I purchase my hair jel in five ounce containers, which means at security I hide it deep in my carry on and hope it’s not searched.

Done with the thrill of the risk I was looking online for a three ounce jar, (not a bottle,) so that I could dollop some gel in, thus eliminating a potential confiscation. I’ve don’t own a little 3-1-1 kit plastic container kit because I buy the travel size products in the grocery store and use a zip lock bag.

This has been brought up thousands of times before but I still shake my head:  If I purchased a kit of three ounce bottles and jars I could pack two or three of them up with hair jel, far exceeding my five ounce store bought jar, which is prohibited. The mind boggles.

I was hunting around on eBags for something like this in jar version, (because I can’t pour gel through the small spout,) and I saw the Minumus “Carry-on Caddy” male and female cosmetic caddies on eBags.  I thought “Cool it looks just like my hand made kit,” – and then saw it sells for a whopping TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS!

I have no problem spending a little more money for convenience, but every grocery store and Walgreens now sell these little travel sizes in the personal care section. They cost between $1 and $2.  My Gillette travel size shaving gel was $2.50 or $3.  An entire box of plastic bags costs under $5.

You can put this kit together from the store, (which one visits often,) for under $10.   Unless the pouch and carabiner hook are worth $15 plus shipping I think this is a very bad deal.

Mine is pictured here, next to my electronics accessory bag.  (There are also overpriced organizers for those too.)

Almost as financially insulting is the Minimus “Breakfast on the Go,” which includes a selection of cereals and Nutri Grain bars for $25.  I’ll refer to my post on Oatmeal in response to that, and add that over the weekend in New York City, (the most expensive city in the U.S.,) my breakfasts consisted of apples, bananas and assorted fruit for 30 cents each thanks to a food cart at 55th and 8th Avenue , and coffee from Dunkin Donuts for under $2.

If my recent posts sound more and more like Frugal Travel Guy it’s not intentional, I just find it baffling how many overpriced products are out there when the identical items are available for far less cost and equal or even less effort.