1/3 bar grated Fels Naptha Detergent Bar (or one whole bar of Ivory Bar Soap or your own homemade soap)
3/4 Cup Borax
3/4 Cup Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer makes this)
1 Quart hot tap water
6 quarts water
Directions:
Dissolve the grated soap in the six cups of water on your stove over medium heat.
Once the soap is fully dissolved, then add the borax and washing soda. Stir until dissolved (a couple of minutes).
You will need a container for your laundry soap that is large enough to hold 3 gallons. In this container, put 6 cups of hot tap water. Pour your hot soap solution into this container and stir. Add the additional 6 quarts of water. This laundry detergent will gel up. It may also separate a bit before it is all used. This is all okay. I like to break up the gel solution and pour it into old laundry containers I have saved. I generally shake the bottle before using to allow it to pour well.
Use 1/2 cup for one load. I like to use one full cup of detergent and add an extra Tablespoon of borax when I wash my towels (especially if they have been damp and waiting in the laundry basket a few days).
You may also add some essential oil to your laundry detergent when you are incorporating all the water.
You can save a lot of money by learning how to make your own organic bar soap. Organic bar soap naturally costs more than conventional soap because more care is taken with the organic ingredients. Hence, organic ingredients generally cost more. The only difference between making your own handmade soap and organic bar soap is finding your organic ingredients.
What benefits are there to making organic soap?
First, it is better for your health. You know that there were no nasty chemicals applied to any of the ingredients, so they do not end up in your soap.
Second, you are supporting the efforts of those individuals who grow and harvest organic materials.
Third, it is better for the environment.
One of my favorite places to shop for soap base oils is Soapers Choice. They carry all the organic oils you would need to make a good quality organic soap.
If you are not sure how to make soap you can check out my website at How to Make Soap
I am trying several different soaps in the recipe to see which detergent I like the best and which one is the most economical to make. I had never thought to make my own detergent before, but with five kids living in the country, I have so much laundry to do that I thought perhaps I could economize on detergent costs if I made my own.
My laundry detergent project has tested using Fels Naptha detergent, ivory soap, and homemade soap. So far I cannot detect a noticeable difference using any of the bar soaps, so my recommendation is to use which ever is the cheapest. I do like my clothes to have a nice (but not overpowering) smell, so if I went with the ivory soap, I would probably add a bit of lavendar essential oil to the deteregent (just note that if you add a fragrance, you also add cost). But a detergent without fragrance is very desirable to many.
You would have a fragrance free laundry detergent with the ivory bar or with your own homemade soap. I would be sure to modify my homemade soap intended for the laundry just a tad. I would strive for a bar that does not have any margin in it (usually I have 5% superfatting for a mild, gentle soap). I think it helps not to have the extra oil in the soap. Again, I have not done a scientific experiment to prove this, but I personally would try to have a bar without margin. If you need help in making your own soap go check out my website at How to Make Soap
I am still working on this project and am sharing the laundry detergents with others to get feedback, so I will post the results as they come in.
Mar. 14, 2008 - Which Laundry Detergent Works Best On Stains
It has been about a year since I first began experiementing with making my own laundry detergent. I have found a couple recipes and have tried various bar soaps in the recipe. I am very happy with the home made detergent, but have found that I really need to pre-treat stains (just as I did when I used commercially made detergent).
So when asked which laundry detergent works best on stains, I would answer that none of them really do. But I have found a GREAT stain treater and that would be a bar of Fels Naptha detergent. It takes very little of this to treat stains. I apply it directly to the stain and scrub the stain with a brush or with my hands in the fabric. If you can let it sit a bit that usually helps as well. This one bar will last you many many months!!
I have been able to remove grass stains from my sons' grass stained pants (even the stains that I previously couldn't remove) with the Fels Naptha.
So my recommendation would be to use an economical detergent and use the Fels Naptha to treat the stains. I will post my recipe and variations of the recipe in another post. If you are interested in making your own laundry soap and want to make it even more economical, then learn how to make a basic bar soap that you can use in the laundry soap (it's also great for your family's skin). You can get information about soap making at How to Make Soap.
Have you made your first batch of soap? Did all of your friends and family oooh and aaah over it? If your friends and family were like mine, they had never tried any homemade soap before. And they instantly fell in love with it. So now you are thinking about how to sell homemade soap. Well, it couldn't be any easier than just what you have already done. Give some free samples away and let people try it. The good news about soap is that it is consumable. So when they run out, they will be back for more.
You can begin to sell soap by starting a customer list of people who already like your product. Next, brainstorm who else you can give a sample to. When you give out a sample ask them if you can follow up with them so see what they think of the soap. You can prepare a few general questions about the soap and how their skin felt. Be sure to ask them if they would purchase your soap as you are building a customer base. Get their permission to add them to your customer base and email list. I like email because it is cheap and efficient. You can offer them a special introductory price as a new customer.
You can also sell your soap at craft shows. Again, try to build your customer base. When you are able to build a relationship with your customers, they will become repeat customers. That will make you very happy. Then you will have people calling you for more soap and you will build your sales each month.
You can ask your customers for referrals as well. You can give a free sample to the referred person and again, ask if you can follow up with them to get their opinion about your soap. You will be surprised how, with effort, you can build a good customer base in a short period of time.
If you are thinking about how to sell homemade soap, but haven't made your first batch yet, please check out my website at How to Make Soap
Shea butter is a great ingredient to add to your handcrafted soap. But I am occassionally asked what kind of shea butter should I use in my soap -- shea butter refined vs. unrefined. Shea butter comes from the tropics of Africa and is extracted from the nuts of the Shea-Karite tree.
Pure Shea Butter can be found in three types of extractions.
Raw or unrefined- extracted using water. The color ranges from like cream (similar to whipped butter) to grayish yellow. This is the original form of Shea Butter.
Refined is more processed and has many of its natural components still intact.
Highly refined - the color is pure white.
You can use any of these types of shea butter in your soap making. My personal philoposhy is that that the less processed something is, the more it retains its beneficial qualities.
I haven't used the raw shea butter primarily because it wasn't offered from the sources I purchase my ingredients from. More and more companies are offering this product though and I think it would be great to use in soap making.
As a result, I have used refined shea butter. I find that my products have more of a white color to them (or if I am coloring them, the color is more true) and I have been very happy with the results. I have used this refined shea butter in lip balms and whipped body butters as well. I think it is just iimportant to avoid using the highly refined shea butter where nasty chemicals are used to get it pure white. The chemicals can change the quality of the butter and destroy many of the beneficial properties that make shea butter so unique.
So if you are wondering which shea butter: refined vs. unrefined, I would tend to go with the least refined you can get for soap making.
Mar. 6, 2008 - Best Soap Without Antibacterial Added
For a long time now, doctors have been warning against the overuse of antibiotics and antibacterial products. One reason for this is that the germs are becoming immune and resistant and are producing super-germs that are harder to fight. What is the best soap without antibacterial added and why would you want to use it?
By far, the best soap without antibacteral added is any kind of homemade soap. I especially love goat milk soap (you can check out my website at How to Make Soap for more soap making information), but any kind of handcrafted soap is going to leave your skin feeling nourished and soft - not dry and itchy. The purpose of soap is to break the surface tension of water, thus allowing the water to rinse away the dirt and germs on your skin. WIthout this break in surface tension, the water would just rinse over your skin.
Many people believe that using antibacterials in soap will help them stay healthier, but this is not true. Plain old soap and water is very effective at removing dirt and germs. I have found a very informative link that you can read HERE about the dangers of antibacterial soap. I hope you take the time to read it and encourage others to stop using them.
There are many benefits of using herbs in your soaps. How do you use herbs in your soap you may ask? Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel and list all the information about herbs right here, I am going to redirect you to a beautiful website I have found that does a good juob listing herbs, and benefits. You can click HERE to read more about using herbs in your soap and the benefits of the herbs.
Personally, I have taken the time to infuse olive oil with different herbs. This is time consuming and can add expense to your soap if you are not growing your herbs yourself (which I recommend that you do, because then they are inexpensive and you know the quality of the product).
Infused oils add more benefit to the soap you are selling and I can guarantee that not many people are doing this -- primarily because of expense and time. However, the small production, home based soap maker generally can add this quality to their product, which is why a small time soap maker can create a loyal customer base.
Please take the time to read about the benefits of using herbs. I would even recommend purchasing a bar or two of these soaps to see what they are like. Enjoy!
In another post, I talked about how to encourage others to purchase more for you, thus resulting in higher sales/person. Another idea is to create custom one-of-a-kind spa gift baskets. What can you put into your spa gift baskets?
soap
bath salts
body butter
lip balm
massage oils
loofah sponges
netted poof scrubs
washcloths
small hand towels
coffee
flowers (I'd use artificial)
tea
biscuits
any type of organic edibles
and so on...........
I'm sure you can think of many good ideas. You can theme the baskets and add the specialty products for that theme.
One resource that I will recommend for spa gift basket supplies is Quinessence. They offer products that can help you expand your product line to create beautiful one-of-a-kind gift baskets. I do a lot of soap with Fragrance Oils because so many of my customers love them. But they also love good quality Essential Oils (especially lavender). Aromatherapy is very beneficial and many customers want those benefits. So you can list your features and ingredients in your products, but be especially sure to list the benefits -- THE BENEFITS SELL THE PRODUCTS!!!!!!!
If you know of a good business to add to my blog directory that is in the spa gift basket supplies area, please leave me a comment and I'd be happy to get their link on my website!
Remember, you can use aromatherapy benefits to sell your soap! And if you need any help learning to make soap check out my website at How to Make Soap.
If you are looking for an even easier recipe for how to make lip balm than my previous recipe look no further. This is a great lip balm recipe that I sold by the masses.
How to Make Lip Balm:
2 parts sweet almond oil
1 part beeswax
Melt the beeswax in a 2 cup pyrex measuring bowl in the microwave. Then incorporate the sweet almond oil. You can add sweetener and flavoring (see previous post for more information regarding those and more complete instructions). Pour into containers and let set up. It really couldn't be any easier.
My friend that I talk about on my website How to Make Soap who let me watch her make soap tried this recipe and wanted to know the secret of my recipe. Her recipes were more sticky and not as moisturizing. I told her the ingredients and she couldn't believe how simple it was. Try this recipe and you will see for yourself!
Would you like to make shea lip balm? I have a very easy recipe that is nourishing and moistuirizing. You can make shea lip balm in any size amount because I am going to give you the proportions for making any size batch you want. Here is the recipe:
Shea Lip Balm
1 part sweet almond oil
1 part shea butter
1 part natural beeswax
Instructions:
Melt the beeswax and shea butter in microwave in glass microwave safe bowl (use a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup). Once they are melted you can add the sweet almond oil. I like to purchase lip balm sweetener and flavor oil from Sweet Cakes for my lip balms. They also have containers for your balm. You can use the small white tubes because many people like them. However, Sweetcakes also sells clear lip pots. I LOVE the way the lip balm looks in the lip pots!
You can add a cosmetic grade pigment to color the lip balm from The Pigment Lady. Don't add too much pigment, because unless you add additional ingredients the pigment tends to settle at the bottom of the lip color before it is cured. I like to keep my lip balms simple with fewer ingredients, so I just go for soft colors with the pigment.
You can pour the lip balm directly into containers from the measuring cup. Do this quickly before the balm sets up. If you have lip balm setting up, just throw it back into the microwave again until is it re-melted. One tip for pouring into the lip balm tubes -- use masking tape to tape several of the tubes together. This keeps them upright (they like to tip over) and makes for fast easy pouring. Be sure to pour the lip balm into the tube until it is very mounded on the top as the balm tends to settle once it cures.
Lip balm cures quickly in relation to soap. Overnight will do the job.
If you would like soapmaking help, you can check out my website at How to Make Soap.
Feb. 23, 2008 - Why do Customers Buy More at a Lower Price?
Have you ever noticed that customers will buy more when you give them a deal? Why do customers buy more at a lower price?
I have noticed that grocery stores offer "deals" all the time. For instance they don't say everything is a dollar. Rather they will say 10 for $10. Even though they usually give you each item for $1 whether you buy 10 or not, the suggestion of 10 for $10 usually gets people to buy 10 and not just one or two. Why do you think this is?
I will give you my reason for this. In today's economic condition, I will always buy more at a lower price if it is something consumable, so that I don't have to buy it again next week at a higher price. (For more information on our economic condition you can visit my husband's financial website at Economy Carberator). But if I get to thinking I need to buy ten to get that price, then I will buy ten to get that price.
So I ask you, how are you doing in your sales this week? Do you need to get things going? It's a perfect time to get rid of some extra soap that may be laying around and offer a deal. What kind of "deal" can you offer? Some suggestions would be
buy 5 bars of soap and get an extra bar for FREE
put a soap package together where YOU get to choose the soaps (include one or two that didn't sell super well) and sell the soap package for special price. This is especially a nice idea for Mother's Day ( we are already past Valentine's Day)
Offer ALL customers a punch card where if they buy X number bars of soap they get one or two free. This can help build new repeat customers. If you are at a craft show and someone buys a few bars of soap from you and you give them a punch card and punch the card for them, they will very likely call you again (be sure your co. info is on that card!) Give your customers EXTRA punches when they buy five bars or more or a soap package from you at one time.
Give your customers an incentive if they sell a soap package for you. You know how those direct selling companies have "outside orders only types of classes"? You can offer a "hostess" a free bar of soap for every soap package she sells for you. You give the hostess a form that each buyer fills out so you can follow up with them and add them to your customer base. Make sure your form asks for name, address, phone number, and email. Also, helpful, if they are purchasing for a gift or for themselves.
I am sure you can think of even more incentives to get customers to buy more from you than just one bar of soap. I would love it if you would post your ideas in a comment. We can all help each other grow our soap making businesses.
Spring is coming. That generally means that animals will be having their off-spring and the mamas will have milk. So if you raise goats, that means that soon you will have an abundance of goat milk. If you are like most people who raise goats, you will not be able to use all your goat milk each day as you milk your goats -- there is only so much time in a day. So what to do? Of course we will freeze that creamy goat milk until you have the time to process it into one of many goat milk products. How to freeze the milk for soap making is easy. Start saving small yogurt or sour cream containers (have others help in this endeavor). Each day you can measure your milk by weight into these cartons. I like to freeze uniform weights so there is no guess work or need to re-weigh your milk at soap making time. Then when you are making soap, you take out how many frozen milk cubes you need for your batch of soap and you are ready to go.
If you do not raise goats, it would be a good idea to find someone in your area who does! I know that many goat milkers are happy to sell some of their surplus. How nice it would be to tell your friends and customers who buy or use your soap that their goat milk soap has milk from the neighborhood goat farm in it. Besides soap, there are other goat milk products. How to keep goat milk surplus for those projects is no different than that of soap making. Go ahead-- FREEZE THAT MILK!
Feb. 21, 2008 - All Natural Unscented Lotion for Mixing
Many of you know that I stay away from making lotion to sell. It is because of the rules involved with the FDA. Lotion is considered a cosmetic and there are a TON of regulations when it comes to cosmetics (and I would hate to have my business shut down).
I have however, made lotions for myself and my family. Lotions are easy to make. There are recipes with lots of exotic ingredients and there are simple recipes. I tend to favor simple ones. I found a recipe for an all natural unscented lotion for mixing. You can click on this link here to read it.
It is not specific about the type of oil you use. I guess I would tend to use sweet almond oil (it's my favorite in lotions and lip balms). I plan to make some up, but if you beat me to it, post a comment and let me know what you used and how it turned out!
Lavender is one of my favorite essential oils. It is known for many qualities, but perhps it is best known to have a relaxing and calming effect. I love goatmilk lavender and oatmeal soap and also lavender lotion and bath salt. You can create your own lavender lotion or bath soap with many recipes that are on-line for free. But I would recommend that you purchase your lavender essential oil from Camden Grey.
This company has a very good reputation among soap makers and I have been using their Lavender Essential Oil for many years -- it's wonderful!!! It is also excellent for using in lavender lotion or bath salt. If you need a good recipe for a lotion or bath salt, post a comment and I'll get a few listed here. If you already know how to make lotions and bath salts but would like to try making soap, visit my website at How to Make Soap.
The key to managing soap skum is to realize how it forms. Soap skum is caused by the presence of hard water. Hence, soap skum is greatly dimished when you have soft water. This is due to the fact that hard water does not lather soap well. So when you try to lather up in the shower, you are actually using way more soap than you need. The excess soap creates the skum. Additionally, the minerals in the hard water also are deposited with the soap resulting in a skum that may be difficult to remove.
There are many different cleaners on the market, but many contain chemicals that I do not want to breathe, and I definitely do not want to expose my family to. If you prefer to make your own, try the following recipe:
Mix
½ cup vinegar
1 cup ammonia
¼ cup baking soda
1 gallon hot water
Wear rubber gloves and work in a well-ventilated area when using this powerful solution. Apply it to your shower walls with a sponge. If necessary, scrub with a brush to remove all the skum and rinse well.
The secret is....... to let any solution work before you start scrubbing. For heavy buildup, it can take 15 minutes or more for a solution to penetrate and soften the skum, so wet it down and leave it to soak. You may have to re-wet it from time to time to keep it moist. Once it has softened, scrub it off with a stiff brush or white nylon-backed scrub pad, and rinse.
Never mix laundry bleach with ammonia. A chemical reaction will produce toxic gases.
With soap skum, prevention is the best solution. Fiberglass enclosures can be waxed with automobile wax after cleaning to leave a slick surface that helps repel soap skum and hard water scale. However, do not wax the bottom of your shower or tub. It will make it too slippery. Ceramic tile can be wiped down with lemon oil for the same effect. It is also a good idea to use a window squeegee to whisk the water off the walls before soap skum has a chance to stick.
I hope these ideas and recipe help you in your quest: how to remove soap skum.
For a great soap that never makes your skin feel dry and itchy after showering, check out my website at How to Make Soap. You can learn how to make fabulous soap with your very first batch!
I have had people interested in making milk soap and they have asked me about my process, but what they really wanted to know is if they could substitute cow milk for goat milk. I live in the dairy region of the great Wisconsin dairy state, so it would not be out of the question to ask how to make cow milk soap. Quite simply, you can make soap as easily from cow milk as you can from goat milk. The key is to have a good recipe to start with and know how to incorporate the lye so your milk doesn't curdle.
You can read my story about getting started in soap making at How to Make Soap. The on-line or DVD soap making tutorial can help you learn how to make cow milk soap as easily as many have learned how to make goat milk soap.
Cow Milk isn't identical to goat milk, but I think any milk soap is far superior in nourishing qualities than non-milk soap (that's just my opinion, not a fact -- as there are some pretty nice non-milk soaps out there).
In the last post I talked about a lot of ingredients I like to use in my soap. Many of them are costly, so I asked myself "What Soap Ingredients Can I Grow?" A few that I have grown in my garden are:
lavender - In Wisconsin, many varieties are not perennial, so I tend to re buy this plant a lot.
calendula - This plant is part of the marigold family and it is prolific. It self seeds!!!!
poppies - You need to grow a special variety to harvest seeds. I had trouble getting this one started.
loofah - Gourd family plant that has a long, long growing season. Loofah is the dried inside membrane of the gourd.
You can also grow herbs that you can infuse into your olive oil. I have infused St. John's Wort, Lavender, and there are many others that you can use. Herbs are easy to grow and can be grown in a window sill or in a small container on a patio.
It takes some advanced planning and time to be able to use your own ingredients, but it is worth it! Even though you may not be certified organic, you can let people know you grew your ingredients in your soap without chemicals.
As you browse through all the seed catalogues that are arriving in the mail, ask yourself, "What Soap Ingredients Can I Grow?"
Feb. 16, 2008 - Homemade Goat Milk Soap Special Ingredients
We already discussed how you can turn any recipe into a homemade goat milk soap recipe. But what special ingredients can you add to your goat milk soap to make it unique and different from other soaps? A few ingredients I like are:
poppy seeds
dried orange peel
dried calendula petals *
dried lavender flowers
oatmeal (baby food kind *)
seaweed *
loofah (luffa)
I like using these ingredients in my homemade goat milk soap. But you have to be careful. Less is more whenever you add anything in your soap that will make it abrasive or exfoliating.
The very first coffee soap I tried to make, I put actual coffee grounds in the soap. That soap was SO bad. It was rougher than Lava Soap. I through most of it away. That was my first lesson in "less is more." I know I re-learned that lesson several times and now have a handle on that issue. Most folks want a creamy bar of soap on an every day basis. But a few cool, gently exfoliating soaps are definitely sure to be good sellers.
I marked with an asterisk the items that do not cause abrasion in your soap. Be creative and have fun experimenting!
You can take any basic cold process soap recipe and turn it into homemade goat milk soap. How do you do this? You do this by substituting goat milk soap for the water.
If you check the MMS (Majestic Mountain Sage) Lye calculator at http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php you will see that they do not recommend any change in the recipe for liquids if it is water or milk.
I have successfully substituted milk for water in all of my recipes and never had any trouble. So making homemade goat milk soap will be easy if you take an existing recipe that you know will work and substitute the water for goat milk. If you have tried this already without much success, I would recommend that you view my video. I will lead you step by step through more than one way to create goat milk soap. You can view an introduction at my website How to Make Soap.
I have been very happy with my results in using color in cold process soap. There are many ways in which I use colour. I will list a few that I am very happy with.
Spices - Spices are natural and can give some lovely soap colors. I have used curry for yellow soap and paprika for peach coloured soap.
Pigments - Pigments are also natural. I have used many of these colours, but you must know which ones are good for cold process soap. Some colours (like the blue) do not work in cold process soap, so be sure you ask before purchasing. I especially like gold mica, green mica, and crimson mica.
Food - Cocoa powder is an ingredient I have used for marbling or swirling a small portion of the soap into the rest of the soap - very pretty. Milk is an ingredient in soap making which turns the soap a lovely brown colour. Vanilla fragrance is an ingredient in many different Fragrance Oils which will turn your soap brown. Be sure to read FO descriptions carefully. I have been surprised several times when my soap turned brown from the FO and I wasn't expecting it to. The results were very nice, but not what I had expected.
Synthetic colors - There is a whole array of color here. These personally are not my favorites, but sometimes I will use one to get a special effect. I really dislike hand crafted soaps that are flourescent - like fuschia and bright blue. They just look fake to me. But using these colours sparingly in a few bars may give you a wider variety in your soap booth. I would have to say, however, that my top twelve soaps are made without using these kinds of colours.
Using colour in cold process soap doesn't have to be a daunting task. Just be sure to inquire if they work well in cold process soap before you try them.
For more information on making soap you can check out my website at How to Make Soap.
It's never too early to begin planning for your next years' soap specials. One soap that I am planning to make is Gingerbread Hand Soap. I plan to make a goat milk soap (which will naturally turn a lovely shade of brown). Then I will take a small gingerbread man cookie cutter and cut out a gingerbread man from the bars while they are still soft. Make sure you do this right away when you cut your bars, or the soap will get to hard too slice through with a cookie cutter. You can actually slice your soap a little thinner for this soap. You'll get more bars of soap to sell and they will be easier to cut.
I haven't really determined if and how I am going to attach some decoration to the soap (like a smiling face and some rick rack on his hands and feet). Any ideas? A good fragrance would be Christmas Spice from Sweetcakes. There may be a better gingerbread FO, but I have never used this fragrance before. I really try to stay to fragrances I know will sell so I'm not sure if I will venture to try something new. If anyone out there has experience with a gingerbread fragrance, let me know in the comments.
Well, I guess I will dream "visions of sugar plums" tonight and perhaps I'll be inspired to think of a few other "cookie cutter soaps." I guess that will be another post!
Also, I have never done this kind of soap before because itinvolves "waste" in your soap. I have never been fond of rebatching, so if there are any ideas on what to do with the scraps -- I'm all ears.
Our landfills continue to overflow and soon little white plastic grocery bags will be banned. Looking to be good stewards of our environment meshes with cheap ways to package soap. The cheapest way I know of to reduce cost in packaging soap is to not package it at all.
What? But what about labelling soap and providing our customers with reorder information?
Well, that is quite simple. Include your business card with their purchase. If they truly need more information, you can easily supply that on a small notecard size paper.
Soap makers are not required by law to label their soaps, but I do like to let my customers know what kinds of oils I use. A small note card listing your ingredients and your company's information would truly suffice. Let's say a customer buys 5 bars of soap and you only give them one or two note cards, you save paper, time, and money.
Perhaps you sell your soaps wholesale and need to have them individually labelled. A cigar band paper label is one of the cheapest ways to package soap that I know of. Most computers have software that allows individuals to do a pretty decent job of manufacturing labels. Of course this is a little labor intensive if you sell a lot of soap wholesale. You will need to design, print, cut and apply all of your labels to each bar of soap.
Another idea is to tie a piece of raffia ribbon (also very cheap) around the soap and attach a small gift tag style card with your company information. This presentation gives the purchaser the feel that the soap is a little more "gift like" and has a quality of "boutique" about it.
Another idea (not quite as cheap) is to attach a clear mailing label with your company info printed on it directly to the soap. This is probably my least favorite option as the labels may not always stay on the soap.
I have used these labels in the past by applying them directly to a small gusseted plastic bag that I put the soap into and tie shut with a ribbon. Although I preferred to put the soap into the bag without any label at all except a small label on the back with my company information on it. I like my customers to see my beautiful soap. I always bought the ribbon on sale or from a wholesale ribbon source. The plastic bags ran about 5 cents per bag. I felt this presentation wasy very nice and a cheap way to package soap, but again it was time consuming to prepare my soaps for soap.
So....if you want my opinion on cheap ways to package soap, I would recommend that you NOT pakcage them at all and allow the beauty of the soap to sell themselves. Make yourself a card that gives all the useful information you want to share about your company and your philosophy about soap and share those with your customers.
It may be a good idea to give repeat customers a magnetic business card and they'll always have your phone number handy. You are keeping good customer records, right?
So you are thinking about starting a soap making business. What do you need to know to be successful. First, you need to be prepared to work hard for several months before you begin to see the money come in. Here are a few reasons why this is so.
You will need to gather your equipment and supplies.
You will need to make your soap.
You will need to let it cure.
You will need to get it packaged or get it ready for the point of sale.
You wll need an outlet to sell the soap.
All of these items require time. So you need to know this up front.
Starting a soap making business can create a lot of excitement. If you print out business cards and brochures right away, your word of mouth may bring your first customers while your soap is still curing. If you also make lip balms, body butter, bath salts, and such, you will have products that are "sale"able much sooner than your soap, so take that into consideration. You can also offer a few melt and pour types of soap while your initial cold-processed soap are curing. I really do not care for melt and pour soap (please, no offense to those of you who love it) because all too often I see the soap not looking very good after it has been transported, handled, manipulated -- the packaging tends to look dingy from the soap rubbing on it -- this doesn't happen with cold processed soap. Also note, that if you begin with a many different soaps and other products, that your inititial investment will be higher and it will take longer for you to break even and begin making a profit. I advise you to start small!
Please consider looking into liability insurance. I have always carried this and I think it is a good idea "just in case." "Just in case" someone's skin falls off after using your soap. I NEVER had a problem, but you never know. I did find a place with very reasonable rates (like around $10/month)
You should also get your business registered with your state so you can file your local and state sales tax. They get pretty angry if they find out you have selling something and haven't been paying in the required sales tax (did I mention they charge a hefty penalty?). In Wisconsin this required that I record how much soap I sold retail inside the state at my retail price. I did not pay sales tax on anything I sold out of state or anything I sold wholesale for resale. I had to submit my information on a form quarterly basis and then that was that -- very easy.
You will want to decide if you want to sell retail only or also sell wholesale. If you want to sell wholesale, you will need to find shops that are wanting to sell your soap. I had to do very little searching. I sold to many places and most of them came from word of mouth from people who had tried my soap. You may not be so lucky, so be prepared to take your soap everywhere you go and ask, ask, ask. Once you begin this endeavor, it is not a time to get fearful of rejection -- people will say no (as well as yes). Just do not take it personally -- it is business.
For your retail business, where are you going to concentrate on selling your soap? If you are going to go to a consignment type shop, you need to establish a booth. If you are selling a craft shows, you will need to locate them, get registered (well in advance for most) and prepare your booth display. If you are going to sell out of your home, you will need a corner or room where you can be organized enough to find everything you need at a moment's notice. You'll be surprised how many customers will pop over to get another bar of soap.
These are some ideas that you will need to think about before you begin starting a soap making business. It is by no means the complete exhaustive list, but many of the main ideas you should consider.
If you are unsure about starting a soap making business (maybe you've never made soap or made a successful batch of soap) you can check out my website at How to Make Soap. There I offer an on-line or DVD video tutorial about soap making and I include everything you need to know to make soap successfully from the very first batch. Dozens have learned how to make soap using this video and many are now "making real money" selling soap. I include everything you need to know to begin a home based soap making business.
Are you a soap maker? Do you have bars of soap that didn't well too well? If you are like most soap makers, you have a few of these bars around. How do you get rid of them?
I cut my 4 oz. bars in half and package several slices up together as "Soap Sampler Natural Slices". These sell particularly well at the holiday season. I like to take raffia ribbon or a 1/2 inch ribbon and tie them together with a little gift tag. The secret is to sandwich these "undesireables" between two of your best selling soaps. I try to make the package colorful, so take that into consideration when you are putting the soaps together.
Often I will package three slices together and sell them for $4.95. That is a nice package for a small token gift for a teacher, or neighbor, or friend. If you are building your customer base and are wise, you'll be adding them to an address (or even better....email) list. Let your customers know you have these little specialities before Valentines Day, Secretary Day, Sweetest Day, Mother's Day, and the like.
This is also a good idea to get rid of extra seasonal soaps you may have. For instance I might package up my Holiday Pie, Christmas Spice, and O Christmas Tree soaps at a reduced price after the holidays to clear them out of my inventory. You can let your customers know you are having a sale and selling your soap sampler natural slices at the reduced rate of $3.99 or $4.29 (or whatever you want).
Using these gift sampler slice packages is a great way to increase your sales and minimize your soap inventory.
If you are not a soap maker, but would llike to be one. Check out my website at How to Make Soap. There you will find an on-line or DVD soap making tutorial that will walk you through the steps of soap making right in my own kitchen. It includes "everything" you need to be successful from the very first batch.
This is my on-line or DVD Video Soap Making Tutorial. Watch me make soap in my own kitchen. You will be able to reproduce my soap exactly!
Essential oils, Aromatherapy products and more from Quinessence - Quality aromatherapy products including organic pure essential oils and hydrosols, carrier oils, skincare, haircare, massage oils and accessories. Site also features an online Newsletter and monthly Special Offers.
Fairs and Festivals Get the detailed information on Craft Shows, Festival Schedules, Craft Fairs , Arts and Craft Festivals, and More!
The Handcrafter's Companion From pampering bath treatments, to rich, soothing creams and butters, to aromatic home fragrance products -- The Handcrafter's Companion is a collection of pampering product recipes designed to create a relaxing spa atmosphere in your own home.
Soap Making Guide Soapmakingguide. Info offers soap making instructions,soap recipes and how to make soap articles,soap making information,soap making ideas,soap making projects and soap making kits. We offer instant link exchange for quality websites.
Candle Making Guide Candlemakingguide. Info offers candle making instructions,candle recipes and how to make candles articles,candle making information,candle making ideas,candle making projects and candle making kits.
Apple Patch Diet Home based internet business opportunity. We enable you to be in business for yourself, not by yourself.
EcoBusinessLinks - Green Directory
The largest hand-picked green directory on the net: Find organic food, cheap solar energy (free daily updated solar panel price survey), sustainable architecture, organic cotton, a vegetarian date, sustainable investments, an organic farm, a sustainable community and much more...
A growing directory of free arts and crafts projects, craft links, and resources. Create a craft with your children today! Add your crafts ideas to our database to share with others.
401k Plan Facts
#1 401k asset allocation tool. If you have a 401k, you need to check out this link!
Banish Clutter Forever Information about getting a handle on clutter in your house, and keeping the level of clutter down.
The Ultimate Guide To Everything The ultimate guide to everything. Com - the name says it all! 3,000 online stores, free advertising, free classifieds, top 20 links,business directory & yellow pages. Online directory. Increase your search engine love, increase sales and much more!
Crockpot Recipes Browse or search through this great recipe collecion.
