Liquid Hand Soap for Less than a Penny

So as I've previously boasted, some expenses in our life are already pretty lean and mean, and there's one that I'm particularly proud of that I thought I'd share.

We use a LOT of liquid hand soap in our house. NYC is a germy place, Charlotte is two years old and in daycare, so we are CONSTANTLY washing hands. We need one soap dispenser at each sink - so three total. For awhile I was really into the Bath and Body Works foaming soaps - they smell amazing and have fun scents. But they're PRICEY! If you get the 6 for $20 deal, that's $3.33 for 8.75 ounces of product, so 38 cents an ounce.

So I did some investigation...and it turns out the "product" is mostly water with a little bit of concentrated soap and fragrance in it. The foaming mechanism in the pump top is pretty genius - its invention has enabled BBW to make a MINT on these little beauties. So I decided to try to make my own.

I should back up a little bit and say that I did have a mid-step. I bought a jumbo container of softsoap liquid soap at Costco. Actually, since it was Costco there were TWO jumbo containers of liquid soap, and I split it with my friend. I believe it cost around $10 for two huge jugs, so $5 for one. Each jug is 80 ounces, so about 6 cents per ounce.

For awhile I was just refilling my old handsoap containers, but when I had the foaming pump mechanism epiphany, the game changed.

I bought three foaming handsoaps from the Co-op (around $5 each), and have been refilling them for the past 6+ months with about a tablespoon of liquid handsoap, a few drops of lavender essential oil, and water.

Yes, you read that right, only about a tablespoon of regular liquid handsoap goes into a WHOLE container. The rest is water. Now you see why I think BBW is making a mint off this. They're using about 1/20 of the actual product, and filling the rest up with water!

So what's the new cost, you ask? Well, 160 tablespoons in 80 ounces (the size of the handsoap jug from Costco), and one tablespoon of actual soap goes into the foam dispenser (which holds 8.75 ounces - the rest it filled with water, remember?). So 3 cents worth of handsoap goes into each full foam dispenser, divided by 8.75 ounces....it's less than a penny. For a whole container of foaming hand soap. And if you want "foamier" soap, why not splurge, and use two tablespoons...bringing your cost up to  - oh wait, still less than a penny.

Now I did also mention that I use lavender essential oil to scent the soap. That does add some cost - it's about $9 for a small bottle. We use the lavender for a lot of different things though - in our bath, a few drops in the humidifier at night for relaxation, in Charlotte's hair to repel lice (remember the daycare thing?), spritzed on our sheets before bedtime...and in our hand soap. It gives it a lovely scent, and makes it feel more luxurious than it actually is. 

Now I know what you're thinking - can't I use this "foam" principle with all my household soaps? Like facewash and shampoo? You bet. I tried it with my pricey organic anti-aging Vitamin C facewash with great results, and have heard of people doing the same thing with baby wash/shampoo. You may have to play around a bit with the proportions - I had to up the facewash to water ratio to achieve the cleansing power I desired, but in the end it really helped to stretch my facewash. Take that Cut Back Month.