Making Silky Soft Liquid Soap

I see red when I see someone wasting resources. No, I am not the greenest person out there, wish I was, but I do like to live by the mantra "Use is it up, wear it out. Make do, do without." It was one of the things my spouse learned about me in that first month of marriage. He adjusted to some of my rules, agreeing to cloth napkins, we did get a nice supply as gifts anyway. He didn't fully understand reusing aluminum foil, but he got over it and learned that it is possible. One place we differed, was on soap.

My new husband loved bar soap. The problem was, he loved new bars, not old ones. He had a thing for using only about half of the soap before he opened a new bar. I couldn't use up the rest of his soap due to an allergy to the soap he chose. I got creative and tried to reglue three bars together to make a new bar. I would soak them and make them soft, then squish them into one new bar. Nope, he didn't like that idea either. To stop me from trying to save the used bars of soap, he would flush them quickly before I knew they were gone. This broke me to tears. That did it, we had to come to an agreement. We did, he agreed to place the used soap into a bucket in the bathroom, and I was allowed to do whatever I wanted with it, as long as I didn't try to remake it into a bar of soap for him.

What I learned to do, was make liquid soap! Now we have an endless supply of liquid soap for all kinds of uses. While I do not recommend using body soap in soap making for laundry, it can be used for other kinds of cleaning. One of my main uses when my children were small, was using the soap to wash their toys. I have been known to use liquid soap in a bucket of water to wash outside areas like sidewalks or the window screens.

Making a supply of soap is easy. Save your scraps or use up that stash of hotel soap most all of us are guilty of holding on to. I also like to buy soap at the dollar store, in scents that I like, just for me. I can take one bar of lavender soap and make eight cups of liquid soap! Sure stretches my budget.

Make sure the soap is hard. If you save soap scraps, let the dry for several weeks to be dry and firm. Using a fine grater, a cheese grater is idea, grate the soap into a container. Make sure you store any unused grated soap in an air tight container in a cool dry place. When you are ready to make soap, take four cups of hot water and place in a container. Sprinkle two cups of the shredded soap over the hot water. Soap will start to sink. Let it set for a few minutes before you stir in the soap. Liquid soap can be made as thick or thin as you wish. This recipe is the thickness I like. For thicker, just add soap in half a cup until you get the consistency you like. For thinner, add small amounts of hot water and stir well. Place the ready to use soap in pump containers. It's a good idea to just recycle ones you already have, or purchase new pump style bottles at dollar stores or thrift stores.

Keep in mind that different soaps have different ingredients. Deodorant soaps may be an issue for some people. If that is the case in your home, you might consider making only deodorant liquid soap and placing in a container for body wash. Yes, my husband was willing to give this a try and you know what, he loved it.

Do you have a favorite use for bar soap? If so, share your tips!