Cost effective?

[Zyk]

I was wondering how cost effective is it to make your own soap for home use? Is it viable to sell the soap you make? I have been researching as much as I can but I wanted to get some info to those who are experienced.

 

[calico21]

It may cost a bit more to make my own but would never go back to manufactured bars. They just don't give me the same feeling as my own.

As far as selling you can but it is suggested after much practice and research. I've been making it for over 2 yrs and thought I was getting to a point I could think about developing a business to go along with my candles and now have been having batch problems. It takes alot and there is a great sticky in one of the forums to help explain all that it entails.

Just enjoy it at first and take good notes!

 

[ToniD]

So much with the cost depends on the ingredients you use. You can make a very nice soap relatively inexpensively by sticking to basic oils and molds.

But you can also really break the bank with this craft. Scents, colors, more expensive oils and butters, molds.....

 

[dcornett]

So much with the cost depends on the ingredients you use. You can make a very nice soap relatively inexpensively by sticking to basic oils and molds.

But you can also really break the bank with this craft. Scents, colors, more expensive oils and butters, molds.....

agreed!!

 

[FreeRabbit]

for me it is cost effective but also because we are using oils and aromotherpy anyway and we use EO in our everyday life

 

[adoptapitbull]

It can be, depending on your supplies. If you make mostly castile soap, just olive oil and lye would be all you needed. Get the OO on sale or at Sam's, and find the lye locally and you'll be OK. Or, use a mostly lard/tallow based soap and that greatly reduces the price of the bar. You can get some fragrance oil pretty cheap on ebay, and use natural colorants like spices that you already have in your cabinet. Use shoeboxes or milk containers for molds, and yeah, you've got some pretty inexpensive soap!

Selling on a small scale, maybe to co-workers or friends, might make you back some of the money once you know what you're doing. I give mine away as gifts or thank you's. Some people who know how much it costs to make will insist on giving me a few dollars for it, and that's fine, too. It takes a lot of time, investment, and practice before you're ready to go full steam ahead with a business!

 

[KnowWhat]

I've made soap for over a year now. I have spent far more than a thousand dollars. I would never have spent that much buying commercial soap in a year. I justify it, because its my hobby, plus I always have a gift when an occasion comes up, but to say its cost effective, no way. The more soap you make, the more things you have to have and the money just flies out of the bank account.

 

[delicious]

I've been keeping record of what I specifically bought for soapmaking to be able to compare afterwards.

So far, for all the supplies, I've spent 72 USD (50 Euros). That includes scale, stick blender, jug, bowls, spatula, spoons, whisk.

For the raw material, I've spent 45 USD (32 Euros). That is 6,5kg of oils (+lye).

6,5kg of oils will yield me about 9kg of soap - I don't know how much the water evaporates out of the soap... Anyway, somewhere between 7,5 and 9kg of soap.

So that makes soap that costs between 5 and 6 USD (3,5 and 4,2 Euros) for one kg of soap.

Now I have no idea how much soap costs per kg, but say that one 125g bar costs 1,5 USD, that makes soap at 12 USD a kg.

So for a 6 USD difference per kg, my supplies would be paid off in... 72/6=12kg of soap.

Note: I make soap with tallow, olive oil, coconut oil, rice bran oil, castor oil.
I haven't been adding fragrance (only in one batch with some EO I already had).
All oils are bought locally (supermarket, industrial drugstore). I've decided that I don't want to buy online. You just get sucked into the buying more that truly necessary once you decide to place an order.
I use cardboard molds that I line with contact paper or plastic bags (I set them up nicely, not all bunched up)


Sorry for all that math. I hope I didn't make any mistakes... hard to keep my head on math with my 2 month old daughter in my arms smiling at me

 

[judymoody]

The soap I make costs about a buck a bar in raw materials if you exclude my labor costs. That also doesn't include cost of molds, stick blender, electricity, etc.

However, I have spend well in excess of $1000 in materials, oils, fragrances, colorants, etc. I have enough inventory to last a long time. But it would have been far less expensive to buy handcrafted soap on etsy or at the local farmer's market.

If you have a passion for it, it's worth it.

If you intend to sell, plan to research intensively for at least a year and then add that to the start up costs for a business - licensing, insurance, bookkeeping, website design and maintenance, packaging, fees to sell at fairs, transaction fees, etc.

I make soap for my family and friends and as gifts. If you consider what a quality bar of soap costs retail and what it costs you to make it, then as a gift generating activity it can sort of kind of pay for itself.

 

[Guest]

Is it cost effective? WOW, what an open ended question!

You may be able to make and sell soap (lots of people do) BUT in order to make great soap to sell, it does take time and money (can you say CHA-CHING?!).

Soap making is part art and part science and your finished product does not always come out the way you intended. As with any other hobby or job, there is a learning curve and practice makes perfect.

You'll have to buy some ingredients and make a batch and see if you like it and how it turns out...

CAUTION: Soap making can be addictive and take over your house, your dreams, your wallet and your life. I know this because I am a soap addict!

 

[Soaplady22]

Cost effective? No way!! But it's my one addiction, that and supporting Amazon.com, so it's worth all the money spent.

 

[Zyk]

It is definitely something I plan on getting into for the hobby foremost. Business end, that is just a thought that popped into my head. I just started using homemade laundry detergent by using shaved soap bars, borax and arm & hammer washing soda. So far it is pretty cool! Was hoping I could get into making bar soap for myself. Wife and I have allergies to the fragences put into retail bars and if we get the sensitive skin stuff it feels like it dries my skin out. And the sensitive skin with moisturizer is ridiculously priced around 3-5 bucks per bar.

 

[delicious]

It is definitely something I plan on getting into for the hobby foremost. Business end, that is just a thought that popped into my head. I just started using homemade laundry detergent by using shaved soap bars, borax and arm & hammer washing soda. So far it is pretty cool! Was hoping I could get into making bar soap for myself. Wife and I have allergies to the fragrances put into retail bars and if we get the sensitive skin stuff it feels like it dries my skin out. And the sensitive skin with moisturizer is ridiculously priced around 3-5 bucks per bar.

I think that it is quite easy to make it cost effective. Especially if you're starting this mainly because you want to ditch the industrial soaps.
You just have to watch out to not fall into the excess. You don't need to have fancy molds, fancy soap cutters, fancy colored and fragranced soap using expensive oils unless you are really willing to pay for them.

I'd say, for a start, only use what you can find locally. And you don't even need to color or fragrance for the first few batches.
Avoid the online stores as much as you can, you will only get tempted to buy this's and that's "to take advantage of the shipping fee" and "in case you might need it once you're more experienced" (well, if you're a guy, maybe not ).
I've been making very decent soap from what I have on hand : tallow, coconut oil, rice bran oil, olive oil, castor oil. I've just started to color my soaps with paprika for fun and that costs very little.

And for the supplies: buy the cheapest and the minimum. And if after a batch or two you need another bowl or another this or that, you can get it then.

If you are skin sensitive, I truly recommend making your own soap. I have been positively surprised of the gentleness even with soap that hasn't fully cured.[/u]

 

[nattynoo]

CAUTION: Soap making can be addictive and take over your house, your dreams, your wallet and your life. I know this because I am a soap addict!

hehehe...this is me.

 

[SumikoKeel]

Nice topic

I have not made my first batch of soap yet because, I'm buying supplies and getting ready for the big event. I'm keeping it simple and wanting a good bar, good quality and workmanship! I can do that!! The cost thus far is small since I bought scales on sale and other items over the past months all on sale. I'm using coconut milk, tallow and lard with GM and castor oil - I'm keeping it natural and simple. For molds I found a few really sturdy boxes that will work wonderfully. I'm focusing on developing a good recipe...and having fun doing it. Even my hubby is interested now...

I think the cost is totally an individual thing - keep it simple - or add lots of glam. Either way- it is a wonderful bit of art being created.

Blessings, Rhonda

 

[Kleine Teufel]

You can certainly keep it cost effective, if you compare it to the "gourmet" soaps you can buy. I started out with 2lbs of lye, two scents, a punch bowl, a fork, soybean oil, some tallow from deer we butchered, canola oil, heavy cream and the container from the heavy cream (I had used some in cooking first, lol). I already had a postal scale ($20). And quite honestly, if I had THAT recipe written down, I'd still be using it, I LOVED it! Just start with lye, whatever oil you have in your cabinet, a large bowl (DO NOT USE anything aluminum in any part of soap making), something to mix with (use caution that nothing sprays if you use an electric mixer) a DIGITAL scale that measures in grams and cheap "molds" and just about anything can be used for a mold as well.
I eventually started adding to my hobby with "fancier" supplies. I eventually made a wooden soap mold, now I have some plastic molds, use a stick blender now (I do recommend this be one of your FIRST purchases, it cuts mixing time by a LOT) and actually put some money into labelling and such so that I can sell.

 

[jennikate]

I tend keep my stuff as simple as I can and use thrift shop finds when possible. Also I keep my oils ect lower cost stuff for most part O.O tallow cocounut oil castor once in while avacado .My cost make bar about 1 to 1.50 dollars to make but stress relief makes it worth it. Therapy is not cheap . LOL

 

[Hazel]

jennikate made a good point about checking in thrift stores. You never know what you might find (like ilovedoxies who found a mold and a cutter!). :shock:

Also, you might find some deals at yard sales.

 

[delicious]

Yeah, and she also makes a good point about stress relief! lol
It does have something relaxing to it. For me anyway, it's partly because I'm still learning and don't really know what might happen, so I'm in a sort of calm but alert mode and I like that, it's sort of thrilling as something new.

 

[busymakinsoap!]

It's fabulous to barter with too. I have a hairdresser who accepts product for a cut, and friends who feed the cats, when we are away, for soap.

No more shoping for xmas and birthday prezzies - everyone gets product, and they love it.

I think its expensive when you start out, expect lots of mistakes and wasted product. But once you get the hang of it, its fairly cheap.