Thursday, January 7, 2016

Frugal DIY: Body Wash From Store-bought Soap


I like to find ways for our family to save money without compromising on comfort, and I recently found a way to put at least $350 back into our budget each year!

Making our own Body Wash!

In our area, it costs anywhere between $5.99 to $7.99 on a bottle of Dove Body Wash, which is our preferred brand. That averages out to cost us about $35 to $45 a month (Annually that's around $480 a year).

Now I love to be clean, but are you kidding me!?! (This is the result of going over your budget with a fine tooth comb and finding out something as small as body wash is costing you a lot.)

Just after I had this realization, the show, "How It's Made" came on, and the episode showed how they make body wash.... Heated water and melted soap!!?!!  Really? I can do that!

So off I went to the store, and found out that the same soap and brand that I use costs $1.99 for two 4oz bars. And my husband's Men Dove costs $2.49 for two 4oz bars.

Once I got home, I grated up one bar and since this was my first time doing it, I used one cup of water at first, but then added another until I got the consistency I wanted.

Here is a step by step of what I did:

DIY Body Wash From Store-Bought Soap

Grate one bar of soap.
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.
Turn down heat to a medium.
Slowly stir the grated bar soap into the water.
Wait until it is all milky with no crumbles of soap remaining
Let sit for 2 to 4 hours to thicken up
Add to reusable bottle and DONE!
(I used an old body wash bottle that I rinsed out with hot water)

This gave me one 16oz bottle - if I'd doubled the batch, it would have given me a good bit more for $1.99 than I could have purchased for $5.99!

Now to do the math if we keep doing this, which we will, within a month we will spend $10.95 on the bars a month bringing it to $131.40 a year. And that's if we can't find the 8 pack bars for $5.00 at Walmart which would then bring our total to $60.00 a year.


I can sure think of better ways to spend the money I'll be saving than on body wash! I hope this could help save you guys some money as I know it will for mine.


13 comments:

  1. This seems like a lot of fun to make your own body wash. I sometimes make a foaming hand soap but have not tried body wash and I would like to make this.
    twinkle at optonline dot net

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  2. WOW! I am going to try this making the soap. I am almost out of body soap. Thanks!

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  3. This actually looks like a soothing activity to do. I am going to try this thanks for sharing on Friendship Friday Blog Party.

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  4. Great idea. Thanks for linking up to Simply Natural Saturdays.

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  5. Thanks for sharing! I definitely will have to try this. Sounds almost too good to be true.

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  6. Very interesting concept! Glad I stopped by your blog (I like the design, by the way - very appealing) from the #HomeMattersParty

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  7. What a great idea! I've kind of done it before, but never made it a habit. Glad it has worked out so well for you. Stopping by from While I'm Waiting Wednesday. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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  8. Love these kinds of frugal DIY recipes! Thank you for sharing on the Art of Home-Making Mondays! :)

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  9. What a great money saver! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday, hope to see you again next week!

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  10. This is a fantastic frugal idea! Thank you so much for sharing it with us at the Hearth and Soul Hop. Sharing!

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  11. This is absolutely brilliant! I've thought about this and didn't know how to make it. So I dropped it. We use both the bars of Ivory and the liquid shower soap, we already have what we need, so now I'm going to get to it!!! Saving money and having the soap I like??? Win win! Thanks.

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  12. Great Idea!! Save some money too! Thanks for sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday - Link Party and hope to see you again this week! Pinned!

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  13. Wow, that looks so easy. And amazing the difference in price. I think I'll have to give that a go. My husband prefers the bars but I don't like the scum left, so maybe if I tell him the body wash is made from the bars I might convert him!

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