In these difficult economic times it is important to think outside of the box! Take advantage of using your creative mind and get back to using old fashioned methods of yesteryear to help assist with the household budget.
We have become so excepting of using expensive readymade detergents, fragrant soaps, and fancy spray cleaners that we have forgotten about the good old bar soap; remember Ivory Soap?
Bar soap can be a life, and budget, saver.
Pack away bar soap while traveling
- No liquid to worry about when traveling through the airport with the extra plus of not worrying about spillage.
Environment Saver
- Bar soap does not need a fancy plastic bottle which will save the landfills from unnecessary waste.
Lubricant
- For stuck drawers rub a bar of soap on your drawer glides and the bottoms of the sides to make for a smooth glide.
soap is great for lubricating drawer glides - To unstuck windows, rub the soap on the window slides.
- Stubborn zippers will glide easily after you rub some soap on them.
- Bar soap is a fantastic lubricant for the tip of screws before drilling them into a block of wood.
- It also works well on saw blades for a smoother sawing action.
Deodorizer Fragrant bar soap makes for a nice freshening scent.
- Place a bar of pleasant scented soap in your drawers to keep them smelling fresh.
- Give a bar of soap to the kids for their school lockers and use it in the gym locker to keep a nice scent and have the double duty of keeping hands and body clean.
Safe Animal Repellant
- A strong smelling soap, such as Irish Spring, works well to keep rabbits out of the vegetable garden.
A pre-treatment for stains
- Wet a bar of soap and rub in on the stain before throwing the item into the washing machine.
Keep your fingernails clean while getting dirty
- Before digging your hands into the soil with the next gardening project, or scooping up the clay when sculpting a new work of art, scrape your fingernails over a bar of soap. The soap will accumulate under your nails, keeping dirt from getting stuck under your fingernails and making for a very easy cleanup when you scrub with a nail brush for a final cleanup.
Make a spray cleaner: This is a great way to extend the life of bar soap for a really tight budget.
- Take the bars soap remnants and shave them down into a spray bottle, add some water, and shake; instant cleanser to spray the kids down with in the bathtub.
Turn the mirror into a memo board
- Write notes in the morning for the members of the household on the bathroom mirror with the bar soap. Make a rule that as everyone reads their memo they must clean it off the mirror. This way you know that each note was read and you will have a clean mirror every day.
Insect bite pain and itch reliever
- Dampen the bar of soap (do not lather) and rub it over the bite. The lye in the soap brings relief to the insect bite and smells nicer than the expensive anesthetics.
Bar Soap makes for a great art project
- Ivory Soap works great for this. This is a wonderful project for the kids and entire family to be creative. Sculpt your own work of art out of the bar. Check out some African art or totem poles for inspiration.
Going back to the old-fashioned soap to wash with
- Before fancy liquid soaps and scents were invented, good, old-fashioned bar soap was used to wash our bodies, hair, clothes, and dishes.
use soap to wash with! - Place soap in a dish by the kitchen sink and use a wet cloth or sponge rubbed on the soap to wash the pots and dishes with.
Get back to the basics and take a step into the past to simpler times. Get rid of the expensive cleaners and replace them with a bar of soap. Help the environment and your budgets.
Imagination is a free gift; use it to its fullest. Never be afraid to dance!
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