Make a Change

I know, I know … I have a bit of a theme going on here,  don’t I?  Really, I’m not that into cleaning, but cleaning products just seem to have a lot of chemicals in them and it’s nice to find some alternatives that are simple, DIYish, and make you feel a little crafty.

Ingredients:

• 1 bar Soap
• 2 tablespoons Liquid Glycerin
• 16 cups Water

Directions:

Grate your bar of soap.  Generally, you get 2 cups of grated soap per bar of soap – measure your pile to be sure.  Next, get a large pot and put your grated soap in it.  For every cup of grated soap add 1 tablespoon liquid glycerin and 8 cups water to the pot.  Heat on medium, stirring until the soap dissolves.  At this point it will look more like soup than liqud soap.  Patience.  Let it sit overnight (at least 12 hours).  After it cools completely it should look more like the liquid soap you buy in the store.  If it’s a little too firm use some beaters to blend it, adding a little water to make the correct consistency.  Now, bottle and use.

This makes a lot of liquid soap.  Find a bar that you like the smell of, perferably one with no moisturizer in it as the moisturizer can change the end consistency.  Find some pretty bottles to store it in.  Because you’ll be making a lot think gift giving here.  You might even want to try DIYing your own pump jar bottle.

Cost per liter:  $2.29 (1 liter equals 33.8 oz or 4 1/4 cups) … if you use a full bar of soap you’ll have approximately 3.785 liters.

P.S. – the price is based on getting organic glycerin and organic bar soap.