One Simple Trick for Saving Household Cash $$$
"A penny saved is a penny earned."
- English proverb
When I was a kid, soap came in bars.
Ivory soap was the "gold standard." Bars of Ivory soap are still available today, typically costing about 50 cents each in reasonable quantity.
A bar of Ivory was great for washing your hands, and even better in the tub because it floats. I remember carving little boats out of a bar of Ivory soap.
Ivory Soap - It Floats!
By Procter and Gamble Heritage Center CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Times have changed.
Soap now comes in a pump, in pretty much any fragrance and flavor your heart desires.
Soap in a pump...
Original image by @creatr
We've all seen them.
There are probably several on your pantry shelf right now. If you bought them at Walmart, you paid about two dollars. If you were lucky enough to find them at a dollar store, you paid... well... about a dollar.
Liquid soap came on the market in 1980 as Softsoap. Some years later, I was amazed at the ingenuity of the soap companies when they brought out the foaming soap dispenser.
Dial Foaming Soap Pumps
Screen capture from Dial Soap Website
Imagine. They could now charge the same price for a similar size dispenser, but fill it with a very dilute mixture.
I'd like to shake the hand of the genius who came up with that clever trick.
Today I'll tell you how to learn from it, and drastically reduce your soap expenditures.
First, buy one foaming soap dispenser.
I'll recommend Dial, simply because I know this life hack works with Dial dispensers.
When your original Dial soap is all used up,
don't discard the dispenser. Simply peel off the label and unscrew the pump.
Empty Foaming Soap Dispenser
Original image by @creatr
Get some concentrated soap.
For example, try a bottle of Alpine Xtreme body wash (available at Walmart for about $4). Or, use your own favorite, economically priced liquid soap.
Alpine Xtreme Body Wash
Original image by @creatr
Fill the dispenser about half way with water.
Now add about eight pumps of soap to the water in the dispenser. Depending on concentration of the liquid soap you choose, you may want to add more or less than that.
Don't stress, this isn't rock-it science. Just experiment a little, it's almost impossible to get this wrong.
About eight pumps will do...
Original image by @creatr
The reason for putting water in first is to avoid excess foaming. For the same reason, once your concentrated soap is added to the water, pick up the dispenser base and gently swirl the water and soap in order to mix them together without foaming. Shaking the container would add air and froth things up.
After mixing,
here's what it will look like.
After mixing.
Original image by @creatr
Time to add some more water.
Fill the container, but be sure to leave enough room at the top for the pump mechanism to fit in without overflowing. As long as you're doing this over the sink, running over a little bit really won't matter.
Here's what it will look like when you're done.
Congratulations!
Now you're done...
Original image by @creatr
You've just saved a buck or two...
Believe me, those dollars add up.
It's time to wash your hands and laugh all the way to the bank.
Now laugh all the way to the bank...
Photo courtesy of Vitaly and http://unsplash.com
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Save money and buy Silver!
Sounds like a plan! :D
Good tip, we all need to learn to cut back, it all adds up :)
Thanks!
I buy Ivory brand body wash sometimes. Last time I got a bottle I think it was only 75 cents which is really cheap in my book. I'm allergic to many bath soaps and Ivory is one that doesn't make me itch.
Hmmm... I wonder if that would dilute and work in a foam/pump container? :D
Thanks for the great post. I have stock piled bar soap for future use. Other ways of saving money of soap. 1) Price variation generally goes on 12 week cycles. Buying and stockpiling at a low is good. 2) buy soap at Household Estate Sales and Garage Sales. You get it at a fraction of the cost. Thanks again.
Thanks for the ideas, and for adding to the conversation! :D
Thanks Great Post as are all of yours. I might ad bar soap has a longer shelf life for stock piling and saving $$.
Good point!
Very useful @creatr. And count me among the few who still prefer soap in bar form!
That is quite unusual! ;)
My mom thinks I'm special :D
This is great. I am thrifty and proud. First off, I STILL use bar soap in the shower. I don't go in for all that overpriced liquid soap. Now for hand soap at the kitchen sink I mix half water with half cheapo dish soap lol. I get tired of those tiny bottles, so I will have to do a post showing what I use. I even did a video on it a while back!
More great inspiration!
:) :) :)
Nice information on foaming soap.
My favorite old home chemistry trick -- and it saves a lot of money is to mix up water and TSP.
Ifound it easily at Ace Hardware :
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1308299&KPID=953505&cid=CAPLA:G:Shopping_-_Cleaners&pla=pla_953505&k_clickid=edc838bf-87fa-4494-96e0-3054d8c99278This can make a cleaner similar to 409 and other general purpose cleaners to clean tubs, decks, cars or most anything. No fragrance but I guess you could addit.
It does amazingly well on dried out paintbrushes aswell as very greasy things. It is likely to be found whereever house paint suppliesare stocked.
Mix it up by the gallon. When the water feels slick, you are good to go.
If you like old soap like Ivory, its probably because modern soap bars have little soap.
Try goat milk soap such as sold by:
https://www.goatsoapandmore.com/shop
This is soap with no fillers. Its hand made in small batches and has a very rich lather. And its made in Indiana! So you know its special!
Hello, @indianajimz, Nice to "meet" you here.
Thank you for your very extensive and constructive comment, adding a lot to this conversation.
I think you would do well to take your comment and turn it into a post on your blog. I'm sure many others could profit from what you know.
We've recently had a new Ace hardware store open in our neighborhood, and I have been very impressed with their broad selection of specialty hardware an fasteners. However, I had never heard of TSP.
Thank you very much for the great tip! :D
😄😇😄
Wow! Very fast turnaround on your acknowledgment. Today is my first day on steemit. I think you may be right about making a more extensive article. I look around for some of the old recipes. Who knows?
I just happened to see your reply not too long after you posted it.
Welcome to Steemit, and best wishes! :D
Good thinking creatr. In NZ we can buy dish washing liquid in a 2 gallon container, and refill the usual small container as required, this is a greater saving but over a longer time.
Thanks for visiting and adding to the conversation! :)
Great tip @creatr - you know I am always looking for ways to save even more money! :D
Thank you, glad to think you may find this useful! :D
I do this all the time - toiletries are expensive - but as for going back to catalogues...forget about it LOL!!