# Can making soap also save money?



## Runswithsheep (Oct 20, 2007)

I bought all my ingredients that I needed for soap; lye beads, coconut oil, olive oil, lard...and found that my little soap bars are going to be much more expensive than just buying the cheap soap at the store. Any ideas how to make it less expensive? Has anyone rendered tallow for soap? I can't even find a butcher that has extra beef fat lying around. Where do you get tallow? And inexpensive coconut oil? 
I would love to hear what recipes work best for you as I'm a novice at this. Josie


----------



## Vashti (Dec 22, 2006)

I'm not sure if it's possible to save money. Large soap manufacturers create products using bulk ingredients and they're able to sell their soap REALLY cheap. However, just like other products that you make yourself (and cooking with whole foods, raising your own meat etc.) the soap that you make will be better for your skin, and much healthier for your family. Note that many soaps that you can purchase in the store have ingredients in them that have either not been tested for their safety on humans, or they have been shown to be carcinogens in laboratory animals. IMHO that makes up for the extra cost of making it yourself. 

However, I'm sure that some of the experts here might come up with some inexpensive ingredient ideas that could bring your costs down considerably.


----------



## Speckledpup (Dec 3, 2004)

I'm wondering the same thing. This seems like it is going to be some pretty expensive bars of soap. The cheapest oil I found was Soybean oil, I checked the label of vegetable oil after reading about it on here. Almost didn't use it because of a coment about it from someone on here.


I made my first batch on 11-11 this is some UGLY lookin soap. LOL

Tried the coffee blender soap, don't know if I let it cool down too much or what but seemed like it took forever to trace.

113 grams olive oil
113 grams coconut oil
226 grams soybean oil
63 grams lye
172 grams strong coffee

I went hunting the blender soap thread from a few months back, I guess it got trimmed in the lastest cuts.


----------



## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

my walmart has coconut oil for a decent price. i get tallow from the local butcher @ 50 cents per pound. i render by melting it an oven.


----------



## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

Speckledpup said:


> I went hunting the blender soap thread from a few months back, I guess it got trimmed in the lastest cuts.


Here is a link to Cole Brothers for blender soap. That's all I ever make.

http://www.colebrothers.com/soap/blender.html


----------



## swamp_deb (Jan 9, 2004)

Unless you want to make a lot of soap, you can skim off the fat when you cook and save it to make soap. Just make sure that you clean it by boiling so the clumps of batter and such go to the bottom of the pot, refrigerate then your lard or tallow will be in a sheet on the top to lift off for soapmaking. Some people even save chicken fat and use it. Most stores have their brand of shortening and that can be used for soap too, just plug in the tallow in the soap calculators.

My soap does save money in the long run because I use less lotion and our skin is healthier.

I've never made blender soap, I started out with cold process and now do some hot process too.


----------



## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

Your not buying soap at the local Wallmart you are buying detergent bars. 

Use lard, coconut oil and soybean oil from Wallmart. I have a wallmart recipe up at dairygoatinfo.com in the soap section. I teach this recipe. I just made soap for my family and then sold some to my customers who came for milk, and then......the rest is history. If you sell even 4 bars out of your batch for $1 per ounce the rest of your soap is free...or use it as gifts for christmas, you know all those teacher, mail lady, friend gifts. Vicki


----------



## halfpint (Jan 24, 2005)

Comparing store bought soap to home made soap to me is like comparing a high sugar cereal with a homemade breakfast of eggs, bacon and biscuits. Find out what it would cost to purchase a similar home made soap, then do a price comparison. For me it was cheaper, as I cannot use commercial soaps and was purchasing home made from a crafter until she quit showing up at the show where I bought it.

I also give away soap for birthdays, Christmas and such, so in the long run do save a good bit of money.
Dawn


----------



## kidsngarden (Mar 24, 2006)

Because I do sell to others it is pretty darn cheap - well free for me really. And the gifts! I ALWAYS have stuff to give for gifts!

The first bar I made I figured the cost of soap - not counting time or molds - just lye, simple oils, fragrance and it WAS cheaper than lever 2000! Less than a buck a bar! Now the initial cost to buy all the stuff seems like a lot, but when you break it down, not so much.

Bethany


----------



## doulanobles (Aug 15, 2006)

Yep. lots of gifts out of a batch and i don't have to worry about my kids' skin breaking out. I calculated my cost back when I was selling it regularly(2-3 years ago) and the average cost was about $.70 a bar with a range from $.45-$.90. That of course doesn't calculate in labor. I order almost exclusively from Liberty natural. Good Luck!

BTW, I tried rendering tallow when i firt started and quickly decided that wasn't worth it for me.


----------



## Fifilaflea (Sep 28, 2007)

I think the best you can do is find the oils and buy them in bulk when they are on a good sale. Try not to waste the fragrance oil and if you are just making it for yourself and don't mind skipping that and color you can save costs too.


----------



## thefarm (May 11, 2002)

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians said:


> Your not buying soap at the local Wallmart you are buying detergent bars.
> 
> Use lard, coconut oil and soybean oil from Wallmart. I have a wallmart recipe up at dairygoatinfo.com in the soap section. I teach this recipe. I just made soap for my family and then sold some to my customers who came for milk, and then......the rest is history. If you sell even 4 bars out of your batch for $1 per ounce the rest of your soap is free...or use it as gifts for christmas, you know all those teacher, mail lady, friend gifts. Vicki


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Walmart is the only store close to me and I have to drive 12 miles to get there one way lol what dept would that be in? thanks brenda


----------



## Lannie (Jan 11, 2004)

I get my soapmaking supplies online, except for olive oil which I can get cheaper by buying at Sam's when we go shopping. I just the other day figured the costs for making my own soap, and it comes out from about .70 per bar to $1.10 per bar (the difference being mainly the cost of the essential oils I use). And to compare this with storebought soap? Ha! What a joke! _No_ comparison. All the commercial detergents cause me to break out in a rash, but homemade SOAP is soothing and moisturizing. 

Also, as someone else mentioned, just sell a few bars out of every batch (I sell mine for $4.00 each) and you've recouped your costs and the rest of the batch is yours for free. 

~Lannie


----------



## Charleen (May 12, 2002)

Runswithsheep said:


> I bought all my ingredients that I needed for soap; lye beads, coconut oil, olive oil, lard...and found that my little soap bars are going to be much more expensive than just buying the cheap soap at the store. Any ideas how to make it less expensive? Has anyone rendered tallow for soap? I can't even find a butcher that has extra beef fat lying around. Where do you get tallow? And inexpensive coconut oil?
> I would love to hear what recipes work best for you as I'm a novice at this. Josie


Josie - welcome to the world of soaping! Being a novice, I suggest Kathy Miller's soaping website. You'll find quite a few recipes on there to start with. 

Comparing homemade soap to commercial bars is like comparing apples to oranges. We began making our own soap because we were concerned with what we were putting on our skin. The cost did not figure into it at all. For us, the most costly item in our soap is the EO we choose to use.

Tallow- contact a butcher in your area. Tell him that you'd be interested in buying some the next time he butchers a cow. And ask him to grind it for you, so it's easier to render down. You can also use deer, goat, or sheep tallow.

Coconut Oil - unless you're ordering a drum of it online the cheapest I have found is in Super Walmart. The LouAna brand is just over $3, you can find it in the baking aisle along with tubs of lard, sunflower oil, olive oil, etc.


----------

