I travel a lot and one of the travel challenges at airports is the 3-1-1 rule.

You cannot carry a large toothpaste tube or a large bottle of your favorite body moisturizer or lotion with you, since most certainly TSA will have you discard this due to the 3-1-1 rule.

So I had a bright idea, since I travel every week and an a bit frugal minded.

The travel size toothpaste tubes are perfectly legit for travel. So why not refill them with my favorite toothpaste or other creams and save a fortune on buying travel size items each week.

I do have sensitive teeth by the way and I also like to gel my hair.

Items needed:

1) Empty travel size toothpaste tube

2) Your favorite toothpaste

3) Milkshake straw

4) Knife to cut

Step 1: Preparation and Use

I cut the milkshake straw to a 1" length with a 45 degree angle at one end and flat at the other.

This is your transfer tube. You need to select the right diameter of straw that snugly fits into the toothpaste tube you wish to transfer the contents from. Go sample some popular Milkshake places to find your perfect straw.

Fit the short transfer tube in the toothpaste tube you are transferring from.

Fit the other 45 degree cut end into the empty tube you will transfer your toothpaste to.

Squeeze till you transfer the appropriate amount of toothpaste to the travel size tube.

Voila! your favorite toothpaste is ready for travel.

Note: this is just not limited to toothpaste, but I use this technique to carry hair gel and or other body cream lotions.

After All why pay a fortune for travel sized tubes when you can economically buy larger size products and refill your travel size containers and be compliant with travel 3-1-1 and be happy!