How cost effective are your batches?

[Brian Suds]

I was running some figures on my next three batches of soap and I'm having a hard time cutting costs. I think almost all my soaps are going to be this recipe:

OO 60%
Palm Oil 20%
Coconut Oil 20%
16.5oz Water
6.8oz Lye

With 1.5 to 2oz FO

This puts me at about $21 for cost and should yield about 65oz of soap.

Any recommendations on finding more cost efficient ingredients or techniques?

 

[sudbubblez]

Make smaller batches; like 2lb recipes. You can experiment more with the same amount of supplies, and wont end up with so much of one kind of soap that it gets boring.

Buy supplies in larger quantities. If you can find lye for local pickup, that will save a bundle on the shipping and hasmat fee. I lucked out to find a supplier nearby that I can get 50lbs of lye for less than 50 bucks and only costs me $10 in gas to retrieve it.

65oz oil weight batch for me with these same ingredients and % costs me less than 10 bucks according to mah inventory program.

 

[judymoody]

My bars (4.5 ounces cured) generally cost between $1 and $1.50 to make, depending on the mix of oils and whether I use FO or EO. I mail order nearly all of my supplies and buy medium quantities (oils by the gallon). My basic soaping oils cost between $1.50 - $2.00 per lb, lye is about $2 per lb, butters and specialty oils between $3-6 per lb. Fragrance typically is about $2/ounce.

 

[new12soap]

Lard and tallow are much cheaper than palm oil, unless you wish to avoid animal products (they make awesome soap tho). Least expensive OO I have found is at sam's club and costco, invest in a membership if you have one nearby. You can find it cheaper online but the shipping makes it higher, at least for me.

 

[Bama]

I have been able to buy OO at Sam's for 10.98 for 64 oz. I get my lye from the Lye guy and it runs about 4 dollars a lb with shipping. That is less than buying at Lowes. I order 50 lb containers from Columbus for CO and PO. It cost me a little over 1.00 for a 5 oz bar of soap

 

[LadyM]

I haven't tried it but I hear that Rice Bran oil is a great oil to replace a portion of your higher cost Olive Oil. Similar qualities and a good soaping oil supposedly.

 

[krunt]

in my experience and opinion, rice bran oil is nothing like olive oil in soap. it perplexes me as to why that comparison is made. i have seen it mentioned many times, but i just can't see it. they feel completely different in soap.

 

[sudbubblez]

I always heard it as canola was the way to cut cost on olive. Replace the olive with 1part olive and 1 part canola.

 

[Dorado]

My first batch was like yours, except I used 50% oliveoil, 30% CocoOil and 20% PalmOil.
I calculate in kg, liters and %, easyer for me, but hope you understand anyway. My prices here are in $

Eco Olive Oil: $ 2.46 (price per liter/35,27 oz)
CocoOil Eco: $ 9.23 (pp liter)
PalmOil: Eco: $ 7.14 (PP1 liter)
Lye: $ 3.45 (PP 1 kg)
Dem.Water: $ 1.23 (1 liter)
FO: app $ 12.30 (pp 100 ml) Did not use it, but included in calculations were.

I made a batch of 1 liter of oil (2.205 lb / 35.27 oz), which gives me the following calculation:

Eco Olive Oil: 50% of $ 2.46 (price per liter) = $ 1.23
CocoOil Eco: 30% of $ 9.23 (pp l) = $ 2.77
PalmOil: Eco: 20% of $ 7.14 (PP1 liter) = $ 1.43
Lye: 143 g = 14.3% of $ 3.45 (pp 1 kg) = $ 0.49
Dem.Water: 380 ml ??= 38% $ 1.23 (PP1 liter) $ 0.46
FO: 3% of app $ 12.30 (pp 100 ml) = 0.37 usd $

Total cost $ 6.75 for 1.3 kg / 2.88 lb / 36.855 ounces of soap.
I got 12 pieces soap which is at a price of $ 0.56 per piece.
Ok, this is the EU price - but the difference is probably not that big.

Next time I go shopping, I migth drop the eco-stuff, it will make the cost lower, and does it really matter, NaOH eats everything

 

[Loolee]

How does one figure the cost of a bar?

 

[LadyM]

Oh good to hear another opinion Krunt!

 

[Genny]

How does one figure the cost of a bar?

This might give you an idea on how to do that.
http://teachsoap.com/pricing-your-cp-soaps/

 

[SoapAddict415]

You can also try replacing some of your olive oil with olive oil pomace. It's half the cost of olive oil. Using a supplier that offers free shipping may help your costs too. I use WSP.

 

[new12soap]

I always heard it as canola was the way to cut cost on olive. Replace the olive with 1part olive and 1 part canola.

I have heard that canola is a very prone to DOS. I've never used it, but just wanted to put that out there.

I buy the Member's mark brand of OO from sam's club, it is $11 for 3L or 101 ounces.

 

[Genny]

You can also try replacing some of your olive oil with olive oil pomace.

But just remember that pomace olive oil behaves differantly than regular olive oil. It can accelerate trace big time. Just thought I'd mention it for those who may not know.

 

[Lindy]

I always use Pumice grade olive oil and I have found a local supplier that will sell it to me at wholesale ($60 for 12 liters), it also saves me on shipping. I am going to go back to buying my lye in 50 lb bags ($66 + shipping) to get savings there. I buy my CO in 20 lb pails. The more you can buy in bulk the better. CO & OO both have great shelf life so you don't have to worry about them. Then if you have another oil that you use in all your recipes do the same thing, buy in the largest size you can afford. By doing this my bars of soap cost me 66 - 83 cents a bar not including labour or packaging. I sell them for $6 which allows me room for wholesale.

 

[Loolee]

Thanks, Genny.

That is kind of depressing though.... LOL 500 bars a month? No way!

 

[Brian Suds]

Thanks, Genny.

That is kind of depressing though.... LOL 500 bars a month? No way!

I thought the same thing, then I ran figures and a game plan and came up with this:

Generally you can buy almost all your supplies from one source at a good rate, I found natures garden to be good to start with, I can spend about $60-$70 bucks on all supplies to make about 4.5 batches. Each batch is about 12-15 bars of uniquely colored, scented soaps. If you made two batches a day, which would be about 2-4 hours at most, you can make 50-60 bars working 8 hours total per week. 50 bars x $5 a bar = $250 minus cost (-$60) = $190 a week in product.

8/$190= $23.75 an hour if you have enough business. It's all a matter of marketing your product and finding buyers.

I don't think that's too depressing especially if you enjoy the hobby. It's a good thing to look forward too while your in your learning phase. One thing that drives me is that I make recycled glass soap dishes, beer coasters and ashtrays that literally has almost no up front cost. I fund my soap making with that money so in theory my soap sales will all be 100% profit.

 

[Loolee]

/Thanks for that break down, Brian Suds. I do enjoy the hobby, and making $23.00 an hour is a good return for a hobby!

And you should check out www.soaperschoice.com for base oils. they have the best prices of any place I've seen.

 

[Moonblossom]

I use Olive Pomace and yes sometimes it can accelerate trace but I try to soap cool and that seems to help. I made a small batch today I'll get 8 bars from and it cost me a total of $4.06 for the entire batch. I used OO, PO, Castor,CO since I was trying a new FO and a new colorant I wanted a small batch worked great can't wait to take it out of the freezer and cut it up.