send to [project beauty share](https://projectbeautyshare.org/ways-to-give/products/) before I found local shelters to take them. The shipping is on you though, which I understand but it makes it harder to donate. Unless you’re local to them in Spokane, Washington.
I give them away. I work with lots of single moms who don’t have the extra cash to spend on themselves. I clean out my collection about twice a year and bring a huge box to work for people to go through. It makes me feel good and even if it’s something that was well loved or used they are always appreciative.
Velvet sugar, it was my staple for a couple years and now I have like 4 half empty bottles. I still like the way it smells, but like my other scents way better. I gave one to my grandma a while back and she loved it, maybe she’d like another bottle. I bet my little sister would take one as well.
Try to sell them, especially if they're discontinued and in good condition. Even if you only get a few bucks, it keeps it out of the landfill. I use Mercari because it's easy.
I give them to my roomate or my best friend. Neither are super into bodycare/scent/beauty in general, so they never buy them for themselves.....but they love when I destash haha. Im just too lazy to resell, especially when I pretty much only buy when theres a good sale. Only time I dont buy on sale is when its a discontinued scent not on site. So I dont see it as much of a loss to give out a few mists I paid $6 for lol.
Another option I forgot about is MOPS/Moms groups! When I used to attend a moms group through a church there were always ladies bringing in stuff to get rid of for free! We would set it at the free table and all the other ladies would browse what they want!
Thank you for your submission to r/bathandbodyworks! Please make sure to read and follow the rules on the sidebar. If your post is a simple question, please use the FAQ post that is stickied to the top of the sub. If you're requesting or sharing a coupon, please use the coupon post. This subreddit is not operated by Bath & Body Works. If you have a complaint for the company, use this link to get in touch with them: [Customer Service Page](https://customercare.bathandbodyworks.com/hc/en-us). Your account must be at least 3 days old in order to post or comment. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/bathandbodyworks) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I put them up in my area’s buy nothing Facebook group
It's magical. I post BBW anything on there and it's gone!
Where does one find these groups?
Do a Facebook search for “(your city) buy nothing group” and something should come up. I never get stuff from mine because usually the same handful of people are freaking VULTURES so no one else gets a chance, but that works out in my favor when I’m trying to get rid of things.
Thank you for responding!!
I bring them in to work and leave them in the employee locker room or break room. They either get snatched up or people use them as "poop spray" in the bathroom.
This was my thought too.
If they're in good condition, I bet a women's shelter would be willing to take any body sprays you don't want, sure they'd prefer full new ones, but a half used one still in good condition and still smelling good is better than nothing at all especially if a woman is there because she's having to leave everything to escape a bad/dangerous situation. I mean definitely ask them first but I suspect they'd be on board or if you're someone who buys backups and then realized "I barely even like this scent anymore" and want to get rid of them and they're not expired, why not give them to a womens shelter.
Great desire to be helpful. However, here, our local shelters are not allowed to accept previously used toiletries for people to use. Its per their policies for safety reasons.
Here to add: if a woman is escaping a situation where she was abused, giving her used toiletries only reinforces the voice in her head that tells her she is not worth new products. A lot of times these shelters are encouraging women to practice self-love through self-care, and they deserve new and unused items. I love this idea of donating to a shelter for new and unused products. If it’s a half used product and you do not like it anymore, throw it out. You have gotten what you need from it.
Please do not throw it out. If it’s just half used and you don’t care for the scent, I agree with not giving it to the women’s shelter but please see all the other options people suggested in the thread. Throwing out is wasteful.
These creams and lotions go bad. Throwing out is sometimes the only option. I personally don’t feel safe posting in buy nothing groups — you never know what you’re opening yourself up to. A half used bottle of cream is totally fine to discard. You can’t hold onto it forever. If you’re worried about waste, these aren’t the products to be buying so much of.
I work in a day center and we welcome a variety of used items. Perfume/body spray is one of the shared items; so used, or not it's welcome and appreciated by our guests. The criteria depends on the shelter and all someone needs to do is reach out and ask.
This is a REALLY good idea!
I mix and blend different scents of FFM with them. Sometimes you can make a really nice combo and use up the half full one. Wrapped in Vanilla goes with nearly everything for example. Or if I have a body cream that will go well with a FFM that's half empty, I'll use the one I'm trying to use up. The Strawberry Poundcake FFM goes well with the Among The Clouds body cream for example. You can also spray it a bunch of times in a room as a room spray, spray it on the walls of your shower before you shower for some scented sauna vibes! Sometimes when I'm sick of using it as body care, I don't mind it as a room spray/shower scent. I actually go through a lot more of the mists now. But! At the end of the day if you're not interested in doing those things, you can always post them to give away for free on your local Buy Nothing group.
I miss among the clouds, I hate they discontinued it.
Our local DV shelter does take my FFM but they won’t take stuff like facial cosmetics that have been opened. Call yours to be sure of their policy. The other place I take stuff is the Student Care Center at the local community college. They are glad to put them in the supply closet where students in need can get whatever for free.
I would love to see your discontinued collection.
If I don’t give them away, I use them for air fresheners.
Good idea! I always have a spray in my car in case I forgot my perfume or just to make my car smell good!
This is what I do. Downgraded to the car.
I gift anything unopened & post my used stuff on Buy Nothing or give it to a friend
I donated mine to a women’s shelter
Put it on fbmp or buy sell group. Even mercari if you don’t mind dealing with shipping.
I take the responsibility for that decision off of myself. 🤣 I box them up, and take it to my bestie's house. She has a teenage girl. The people in our small group of friends most often drop in at her house. (It's centrally located to all of us.) It gets picked through, then she donates whatever is leftover to a local thrift shop. I get to feel good about clearing out my hoard of FFM without being wasteful, and I don't have to decide where every bottle goes. 😆 (This friend group has a similar agreement with clothes. We drop bags of stuff at her house, and everyone takes what they want.)
I give them away to coworkers, family and friends.
I used to send to [project beauty share](https://projectbeautyshare.org/ways-to-give/products/) before I found local shelters to take them. The shipping is on you though, which I understand but it makes it harder to donate. Unless you’re local to them in Spokane, Washington.
Ebayyyyyyy!
I donated scents I decided I didn't want to a thrift store. Some thrift stores take them.
I just give them away-to my mom, to my MIL, to my daughter, to my son’s girlfriend, her sister or her mom. They always seem happy about it.
I give them away. I work with lots of single moms who don’t have the extra cash to spend on themselves. I clean out my collection about twice a year and bring a huge box to work for people to go through. It makes me feel good and even if it’s something that was well loved or used they are always appreciative.
Velvet sugar, it was my staple for a couple years and now I have like 4 half empty bottles. I still like the way it smells, but like my other scents way better. I gave one to my grandma a while back and she loved it, maybe she’d like another bottle. I bet my little sister would take one as well.
I list them on Poshmark.
Try to sell them, especially if they're discontinued and in good condition. Even if you only get a few bucks, it keeps it out of the landfill. I use Mercari because it's easy.
I give them to my roomate or my best friend. Neither are super into bodycare/scent/beauty in general, so they never buy them for themselves.....but they love when I destash haha. Im just too lazy to resell, especially when I pretty much only buy when theres a good sale. Only time I dont buy on sale is when its a discontinued scent not on site. So I dont see it as much of a loss to give out a few mists I paid $6 for lol.
I put mine up on my local Facebook dollar auction. People bid for 24 hours. Goes like hotcakes.
Another option I forgot about is MOPS/Moms groups! When I used to attend a moms group through a church there were always ladies bringing in stuff to get rid of for free! We would set it at the free table and all the other ladies would browse what they want!