Save on 'Foaming' soap, dilute regular hand soap

kandm

15 years ago

I just read this article on the consumerist website.

Here is a link that might be useful: save

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Comments (8)

grainlady_ks
15 years ago
I've used a couple styles of foam soap dispensers - had them long before Dial came out with theirs and the special liquid soap to go with them.

I use the FOAMPUMP in the kitchen. I can do MUCH better in savings than the Consumerist web site shared. It takes 2-3 T. of regular liquid soap (not those that contain moisturizers, however) and about 2 cups of water. Instead of using a small pump dispenser of liquid soap each month, that same amount will last a year or more, using the FOAMPUMP.

The other is EURO-FORMER. I use this for pricey shower gel-type liquid soap in the shower.

Both foamers makes a thick mousse-type foam.

-Grainlady
cynic
15 years ago
Like we talked about in the splurge thread, the foamers is one splurge I make although I've been refilling from the start. I recently found a gallon jug of SoftSoap that I got cheap many many years ago. It doesn't work as well as dish soap for making foam but it's workable and will get used up.

The thing I like about the foam and for that matter the liquids, you put it on your hands and it pretty much forces you to wash your hands long enough to be effective (15-20 sec) if you want to get it off your hands, and hand washing if the best thing you can do to prevent disease. It's far better than a flu shot!
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I am known to be frugal. I never throw out food, I do like my grandmother did and throw leftovers in a soup pot on Friday. I reuse tin foil pie plates. tin foil and plastic bags. I buy meat in bulk and cut it up myself and only when there is a good sale on it. We grow a big garden and I can, store and freeze most of our winter veggies and some fruit. One thing I would never do however is cut my soap with water. To me the thicker the better. I realized years ago that I use less shampoo when I use a thick one. A nickel sized drop on my hand gives me a good shampoo. The purpose of my using a liquid hand soap is to avoid the bacteria on bar soap, and rid my hands of the same. I don't want to cut that cleaning power, but I have long used the refills instead of buying new bottles every time. My DIL buys that foaming soap and I hate it. You see being frugal is all in how you look at things and what you consider important enough spend a bit extra on. We all have our ways of doing things--I'll stick with mine.
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sloneby - It hasn't been my experience that the dispensers have broken. My current dispenser is a multiply-resused/recycled Bath and Body one and I've been using the same one where I've refilled it for over two years now. The one in the bath has been at use longer than that and is used much more than the one in the kitchen. It's been my experience that the soap doesn't separate out at all - it stays and even dilution without a problem. It may be worth noting that I don't use an anti-bac soap with the little beads nor do I use a creamy based liquid to make my dilution. The one I've been using the most often has been Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap (Pure Castile Soap with organic oils). It's avaiable scented or unscented (then you can add your own essential oils if you prefer). I've also used other soaps as well when I was out of Dr. Bronner's and needed to mix up a batch. Every once in a while, I need to rinse off the nozzle if it starts to clog up a bit, but I would say that happens maybe once in between a refill, if even that much. In the meantime, I bought one of these. Unfortunately, it's not satin nickle, but it works okay. I get one that matches the color of the room the best and then just use the sleeve over it. Not perfect, but better. I've been thinking of checking into getting some spray paint to see if I can paint over it in a satin finish. Here is a link that might be useful: Bath & Body cover
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Wish I would have know about this a month ago!!! I too love the foam hand soap, if you do get it let me know how it works for you!
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In Sink soap DIspenser - Hand or Dish soap?
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I understand the concerns about using dish soap if it tends to dry your hands. That hasn't been a probelm for me, but I do have a child with OCD who tends to wash more than necessary, so for a while I switched from the antibacterial dish soap to a dish soap that was not antibacterial. It was gentler on the hands, and kept my child's hands from cracking (and sometimes bleeding) as they had with the antibacterial soap. Since then, I've diverted my child from constant hand washing to using hand sanitizer in between a normal amount of hand washing, which has solved the problem. Now I can use whatever kind of dish soap I want. But if it doesn't bother your hands, dish soap is a perfectly good hand soap. (My grandmother even used dish soap for shampoo, which I do occasionally for a super cleansing of all hair products from my hair, with no discernible harm.)
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sheesh
15 years ago
I hate to ask this, but do I buy a filled foam pump dispenser to begin with, or can I use the liquid soap dispensers I have that are built in to the sinks? Can I buy just the foaming pump somewhere? I love foaming soaps in other people's houses, always wish I could have one.
glad2garden
15 years ago
I buy dial foaming hand soap bottles, and refill them with diluted liquid dish washing detergent. The price of liquid dish washing detergent is much cheaper than the refills of liquid hand soap and works just as well. You'd think it would dry out your hands, but it doesn't.

victoria
donnawb
15 years ago
I have been doing that since I first bought the foaming soap. My hand and dish detergent last a long time now.
glad2garden
15 years ago
Now that we've figured out a way to say money on these, the company will start making the bottles impossible to open, so they can't be reused. Only a matter of time now.
cynic
15 years ago
I doubt that the companies would spend the money to retool to change the bottles. Especially since in addition to the lost money from R&D and retooling, they would then additionally lose the sales of the refills. Plus the foaming is still not even close to being as popular as plain liquid, which has been getting refilled since its inception.
dchall_san_antonio
15 years ago
Maybe it's my water. I tried it with several Dial foaming dispensers and they all jammed up after a short time using the regular soap diluted. The plunger won't move. I disassembled the pump, everything looked fine, reassembled and the thing is just jammed.

Now I buy the generic foaming soap refills at Wally's and have had no problems.

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Save on 'Foaming' soap, dilute regular hand soap

Comments (8)

grainlady_ks

cynic

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sheesh

glad2garden

donnawb

glad2garden

cynic

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