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.
