Saturday, October 16, 2010

Use Lip Balm Container and Save Weight

One of the easiest and cheapest ways to lighten your load is to simply take less. By repacking things into smaller containers, you save ounces, sometimes just fractions of an ounce, but it all adds up to pounds on your back.
This isn't a Body Glide product review, but as an aside, this stuff rocks for foot lubricant, and for any other areas you are having blistering or chafing problems. Any way, back on topic - 

Body Glide comes in 2.5oz, 1.3oz, and 0.45oz (not pictured) sizes. All of these are way more than I would use in a weeks time. When preparing for our recent trip to Mt Hood, I proudly packed mine in the above 0.25oz  backpackinglight    mini balm jar. After the 4 day trip was over it was still more than half full, and I had shared it with my wife the entire time. It was obvious to me that there was still weight savings to be had. Then the idea came to me...lip balm containers hold 0.15oz, still more than enough for a week!

The four containers above weigh 3.8oz, 2.3oz, 0.65oz, and 0.30oz full of product. Now you might think I'm splitting hairs going from the container that weighs 0.65oz to the one that weighs 0.30oz, but this is what ultralight is all about. If you do this with everything in your pack, it really shaves off weight quickly. 

Think of it this way...the smallest container in the above example is a whopping 92% lighter than the largest option, and 54% lighter than the second lightest. So take everything you need, and nothing you don't. Sounds easy, but the concept is difficult for most people to grasp.

Simple, easy, and inexpensive...or in this case, free!

Get Bodyglide here at the Mountain UltraLight Store.

6 comments:

  1. I recently got a stick of body glide and want to put it into a chap stick tube, but i'm not sure how to do it. Could you help me out?

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  2. Hi Frank!
    After emptying the lip balm tube, I adjust it so there's about 1/4" of space inside, and scrape some of the Body Glide into the lip balm container. Repeat this a few times along while compacting the stuff with your finger and you'll be done in a few minutes. Make sure you write "Body Glide" on the side of the container so you don't end up using it o yur lips!

    FYI, I have also done the same thing with antiperspirant, which works equally well. I can get about two weeks out of one container, so why not smell your best while in the backcountry?
    John

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  3. Thanks for the tip!!

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