I purchase a 64 ounce bottle of liquid refill 'Soft Soap' (it's quite concentrated) at whatever store has it on sale and dilute it with equal parts of water in to empty shampoo bottles, hand soap bottles and dish soap bottles. In a pinch I've even used it as laundry soap!
There is only myself in the household and that one bottle lasts about six months or more for me at the very top cost of about 6 to 8 cents per ounce! Check out the per ounce prices next time you shop and you'll see that this certainly saves a lot of money!
Rather than buying all the different types of soaps that are costly because they are 'specialized', why not try this? After all, 'soap is soap' and my dishes, hands, and hair have not suffered a single bit!
Buy or reuse a foamer bottle. Make your own refill by taking your regular dish soap, putting about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in the bottom of the bottle, adding warm water and gently shaking. Works great costs practically nothing and can be anti-bacterial and scented if that's the type of dish soap you use.
If you use unscented dish soap and want to scent your hand soap add a few drop of essential oils. These can be purchased at online co-ops for alot less than sote or online stores. Check out yahoo groups for co-ops. One I like is Crunchymamacooperative, among many others.
Get a bottle of the new liquid soap that comes in a foamer bottle. I refill mine with just a couple squirts of liquid soap and the rest water and boy it works just as good and we use WAY less soap.
I have made my own liquid soap from bar soap when I was really short of cash. Grate a bar of soap into a gallon of water, & boil it for a while. Let it cool before putting it into any plastic containers! Use old pump bottles that are left over from better days.
This stuff does not usually look very good, but it cleans just a well as the pretty clear stuff. Londa
Thanks for the warning info on SLS Peechee :-) It's always good to mention things like this so that everyone can research and make up their own minds about :-)
Have read a few scientific studies about it and it doesn't worry me being in soap form because those studies are conducted with a 2% full strength of SLS solution which is placed on a patch and then placed on skin for 1 to 24 hours to check reactions ... The majority of those who had reactions were to those who were already known to have sensitive skin or certain types of dermatitis and even then the reactions affected mainly the face ... Anyway, I don't think any of us will be leaving soap on our skin for that long ;-) I worry more about it being in the toothpaste, fiber caplets, dissolvable aspirin, and even certain types of candy we purchase :-o
I haven't researched Triclosan because I've never seen it in the products I purchase but will research simply to know :-)
Great tip! It's true that you can use soap pretty much on anything. Just be sure it's soap that does NOT contain SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) and/or triclosan.
SLS is what makes soap foam up and is a skin irritant linked to several skin problems and skin allergies. Triclosan is what makes soaps anti-bacterial. Not only does it kill the bad bacteria but it also kills our good bacteria which actually makes us more susceptable to more illness. Plus, triclosan cannot be filtered by our sewer system and so ends up in the ocean for our fish to ingest which in turn we ingest the sick fish and the cycle continues. Triclosan is very harmful to the environment.
So if you are going to get soap, be sure it doesn't have all those harsh chemicals that's bad for our bodies and the environment. Natural and organic is best. But be careful. Just because it says natural doesn't mean the companies didn't add "other" things in it. Read your labels and know the companies. Pure castile soap is wonderful whether in liquid or hard form. It's soap made from mostly olive oil and you can use it for (like you said), shampoo, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, home cleaning, etc.
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