Save Soap. Save Money.

It seems as if every other week I go through another bar of soap.  Every time I find myself with a slippery razor-thin remnant in my hands, I can't help but feel frustrated at the rapid pace that I blow through money trying to stay clean.  While at first it may not seem expensive, the cost of this essential commodity quickly adds up.

I'm a Dove Cool Moisture Beauty Bar man.  I enjoy the natural scent of cucumber and green tea.  Unfortunately, this 14-pack of hydrating lotion infused soap costs me $18.00 a box.  It is appropriately colored green because every time I use it, I can see my money going down the drain.  Going through one of these bars every two weeks ends up cutting roughly $33 annually from my savings (one 14-pack every 28 weeks, or 1.85 packs per year at $18.00 per pack).  The obvious solution to this problem would be to switch soaps or use coupons.  What I propose, however, is a more elegant solution which will save a few bucks on its own, and can be combined with the above methods to dramatically increase what you bank.

The solution isn't to spend less; it's to waste less.  Most people, including my uneducated self of yesteryear, would use a bar of soap until it became an unusable scrap before being thrown away.  The problem with this is that there's nothing wrong with that soap, other than it being too small to make good use of.  Put a whole bunch of those small scraps of soap together, however, and now you have something that you can work with.

In retrospect, the soap is more of a blue-teal than a money-green.

If you're not convinced of the obvious financial benefits yet, let me do some math and then we'll see how you feel.  As I already explained, this soap costs me about $33 per year.  The ball of soap shown above is about the size of a new bar and took me almost exactly one year to make.  Going through one bar of soap every two weeks means that for every 52 weeks, or 26 bars, I'll get one extra.  Paying $18 for a 14-pack gives me a per-bar cost of $18/14 or $1.29.  This $1.29 is my savings for using the collected soap ball, reducing my annual spending from $33 to $31.71.  Of course it will take a year to make your first soap ball and start saving.  Once that first year has elapsed, your soap wasting habit will be reduced from 26 new bars down to a modest 25, plus one recycled ball.

Now that I've convinced you of the benefits, I'll explain how to make the soap ball.  While I could fill a whole recycling bin with books on all the possible methods, I'll present a simple method to get you started; the wet-press technique.  Get the pieces of soap wet and slightly lathered and simply press them together.  The more pressure you use, the better the bond.  This is convenient because it can be accomplished in the shower.  By placing the soap on a window to dry, the water will evaporate, causing a stronger bond than if it dries in the humidity of the bathroom.  If you can deal with this effort, you will be rewarded with a quality ball of soap that can withstand some of the toughest lathering and scrubbing.

While focusing on building a money saving soap ball, don't forget about saving money by spending less.  If you can use coupons or buy a different soap pack on sale, your spending will be reduced even further.  Also, if you have a keen eye for style, don't be afraid to mix and match different colors of soap to build a ball that complements your personality while removing dirt.  With enough creativity, you can end up with a product that's greater than the sum of its parts.