DIY Foaming Hand Soap: How to Refill with Regular
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I love the light feeling of foaming soap and the ease with which it washes off my hands. I’m not a fan of the price though! I’m no Rockefeller. I’m not even a Beverly Hills housewife. And if you’re not a Rockefeller or Beverly Hills housewife either, no worries. Luckily, there’s a frugal hack for that. You can refill your foaming dispenser with regular ol’ cheap liquid hand soap. Aka, DIY foaming hand soap.
Woohoo, frugal high five!
If you buy the bulk Dial foaming refill at Walmart, it costs 12.4 cents per ounce. The Equate liquid hand soap costs 6.2 cents per ounce for the 56 oz clear stuff, half as much! The difference is even bigger when you factor in that it only takes a couple ounces of the liquid soap to make a full soap dispenser of “foam soap.” For every 2 oz of liquid soap (plus 4 oz of water), you’d be using 6 oz of the foam soap. Instead of spending over twice the money–and watching it go down the drain–refill your foaming soap bottle with the cheap stuff.
“But darn it, woman,” you say. “I’m not a soapologist!”
No worries, DIY foaming hand soap is easy! No advanced soapology degree required.
Get your favorite cheap hand soap and your empty foaming soap dispenser bottle
Ready to play the role of mad scientist soapologist? Use a 2:1 ratio of water to soap. So two parts water for every 1 part soap. Or another way to think of it: fill the bottle 1/3 full with soap, and add water to the rest.
I fill my Dial foaming soap dispenser bottle about a third full, then pour water in the rest of the way. Don’t necessarily “shake” the bottle, just turn upside down and right side up a few times to get the soap and water to mingle. If you shake it, you’ll get a ton of bubbles. Not a disaster…just a nuisance.
If your water is like mine, it might take several minutes for the air and cloudiness to die down. Don’t despair, it will get there! When it does, the result is pure, frugal cleanliness.
And that’s next to godliness.
One thing to note: the liquid soap must be clear if you want the final foam soap to be clear as well. This method won’t beget clear soap if you’re starting with the milk ‘n’ honey type of soap.
No exact measurements required! Fill it half full? No worries, it works! Fill it a quarter full? Still works. Unexpectedly shake it? It’s excessively bubbly, but it still works.
Told ya it was easy. Use whatever soap you want. Equate, Softsoap, fancy-pants Seventh Generation. It. All. Works.
I love the Walmart Equate coconut ginger scent, and the clear color. And of course, the price is right. But here’s a curve-ball: the Softsoap brand refill often has a coupon out that makes it cheaper than said Equate. Woot woot! And they have some delicious scents of their own…I’m lookin’ at you, Tropical Berry!
UPDATE: Walmart now sells an Equate brand foaming hand soap refill that costs a mere 6.9 cents per ounce, but you’re still better off making your own at 6.2 cents per oz. Remember: for every 6 oz bottle of the foam refill you use, you’d only use 2 oz (plus 4 ounces of water) of the liquid soap to fill the same 6-ounce dispenser. Plus it only comes in blue–boooo!
Need to save on more than hand soap?
Check out my list of ways to save money every month.
