DIY Natural Hand Soap

I finally checked one more thing off my to-do list. We've been slowly switching to natural products over the last year or so, and I finally just added hand soap to the list! I followed this tutorial to turn a bar of natural soap into a gallon of liquid soap. You just need a few ingredients to make your own:

• A bar of natural soap like Dr. Bronners or Mrs. Meyers.
• 2 Tbs. glycerin (I couldn't find this locally and had to order it online)
• 1 gallon of water
• 1 Tbs. honey

It's actually an easy process once you round up the ingredients.

1. Grate the bar of soap. 
2. In a large pot, combine 3/4 gallon of water, the grated soap, glycerin (helps thicken the soap and moisturizes), and honey (helps the soap foam and moisturizes). Cook over medium heat until the soap dissolves.
3. Take it off the heat and let it cool overnight. In the morning, break up the soap using a whisk. Working in batches, put the soap in a stand mixer and beat on low, adding part of the remaining 1/4 gallon of water until you get a good consistency. 
4. Use a funnel to fill your soap dispenser, and store the leftover soap in a gallon bag or washed-out milk jug.

Like the original tutorial said, the soap ended up with a kind of weird, goopy texture kind of like egg whites. Just to warn you. :) We've actually found that the texture doesn't work well with our fancy soap pump in the bathroom, I think maybe just because the opening is so narrow. It kind of gets hung up in there and suddenly blasts across the bathroom. Hmmm. But it is nice to have an all natural soap, especially for little hands.

 After I made that soap, I kind of had a stroke of genius. We'd tried watering down Dr. Bronner's liquid soap before and found it way to runny for our pump. But I just happened to be finishing off a foam dispenser we got for Christmas when it hit me! Seriously, if you want natural soap that's super easy and super cheap, look no further. Here's what you need:

• Dr. Bronner's liquid soap (lots of scents and sizes are available online if you can't find it locally, but our Trader Joe's has the 32oz size for $10 which is the best deal I've seen. It's also great for natural cleaning so any extra won't go to waste!)
• Water
• An empty foaming soap dispenser

To make natural foaming soap, I just filled the dispenser halfway with soap and the rest of the way with water, then swirled it around to mix them. I actually found this to be thicker and soapier than usual, so I think I'll try watering it even more next time. Easy, right? And it turns out little guys love foamy soap, so double-win!

How do you save money on natural products? Have a favorite product or DIY tutorial you'd like to share?