Emily has been insisting that I blog about this little tip for quite some time now. Today seemed to be the perfect time to do it since she was fresh out of foaming hand soap this morning.
To make your own foaming hand soap, you will need an existing foaming hand soap dispenser, and some body wash. I love Arbonne’s Guava Berry Body Wash. It is heavenly, but not so frugal. Making the foaming hand soap out of this makes it stretch a lot further.
All clean!
To your empty foaming hand soap dispenser add 2 1/2 Tablespoons of body wash. Fill the rest of the bottle with water. That’s it! Screw the top back on the soap dispenser tightly. Make sure it is really on tight.
Then, SHAKE THE BEJESUS OUT OF IT!!! Shake, shake, shake… Shake, shake, shake… Shake your booty… Shake your booty!! Shake up and down, side to side, around and around… SHAKE BABY SHAKE!
Now look at the beautiful foaming hand soap you’ve made!
All clean!
September 4th, 2009 on 1:32 pm
Dear Valerie,
Sorry for using all of the soap and leaving an empty bottle.
I'm not really sorry; I did it on purpose! Ha ha ha!
Love Mark
p.s. Regular dish soap works just fine too.
September 4th, 2009 on 3:33 pm
Cool!
September 4th, 2009 on 3:54 pm
Those foaming soap dispencers are wonderful! I have one for each sink in my house.
Val
September 4th, 2009 on 4:18 pm
That is a great tip. We love foaming hand soap.
I love that Mark's comments always begin with Dear Valerie.
September 4th, 2009 on 4:27 pm
Very clever!
September 4th, 2009 on 4:28 pm
What a great tip! We use the foaming soap too, and buying the refill bottles adds up. I'm definitely trying this next time!
September 4th, 2009 on 4:36 pm
Well, that looks easy enough! Very cool! I have a ton of little hotel bodywashes that my mom has given me. She travels every week. This seems like a great use for them.
September 4th, 2009 on 5:23 pm
I love how you took the expensive and made it frugal. Good for you.
September 4th, 2009 on 6:23 pm
What a great idea. I'll have to try it.
September 4th, 2009 on 7:10 pm
I was wondering how to reuse the dispenser. What a great tip!!
September 4th, 2009 on 7:41 pm
How in the world do you come up with all these great ideas? That pretty cool and oh so very frugal.
September 4th, 2009 on 7:41 pm
I am tickled by Mark's comments. They're so sweet and cute… like love notes!
Mark and Valerie sitting in the tree…
September 4th, 2009 on 7:55 pm
I've been saving a foam soap dispenser for weeks! My sister took it upon her self to throw it away sometime today. I'm screaming on the inside… thanks for yet another GREAT tip.
September 4th, 2009 on 9:14 pm
We've been doing this for years. It's great when you want a little luxury to go a long way – or you can be super-frugal and buy the big ole jug of liquid handsoap at Sam's Club and have foaming soap for years (that's what we do for every room EXCEPT my own bathroom – I get a little luxury in there LOL).
September 4th, 2009 on 9:49 pm
@ Val in the Rose Garden — I love how the kids don't leave trails of soap on the counter with these. We have them in all our bathrooms too, but none of them are properly labeled!
@ Christy — I married him for his quick wit and irresistible charm. Oh, and he kills bugs AND opens jars! In return, I make him some bacon bowls. Clearly, I got the better half of the deal!
September 4th, 2009 on 9:50 pm
@ aprilfoolwed — Very smart. Save some luxury for yourself! You deserve it! PS: I won't tell anyone that you refill the bottles with the stuff from Sam's Club. They'll never know and your secret is safe with me!
September 4th, 2009 on 10:22 pm
very smart. i will keep this in mind when they have the twice a year bath & body works sales where the bins can be up to 75% off!
♥ac
September 5th, 2009 on 7:55 am
aww that's nice
we'll have a go .
September 5th, 2009 on 9:32 am
great idea!
i so enjoy your hubby's comments.
September 5th, 2009 on 9:40 am
Quick question: Do you have to shake every time or is it good to go?
I use dial foaming and buy the generic foam soap to go in it but this is way better.
Great blog.
September 5th, 2009 on 9:54 am
Yippee! I love foaming soap but I'm too cheap to buy it. I'm excited to try this!
September 5th, 2009 on 9:56 am
@Sarah — Nope! Once it is shaken well the first time, it's all set! If it sits for a really long time, it might need a little shaking to get foamy again, but we go through foaming hand soap so quickly in this house that we never need to re-shake it.
September 5th, 2009 on 9:58 am
@ finding_ac — What a great way to get stocked up!
September 5th, 2009 on 11:47 am
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVEEE IT!
September 5th, 2009 on 5:51 pm
OK thank you mad soap scientist, I'm glad you figured this out and shared. You do realize the foaming soap industry is going to be furious!
September 5th, 2009 on 10:23 pm
Now, this is just one of the best tips I have heard in a long time. I was thinking about trying out the foamy hand soap for my kids, as they go through the regular soap way to fast. This tip is one I'll have to try. Thanks!
September 6th, 2009 on 6:11 am
wow… so you are saying that buying regular foaming soap is like the totally most unfrugal thing we can do? Ugh… threw all my foaming bottles away! Will have to make this one day!
September 6th, 2009 on 1:32 pm
@ Kristin — Yeah, something tells me the foaming soap industry is not too happy with me!
@ FrugalMom — I know what you mean. We go through tons of this stuff too, but we've been so happy with making our own for a long time now.
@ EntertainingMom — Foaming soap is almost entirely made of water! As long as you have the dispenser, you're good to go! Don't throw any more of those bottles away!!
September 6th, 2009 on 8:54 pm
We do the same thing SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much cheaper than buying more!
It's funny foaming soap cost more but uses less soap! hmmmmmmm
September 11th, 2009 on 6:43 am
I just bought a couple of bottles of body wash on sale, and was trying to figure out how to use them as hand soap (conveniently and without waste). Thanks!
November 11th, 2009 on 2:15 pm
Great idea!
I buy the HUGE econo jugs of bubble bath– they cost only a couple bucks, even in Hawaii— and use those to refill my handsoap. I'll have to try the foaming one if I ever get a foaming container again.