Make Your Own Foaming Soap

May 11, 2011 · 17 comments

clean hands

The following is from monthly contributor Phoebe Hendricks

There is just something about foaming hand soap that makes it much for fun to wash your hands, for kids anyway.  However, as a parent to four littles, who sometimes have a little too much fun with the soap, it is a hard expense for me to justify, especially in these tight times.

In this case, you can have your cake and eat it, too fun foamy soap and keep your hard earned money.

How to Make Foaming Hand Soap

  1. Obtain a bottle of liquid hand soap refill.  You should easily be able to find a 32 ounce bottle for under $5, especially if you are coupon savvy.
  2. Reuse an old foaming soap dispenser, or purchase a new one.
  3. Add 1-2 Tablespoons of liquid hand soap to the bottom of your soap dispenser. {You can also use Castille Soap, a frugal must}
  4. Fill with warm water; slowly!
  5. Shake gently, to combine.  Pump the pump a couple of times to get the foaming started.
  6. Voila!

Your Cost

If you paid $5 for a 32 ounce container of liquid soap, and purchased a brand new foaming soap dispenser {$13}, each batch of soap would cost you just 28¢! {Total Cost of $18, with a total of 64 batches–2 tablespoons to every ounce}

Not only is making your own foaming soap cost efficient, but using it is, too. Using foaming hand soap reduces the use of soap by 75%, which stretches your soap even further!

**Note: This same concept can be used to stretch your dish soap, and your body wash {perfect for kids soaps!}.**

Small frugal changes add up over time and will simplify your life. This process eliminates many empty soap bottles along the way, while saving you money.

Have you tried this frugal trick?

About Phoebe
Phoebe and her husband started their debt freedom journey in 2008. Along the way they’ve found that not only are they living the unconventional life, but loving it! She shares her joys of gardening, canning, cooking from scratch, and crafting on her blog, Getting Freedom. You can connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.

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Empty Foaming Soap
June 10, 2011 at 12:02 pm

{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Deb Donner May 11, 2011 at 12:43 pm

So sounds like it is all in the dispenser. Is that right?? cool!

[Reply]

Phoebe @ GettingFreedom Reply:
May 11th, 2011 at 2:18 pm

@Deb Donner, Yes, Deb. You add the liquid soap and water directly to the soap dispenser, and it creates the foam action for you when you use it.
Phoebe @ GettingFreedom´s last [type] ..Frugal Gardening 101- Mishaps Abound

[Reply]

2 Heather :) :) :) May 11, 2011 at 1:09 pm

Oh this is great. I haven’t tried making my own foamy soap yet. I still have some bars of handmade soap that I need to use up. HOwever, I’m a HUGE fan of castilloe soap, so I t hink I ‘ll do that soon. Castille soap is a bit spendy…but not really, when you look at all the many uses for it ;) :) it’s awesome :) :) I do make my own homemade laundry powder :) :) Love and hugs from Oregon, Heather ;)

[Reply]

Phoebe @ GettingFreedom Reply:
May 11th, 2011 at 2:26 pm

@Heather :) :) :) , Castile Soap, from the prices I’ve seen anyway, averages out to about 20¢ a tablespoon. For a chemical-free soap, that’ll last a long time–that’s a definite steal!

I <3 homemade laundry detergent!
Phoebe @ GettingFreedom´s last [type] ..Frugal Gardening 101- Mishaps Abound

[Reply]

3 Shannon May 11, 2011 at 3:25 pm

We do this all the time, except we haven’t started using castille soap for it. When my older daughter was younger and would find restrooms with foaming soap, she used to say something like “Wow, they must be rich, they have foaming soap!” because we didn’t have any at that time. Little did she know about the frugal foam soap trick!

[Reply]

4 Bev @ The Make Your Own Zone May 11, 2011 at 9:34 pm

I’ve been making my own foaming soap too! I’m finding I like it the most for hand soap. I used this same technique to make foaming dish soap and I’m finding that you need to use a little more soap in the soap to water ratio. Otherwise it seems to rinse off the pot or pan you’re washing so quickly that you need another squirt of soap which kind of defeats the purpose of trying to save on how much soap you’re using :)

Here’s a link to my post on giving this a try:
http://themakeyourownzone.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-make-your-own-foaming-dish-soap.html

[Reply]

5 Angela May 12, 2011 at 9:57 am

I’ve been doing this for over a year. It works great. If it’s too watery, just add some extra dish soap. If I need a squirt to clean a pan, I use “hand” soap pump that has the dish soap already in it. Very convenient & practical.

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6 Linda May 12, 2011 at 12:17 pm

This is a great idea that I think everyone should use. I’ve been doing it for a few years, but I use liquid dish soap. I found that any soaps which aren’t transparent tend to cause problems with the dispenser. I also use one of the large foaming dish soap dispensers for the kitchen sink adding a higher ratio of dish soap to water. The larger dispenser can handle it, but the smaller ones can’t.
Linda´s last [type] ..Amazon Sale on Gluten-Free Foods

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7 Heather May 12, 2011 at 8:48 pm

Ok – are the foaming soap dispensers the disposable ones from BBW? I thought foaming soap dispensers used regular soap anyway.
Heather´s last [type] ..Free Makeup Classes from Loreal Paris

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8 Katie May 12, 2011 at 11:22 pm

Thanks for sharing. I have been wanting to try this for some time now!!
Katie´s last [type] ..Cascade Complete Giveaway and Review

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9 Cindy May 13, 2011 at 7:18 am

I use a Dial foaming soap dispenser that I picked up for free using a coupon. It works with a little Softsoap and water. At this price you could have one in every bathroom.

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10 Mama B May 13, 2011 at 11:58 am

That’s what I did wrong! Instead of buying the refill for the foam soap dispenser I have, I bought a generic liquid hand soap. The refills must be pre-diluted. I just went and emptied out the pump, and refilled it according to what you posted and it’s working great. Thank you. So simple, but somehow I just didn’t clue in.
Mama B´s last [type] ..Powerless

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11 Cheap Sally May 18, 2011 at 2:08 pm

Thanks for sharing such a fun idea. I’m definitely going to try this!

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12 Kevin May 20, 2011 at 2:34 pm

Hello Folks,

My company supplies foam soap pumps with empty bottles needed to produce a nice foam soap or sanitizer. My personal favorite is a 1 part soap to 8 parts water, using Joy or Palmolive Dish Detergent. This creates a luxurious silky foam soap that is gentle and smells great.

Users of this site can enter coupon code ” kingdom ” upon checkout to receive 10% off of your first order. Simply visit: http://www.bottlesandfoamers.com

Thanks,
Kevin

[Reply]

13 Coupon Codes June 22, 2011 at 10:46 am

Thanks for sharing great idea. I’m definitely going to try this!

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14 Amanda Talbert November 11, 2011 at 8:31 pm

I’ve been dying to try this for so long and finally got around to it tonight! I LOVE it and my 2-year old is such a fanatic about it now! Thanks for the tip!

http://thefrugalreport.blogspot.com/2011/11/make-your-own_11.html
Amanda Talbert´s last [type] ..Harris Teeter

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