How to Make Homemade Liquid Soap

Walk into the soap section of your local store and brace yourself. The price of everything--including liquid soap--is going up. To make your money go farther you can make your own liquid soap for pennies instead of shelling out several dollars at the store. With a minimum of ingredients you can make your next batch of liquid soap in minutes, saving money and helping the environment by reducing the amount of plastic bottles you send to the landfill. You can even get the kids in on the act by having them grate the soap for you--teaching them how to conserve money in the process.

Ingredients:
1/2 bar of soap (Ivory recommended, but any brand of bar soap will do)
1 quart of water
1 quart of water
2 quarts of water

Tools needed:
1 pan, 2 quart size
Stirring spoon or whisk
Grater
1 re-purposed gallon container with lid (1.5 gallon recommended for extra shaking room)
Empty pump soap dispenser

Step 1:
Grate the bar of soap. The finer you grate the soap the faster and easier it will melt.

Step 2:
Place the grated soap in a pan with a quart of water.

Step 3:
Heat the grated soap and water on medium heat, stirring until all the soap is completely melted.

Step 4:
Pour one quart of cool water into a re-purposed gallon container while the soap is melting.

Step 5:
Pour the melted soap mixture into the gallon container containing the quart of cool water. Cap and shake well to mix.

Step 6:
Pour as much of the remaining water into the gallon container as will fit. If you used a 1.5 gallon container, fill it to the 1 gallon mark.

Step 7:
Cap the container and let it sit overnight to cure.

Step 8:
To use, shake the container and then fill your empty liquid soap dispenser. Use just like you would traditional liquid soap.

This recipe makes 1 gallon of liquid soap.

The cost of this soap will vary depending upon the brand of soap that you use. To compare the cost with commercially available liquid soap: If the bar of soap cost fifty cents (common price in 2011 per bar in a multi-pack of soap), you can create 2 gallons of liquid soap from a single $0.50 bar. This is a significant savings when compared to what a liquid soap refill costs to purchase!

If you use bar soap, you can save the slivers until you get the equivalent of a half of a bar and use that instead of buying a bar of soap.

Add a few drops of olive oil to the mixture for a natural moisturizing effect.

Source:
"The Minimalist Cleaning Method" by Annie Jean Brewer