Money-Saving Household Tip #1: Costly Hand Soap?

I don't know in other parts of the world, but where I currently live, there are whole series of soaps that are dedicated hand-wash, and come in small 250ml or 375ml dispenser bottles costing (at the least) $2.00 if you buy the generic types.

Call me a miser, but that's expensive for what is essentially... just soap. I can never figure out what the real difference is between hand soap, and soap for the rest of your body. Except that you need plenty of hand soap, and they come in tiny sized bottles! Hands get washed at least 10 times a day...in the kitchen after handling meats, in the bathroom every time you walk in, whenever you need to tell the kids to scrub before a meal... so I find myself wondering if there ever was a cost-effective, bulk sized bottle of hand soap that I can use around the house.

An answer came when a visiting aunt passed me a large litre sized bottle of body foam (generic brand too!) and asked me, "Can you find a way to get rid of this?" The lightbulb turned on when one day, I ran out of environmentally friendly hand soap refill packs from Carrefour, and my eyes came to rest on the get-rid-of-this bottle of body foam. Lo and behold, the body foam had too large a spout, no dispenser, smelled like hand soap, felt like hand soap... eventually became my hand soap and I had a cost effective, bulk sized bottle of what is now my hand soap to use around the house!

Here's a quick comparison.

Hand Soap:
Brand: Generic
Standard Serve Size: 250ml
Cost Per Serve: $2.00 - $2.50
Cost Per 100ml: $0.80

Body Foam:
Brand: Generic
Standard Serve Size: 1000ml
Cost Per Serve: $3.00 - $3.50
Cost Per 100ml: $0.30

Savings: $0.50 per 100ml

Believe me, when you use roughly about 250ml per person every month or so, it starts adding up pretty fast!

Tip: So next time you want a good alternative to hand soap around the house, and don't mind generic brands (Tesco, mind, not Bath and Body Works), try considering getting a big bottle version of the body foam instead. Chances are, the exact same ingredients are used in both, and by bottling and selling them in larger quantities, the company is able to cut costs with economies of scale.