Most of us like to buy environmentally-friendly products were we can and no-one likes the thought of beauty products being tested on animals, but what is perhaps most appealing about Dr Bronner's Magic soap in these credit crunching times is that it has so many uses: 18 of them, in fact, from body wash to toothpaste to household cleanser and many more. At $21 for two 32 ounce bottles, that's pretty great value.

Popular in the '40s and '50s when penny-pinching became an art form for housewives following the second world war, the soap is now a hit with Hollywood stars like Drew Barrymore and the company donates a share of their profits to charities including War Child International.

Plus, as I alluded to previously, the soap is all-natural: totally biodegradable, made with no synthetic foaming agents, thickeners, preservatives, fragrances, dyes or whiteners and packaged with 100% post consumer recycled (PCR) cylinder bottles and paper labels.