Reusing Soap Leftovers

Reusing trash and recyclables is great for the environment, and frugal as well, but it can be difficult to know where to begin. In this series of articles, I will be examining the possibilities of reuse available for a number a different items, including crafts and other options.

It may seem to be the ultimately unfashionable height of frugality to reuse the soap slivers left from bar soap, having very strong connotations of Depression Era poverty and desperation, but just because we're fortunate enough not to have to find a way to stretch every bit of use from an item, that doesn't mean we should callously waste useful things either. And the small slivers and bits left from a bar of soap can certainly be useful.

First, I would encourage you to use bar soap over liquid soap, since it's generally less expensive and lasts longer. Personally, I also find a bar of soap is more pleasant to use, since it does not have the same overpowering scent and clinging film that liquid soap can have. Also, it's important to use a good soap dish to ensure a very long lasting bar of soap. Use one that is made of slats or has very high pegs and holes to make sure the water drains completely away from the soap and it is kept dry. This will keep the soap clean and also help it to last longer.

Of course, even soap on the best soap dish will come to its end sometime, and there are many different uses to which those small slivers can be put.

A classic one is to collect the slivers in the jar, and shake them up with hot water. This will make a thick gel like liquid soap. I use this soap to clean my toilets and sinks, along with baking soda for scouring and vinegar for sanitizing.

If you sew, soap slivers can be useful for marking fabric. This can be done by allowing the piece to dry out completely, then using the skinny sharp edge to make marks. This works particularly well on dark fabrics, and care should be taken to make sure that the soap will wash out of the fabric, but it should wash out of most of them.

Soap pieces can be placed in a "soap saver" which is a sewn, knitted, or crocheted type of baggie that will allow the soap to be easily held and lathered. Patterns for these can be found online, or one can easily be made by folding a wash cloth in half and sewing along the bottom and side, to form a pouch. The pouch could be buttoned closed, or a casing sewn to hold a drawstring.

Soap pieces are also nice to use in art projects. Rubbing soap on fabric will make it resist dye, making it possible to try some very basic batik dyeing with children. Soap rubbed on paper will resist paint, which can make fun effects for watercolors.

Soap slivers are good to keep in the toolbox as well, since they can be used to lubricate sticking drawers and squeaky hinge pins and stubborn door latches.

I hope this article will help you find a further use for your leftover soap bits next time you're about to through one in the trash.