The Soap is Made, Now What?: Soap Saturdays

Elizabeth

In the last few months, we've covered everything from different processes for making soap, deciding what type of soap you want to produce, equipment, ingredients, molds, making the soap, and last weeks topic, keeping records. Now what?

Having your own homemade soap gives you a sense of accomplishment. You've spent time and money to make something that you can be proud of, something that you can claim as your very own handiwork. But what do you want to do with your soap now? You have several options.

Child smelling soap

  1. You can keep making soap for yourself and your family to use and enjoy.
  2. You can give the soap away as a personal touch, for birthdays, holidays, baby shower gifts, as a way to tell someone you're thinking about them, etc.
  3. You can find an outlet for selling your soap creations
  4. You can give the soap away to charities

Let's go through each of the options above, for a more thorough look.  

Making soap for you and your family:
Having your own soap stash can be great! You never have to worry about using an inferior product on your skin when you can tailor it specifically to the skin care needs of yourself and your family members. Or you never need to head to the shower and discover you're down to a tiny sliver of soap, and then go to your storage shelves just to realize you forgot to get more when you made your last trip to the store. You can always be in charge of the kind of soap you want to use next at your kitchen and bathroom sinks! There are a myriad number of reasons why making your soap, even if it's just for yourself, is totally worth the time and effort. Greeting-Card

You can give the soap away for a personal touch:
If you are like me, and forget about getting a gift for someone ahead of time, or have a party that you are invited to at the last minute, having your own soap comes in very handy. People love soaps, and are delighted at getting something handmade specially for them, by you! I have given soaps for baby shower gifts, weddings, birthdays, holidays, as a get well present, and just to tell someone that I was thinking about them. Even if the recipient doesn't use the soap for themselves, they can regift the soap and pass it on to someone else, so it is still appreciated. Small Farmers Market

You can sell the soap:
Selling your soaps can be a lot of work, let me tell you! But it can be very rewarding. There's a lot of little details about selling your soap to consider (a topic we'll cover more in detail in future Soap Saturdays posts), like packaging, labeling and information you need to include on the packaging, marketing, places to sell the soap at, paying taxes, etc. Don't get discouraged though, if this is what you intend to do with your soaps. Just take your time to learn each step, and learn what works and what doesn't. Giving a heart

You can give your soaps to charity: 
Even though I've been giving soap away since the very first batch that I made, it didn't enter my mind to give it away to charity until recent years. I used to lament the fact that there never seemed to be enough money to give away and help people when the need arose. There are a lot of rescue missions, care centers, and places that help people in need, in my area. I learned that many of these organizations need resources other than money to use for the people they help, and giving soap is a great way to help out in your community. Plus, your donation may also be tax deductible!

There are plenty of ways to use your soaps, and the talents you have been given. Now it is up to you to decide how to use those talents. Go have fun using, and giving away, and selling your soap!  

To read the previous Soap Saturdays posts: