Penny Saving Tip - Soap Bag

This is a top tip for anyone with kids!

Do you use bar soap in the shower or bath? Isn't it a pain how it gets wet and soggy in the soap dish, and what about those tiny slivers at the end, too small to be any use! What a waste throwing them all away...

But the alternative, body wash or liquid soap, just isn't viable with small children! They can keep themselves from playing with it, squirting it, or just using far too much...

A Better Way!

My mum did this using an "onion bag" - the plastic string netting bags you used to get onions in, the kind with holes about half a centimeter across. If you can still buy garlic or other items in them in your town, grab one! Failing that, buy a piece of the cheapest, strongest net curtain you can find! You can usually get quite large pieces in the remnant bin for cheap prices - about half a meter is great.

You can also make this by cutting up an old towel.

1. Cut a piece of fabric about 10cm wide and 20 long, or, take your onion bag :)
2. Fold your fabric in half and stitch up the sides to make a bag. You can use a sewing machine, or a small blanket stitch. Or, if sewing is the bane of your life, cut a slightly larger square (15cm x 15cm) and you can tie it into a "bundle" instead.
3. Gather together all those slivers of leftover soap. Pop them into your bag, and tie it closed. The onion bag or netting curtain bags can be simply knotted - flannel or heavier fabric can be tied closed with plastic string. "Bundles" can also be tied with plastic string.
4. Hang the bag in the shower. It wont pool and go squishy in water, and kids love to use it. It even has a gentle exfoliating effect!
5. As each bar of soap gets down to a sliver, add it to the bag. In our house, we only had bar soap at the handbasins - the shower only had the soapbag and it was great!
6. Also great for using up those tiny soaps they give you in motels!