She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. Proverbs 31

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Frugal Handsoap

If you're like our one-income family, frugal living is not just fashionable but often a necessity. We're always looking for ways to live a little simpler, a little less expensively and more environmentally friendly.

Have you noticed that all my photos are taken on this same counter? Someday when Colton outgrows his school table, I hope for a nice hoosier-style cabinet with lots of drawers and extra work space ... but until then ...


This frugal hint is one that meets all those criteria and is very simple to implement.

In our family, we use store bought liquid hand soap always buying the jumbo size bottle to refill all the small hand dispensers in the house. Recently, I've found a way to make the jumbo size bottle last well over 10 times longer.

Just purchase several of the prefilled foamable hand soaps from your local store. After you use up the soap in them, simply reuse the foaming handsoap dispenser by adding 2 teaspoons of the liquid handsoap and then slowly fill the individual hand dispenser with water to about 1/2 inch below the top of the bottle. Invert the bottle several times to mix the water and soap ... and you're ready to go with a whole new bottle of foaming soap.





If you like your foaming soap a little thicker, just add an extra teaspoon of liquid soap to the water. I like the foam because it doesn't slide off little hands and right down the sink. It sticks making it easier for little ones to wash their hands successfully.



I love this idea because in it not only saves money, but also reduces waste. That's ten less plastic bottles that will be filling our landfills! Multiply that by the number of bottles of soap you will use a year ... and multiply that by years ... you can see the impact that this one little change can make.

Of course, you can use this idea with your favorite liquid hand soaps from Bath & Body and make them last much longer as well.

Enjoy,
Lea

27 comments:

Shelley said...

Great idea Lea! It's "little" things like this that add up to a cost savings!

Nancy M. said...

I have never tried the foaming handsoap. I think I will buy a couple and give this a try. Every time I try to stretch the liquid soap by adding water, it gets too thin.

Katy said...

What a great idea!!! :) Thank you for sharing it! That makes so much sense. I admit though...I LOVE to buy soaps from bath and body works when they go on a great sale....LOL! :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing - great idea, Debs.

Lori said...

Thanks for the tip. I use the foaming kind but every time I buy it, I cringe at the price.

Susan said...

Thanks for sharing your tip. I love foam soap so I will try this.

Janene said...

This is a fantastic idea! I love to be frugal and I love to save the earth to our children and our children's children. I recycle like a mad woman! So this is just the best idea in the world to me!
I also make my own laundry soap...that saves me so much money and keeps lots of chemicals out of the water system!
There...now I shall step down from my soap box!

Lanny said...

Isn't waiting for something when your children are all grown and done with a certain something kind of a special "look forward to" thing. I love the changes that take place as each of our older daughters have grown and married. It makes changes so fun to look forward to.

MSM said...

This has got to be one of the best tips I've ever heard! I prefer the foaming soap, but the other is cheaper; I am so excited about this - we are going to have foaming soap tomorrow!!

marie said...

Thanks for the tip! I can't wait to try and to share it too! My daughter loves the foamy soap...she'll love this more!

The Stricklands said...

You are such a smartie! I am refilling our bottle tomorrow :) The only problem with the foaming hand soap at our house is that little Madelyn loves to play with it. Oh well - she has very clean hands!

Unknown said...

Thank you! I sooo love this idea!

Back in the Day said...

Thanks for the tip! I had no idea! Every little bit helps these days!
Nicole

•♦•©The Olde Weeping Cedar •♦• said...

Oh this is a great idea! Thanks so much :)

hugs-Kath

QuiltedSimple said...

Thanks for a great idea! I'll have to do this - we go through soap amazingly fast!
Kris

Paula said...

What a wonderful idea Lea! It's a shame soap has to be so expensive... any thing I can do to make it last longer is great by me!

Elizabeth said...

Thats a great idea Lea. I will be trying this.You are right the foam is great for little hands
Elizabeth

Mandy said...

Such a good idea! I'm going to try this and the laundry soap you posted a while back too.

I love frugal tips!

Mandy

carolyn@simple~primitive~devotion said...

What a great idea! I am going to do this! We also live as frugally as possible. Every little bit helps adn this is great for the environment too!
Thanks Lea!

P.S. We are still keeping you all lifted up in prayer.

Sandy@American Way Farm said...

What a fantastic idea! Thanks. -Sandy

Tammy ~ Country Girl at Home ~ said...

What a clever idea, Lea! Thanks for sharing that tip with us!

I read your comment on the post about the mustang and I have to tell you that I can just picture you in your new boots and prairie dress riding around in your orange pickup with your buddy, Colton! That gives me an idea for another post...one of our favorite rides now...you're going to laugh when you see it...but I'll do a post on it so stay tuned! (Thanks to you)!

Hugs,
Tammy

Vintage Linen Treasures said...

Great tip! My mom's been doing this for a couple of years.
Patricia :o)

PS: Love the music!

Primitives By The Light of The Moon said...

Thanks for a super idea. I'm going to give this a try for sure!
:)Ginger

Linda ★ Parker's General said...

I love this idea...Did you know if you use warm water and a teaspoon of baking soda first, shake well, then add your hand soap, it will make your hands softer and a bit foamier. Also, dish soap like Ivory or Palmolive is even cheaper than hand soap and made to be gentle on hands. I am always finding coupons for Palmolive(my soap). I bought one of those giant bottles of hand wash and used it---now it sits on my sink with my Palmolive init. I mix it 2 parts water with 1 part dishsoap and use it for dishes and hands. Everything is concentrated or ultra these days.
I don't run a sink full of water either. I have a thing about dishes sitting in dirrty water. I just put soap on my sponge and wash dishes one at a time. When I have a sink fullof clean, I rinse them and put them on the rack to dry....I know, I'm weird but it works for me. I have been cheap for so long--before it came into style--I just can't stop. I still buy in bulk--toothpaste, spices, canned goods, sale/clearance items. We did without alot of stuff as kids and I never want to do that again. My kids like to 'shop' at our house because we always have a pantry full.
I also save the dishsoap bottle and the pumps. The grandkids play with them in a tub of water on our patio. They use the bottles as squirt guns! It is a lot of fun!
Have a wonderful weekend.
BTW- I love your nook. Everything you need in one place. My bedroom is too small....***sigh***
Our quilt racks are just alike!!!!

nancy huggins said...

Love that idea about the soap lea...I think I have some bottles already that are almost empty and you can know for sure that I will be trying that.
Maybe it would even look nice to just make a bottle diaper for the bottom (can't get to close to the top or it will get yucky from the soap) and then make it match the decor in each room....lots of neat little ways to embellish the bottles...Thanks again for the great idea :)
Hugs
Nancy

Barb J. said...

Lea,

I was just looking at one of my foaming soap dispensers yesterday and wondering if there was a way to refill them. Thanks for the timely tip!

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! We use the Dr. Bronner's natural soap - this is going to work perfectly for us! Thanks so much for the frugal and earth friendly tip, Delinda!