Simple Soapmaking

I have been seeing this (All these moms are on Pinterest making their own soap and reindeer-shaped treats, and I'm like "I took a shower and kept the kids alive") lately and it makes me laugh because I am one of those moms making her own soap. However I am definitely not one of those moms that it is referring too.  I believe it is referring to moms who are super crafty and able to make all sorts of really nice looking DIY's. As I mentioned in my post before, when I tried to make my own chocolate peanut butter acorns, they came out rather pathetic looking. I am more like the mom who envies those types of moms who are so creative and aspires to be like them. I don't think I will ever be able to attain the levels of craftiness and creativity that I see on all the blogs that I follow and pins from Pinterest but I am able to get ideas from them and do a fraction of what I see and like.

Anyway back to soapmaking. Trust me it sounds a lot harder than it really is. A few years ago I read a blog post about "green" cleaning.  It is something I have been wanting to do since but it was only recently that I actually implemented the tips mentioned in the post. (The major impetus was wanting to use non-toxic cleaning supplies now that there is an infant in our apartment). For example I have been spraying a mixture of water and vinegar to clean my counter tops and wipe down mirrors (leaving them streak-free). In addition, I use baking soda when I need to do some stain scrubbing. Another tip was to use a mixture of Castile soap and water as another cleaning agent which I also sprayed to clean various surfaces in the bathroom. When I was running low on liquid hand soap, instead of buying more, I realized I could just fill the soap dispenser with some water and (the equivalent) of a few spoonfuls of Castile soap to....ta dum...."make my own soap". I told you it sounds a lot harder than it really is. When I think of real soap making I think of those fancy soaps that are so nice you don't even want to use them.

Anyway, I am really liking my "homemade soap". Because Castile soap is so concentrated, you don't need that much of it to add to the water.  I bought a big bottle of it online and I anticipate it lasting awhile thus it is cost effective even if you have to spend more in the beginning. I have other plans for it as well, such as using the water and Castile soap combination as a dish detergent once the one that I am currently using runs out. I especially like how it it is all natural since it is made of vegetable oil.  Because it is oil based it also keeps my hands much more moisturized than regular liquid soap which always dries out my skin at this time of year. Maybe I will be able to learn about and implement even more uses for it!