Storage question

[Todd Ziegler]

I have to make some room on my curing shelves and I have some boxes that will hold each individual batch. My question is, should I wrap them in paper, shrink wrap them or will they be ok without any wrapping? I'm not putting more than one variety of soap per box. That way the scents can't mingle m

 

[Zing]

Todd, I put my cured soaps - bare - in shoe boxes that have air holes. I also toss in little silica packets.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

Todd, I put my cured soaps - bare - in shoe boxes that have air holes. I also toss in little silica packets.

I figure that I could but I wanted to make sure. I have 20 pounds of reusable silica beads, so I will bag some up and throw them in there.

 

[lsg]

When I was selling, I would put my cured CP soap in individual soap boxes. I did not seal them in cellophane or plastic.

 

[dibbles]

I also store the cured soap in individual cardboard boxes - unwrapped. I normally don't use shrink wrap or plastic, but if I did I wouldn't store them wrapped that way. I also line the box with a piece of paper towel, and I don't know why I do that - I just always have.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

When I was selling, I would put my cured CP soap in individual soap boxes. I did not seal them in cellophane or plastic.

That is my goal but right now all my extra money is being spent on soap making supplies ie; oils, lye etc. May of 2021 is my date to start selling by. By then some of my soaps will be a year old and the majority will be 6 months old. I had planned on using individual boxes for selling but right now I am going to do like @Zing mentioned.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

I also store the cured soap in individual cardboard boxes - unwrapped. I normally don't use shrink wrap or plastic, but if I did I wouldn't store them wrapped that way. I also line the box with a piece of paper towel, and I don't know why I do that - I just always have.

Thanks. I am going to line the box with butcher paper and leave enough to pull it over the top before I close the box.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have a lot of work ahead of me today!

 

[Catscankim]

Omg, a years worth of soaps. Im only a few months in and im overwhelmed by how much soap i have lol. I am so glad you brought up this subject. I have two rooms that have make-shift storage. One is in my craft room with an empty 3-tiered tv stand and a bunch on top of an ironing board....some on my sewing table, the other is basically on the floor on top of a piece of leftover kitchen countertop lol. Good thing i live alone.

I havent been able to sew because its taking up so much room in my crafting room. And a lot of those soaps will not be sellable because they were my very first soaping experiments and they are ugly or not the right size.

Keeping an eye on suggestions....

 

[Todd Ziegler]

I don't know how much room you have to spare but here is the shelves that I have been using. They are $24 at Lowes and they hold a lot of soap. I just have so many that I need to box them up to make room for more. I'm only boxing up soap that is 6 months old.

 

[Catscankim]

I have a 3 bedroom house with a garage. Th ac is leaky right now, so soap storage out there is a big fat no.

Long story short, i will be moving in the next few months, but plan on renting a similar sized house....which i will have a better plan on soap storage to start with.

Which brings up another question... i have to get a storage unit in between moves. I know they advertise “ climate controlled” units. Would it be suitable to have soap stored in? Dont mean to hijack your post, but it still goes along with your storage in boxes question. So i guess thats a two-part question.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

I have a 3 bedroom house with a garage. Th ac is leaky right now, so soap storage out there is a big fat no.

Long story short, i will be moving in the next few months, but plan on renting a similar sized house....which i will have a better plan on soap storage to start with.

Which brings up another question... i have to get a storage unit in between moves. I know they advertise “ climate controlled” units. Would it be suitable to have soap stored in? Dont mean to hijack your post, but it still goes along with your storage in boxes question. So i guess thats a two-part question.

I would say yes but that will depend on what they call climate control. You won't have any air moving around but if the temperature is cool enough you shouldn't have to worry about spoilage or mold but that's a big if.

 

[Virgogoddess]

I have to make some room on my curing shelves and I have some boxes that will hold each individual batch. My question is, should I wrap them in paper, shrink wrap them or will they be ok without any wrapping? I'm not putting more than one variety of soap per box. That way the scents can't mingle m

Why can’t you start selling now?

 

[cmzaha]

My soaps were either on the racks or shrink-wrapped, labeled ready for selling, and stored in crates. I tried when I first started selling to have each soap in individual shoe boxes but with 40+ different fragrances/soaps it was to bulky to handles, so I went to 3 low crates that would hold two layers of soaps 6 bars of each fragrance for my weekly markets.

 

[AliOop]

Nothing constructive to add here, since my curing room (former guest room, hahah) is fairly full. I probably need to buy one of those shelves like @Todd Ziegler has. But that makes me feel like a drinker who "upgrades" from buying six-packs of beer to having kegs delivered to the house.

Plus, at the end of this month will be our next soap donation to the homeless shelter, which will free up a lot of space. @Catscankim a lot of relief agencies there in FL right now would undoubtedly love your soaps, no matter how they look! The ones here react to a box of soaps as if I had donated a million dollars.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

Why can’t you start selling now?

Because I want to make sure that my soaps work very well for whoever buys one and that means long term testing. I have 4 basic recipes and I have a dozen people using them. Plus a good 6 months of curing insurers a nice hard bar, plus it tells me which bars may be prone to spoilage or rancidity after sitting for a while. I want my customers to be able to use the bar right away but if they buy more than 1 bar I want them to be confident that the 2nd bar will be just as good as the first bar was 30 days later.

Rushing in to selling something without good testing is just bad business.

 

[shunt2011]

I store my cured soaps in baseball card boxes. No holes no issues. Sometimes they are in shrink bands not labeled yet.

 

[AliOop]

Because I want to make sure that my soaps work very well for whoever buys one and that means long term testing. I have 4 basic recipes and I have a dozen people using them. Plus a good 6 months of curing insurers a nice hard bar, plus it tells me which bars may be prone to spoilage or rancidity after sitting for a while. I want my customers to be able to use the bar right away but if they buy more than 1 bar I want them to be confident that the 2nd bar will be just as good as the first bar was 30 days later.

Rushing in to selling something without good testing is just bad business.

PLUS 100 on this!!!