"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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