I like to keep liquid soap by the kitchen and bathroom sinks for washing hands. Bar soap, while cheaper than liquid soap, just gets messy. I don't like messy. I like easy. But I also like cheap (I mean FRUGAL). Liquid hand soaps can get pricey at the supermarket or Walmart, so I've always bought it at the dollar store. Just whatever, basic, not too flowery scented, liquid hand soap they offered.
Well, after the birth of our daughter 4 months ago, my husband went a bit crazy with buying liquid hand soap to keep by the sinks. He had a couple different types at each sink for guests to choose from when coming to see the baby.
My favorite of the soaps he bought, was the Dial Foaming hand soap. It was a treat, since the dollar store doesn't carry that kind. But I couldn't wait to refill it with some cheap (FRUGAL) soap mixed with water, like I've read on some of the Frugal Friday tips.
Naturally, when the dispensers ran out, I didn't have any of my cheap hand soap to refill them.
In the bathroom, my dollar store body wash bottle, was almost finished. I was going to add water to it and shake it up to finish using it up for my showers. But then I figured I would fill the foaming dispenser with it. Perfect! I'm getting more hand washings out of that little bit than I would have gotten if I used it as a body wash!
In the kitchen, I refilled the foaming dispenser with my dish soap. I've been using Ajax Ruby Red Grapefruit scented dish soap. I have issues with fragrance making me sick to my stomach, but I love the smell of the Ruby Red.
After about a week, I realized it was silly to keep the bottle of dish soap AND the foaming dispenser filled with the same dish soap on the counter. Especially since, most of my dishes are put in the dishwasher. Only a few get washed by hand. I tucked the big bottle of soap under the sink and use the foaming dish soap to wash the dishes. I pump a bit of the soap onto my sponge and wash the dishes! It's just enough to wash the small amount of dishes that didn't make it into the dishwasher!
So, I'm saving money by eliminating the need to purchase a separate hand soap, stretching the body wash by not wasting the last bit in the bottle, stretched the dish soap by using less to wash dishes and also managed to save myself some counter space in the kitchen (I think that's my favorite part)!
To read about more money saving tips, go to Frugal Friday hosted by Life As Mom.
2 comments:
Excellent idea. At first I assumed you were getting to refilling your own hand soap. We currently use the dish soap for our hands and its hard to rise off. Great idea.
Lisa, great point! Dish soap is really difficult to rinse off. Especially if you have a water softener. So now, this tip also saves on water!!! Not an expense for us since we have well water, but it's always good to save water from being wasted.
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