LIFE

A slippery situation: Testing wasting bar soap

Abbey Roy

As you know if you’re reading this and have an OK self-esteem, the Bargain Advocate has the greatest readers in the world.

Though the volume of her fan mail is probably dwarfed by that of her more experienced and famous counterpart whose (pen) name is spelled without an ‘e,’ the Bargain Advocate does get an occasional “Dear Abbey,” including this recent challenge from a reader:

As they used to say in “Mission Impossible” TV series … I have a mission for you if you choose to accept it.

If your household uses any type of bar soap, would you care to experiment with how to turn the always-left-over slivers into useable liquid hand soap? I tried a recipe to do so a number of years ago, and it just hardened back up … and it was NOT useable in the re-hardened form.

My husband always uses bar soap to shower with and he will only use it to a certain stage of “smallness” … I absolutely hate throwing away those little pieces with the cost of soap, but didn’t find resolution with my attempt several years ago.

Well. This was a challenge too good not to accept.

The problem, of course, was that since the Bargain Advocate does not use bar soap with any sort of regularity (or, rather, at all), an experiment with leftover soap bits would require a preposterous number of hand washes in a very small amount of time. However, it wouldn’t be called “Mission: Impossible” if it were a walk in the park, would it? Thus, the Bargain Advocate vowed to do her best with the free miniature bar of hotel soap she found in an obscure cabinet in the upstairs bathroom.

In my research for this post, I learned that bar soap can be used for a number of unexpected purposes. For example, we rub it on the corners of Little Roy’s ancient wooden dresser drawers to make them slide out more smoothly; you can also use it to drive nails and turn screws more easily, clean dirty windowsills, mark hems for sewing and more.

In terms of using too-small soap bits, the least-obscure way I found from a few sources involved merging the used bar of soap (as long as it isn’t too small to work with) together with a new one. This can be done by softening one side of both bars by rubbing them with a damp sponge or cloth, then making slits in the softened sides with a toothpick, fingernail or similar object.

After that, press the two scored sides together, rubbing slightly. To help with bonding, you can make more slits where the two pieces come together as a sort of “seal.” Let your new soap sit overnight, then enjoy a shower with your fresh, better-than-new bar.

Though my personal experiment with this method resulted mostly in pieces of soap crumbling into the sink, the two “chunks” which I did seal together seemed to stay put, and I can see how if you had a more substantial bar of soap and a decently used one, this would be a great way to reduce waste.

There also are products you can buy to get the most out of your soap: “soap saver” bags, available mostly online, are drawstring bags made of mesh or terry cloth. You put your soap inside and are guaranteed a good lather until the bitter end.

Unrelated to soap, another reader recently wrote to inquire about saving money on eyeglasses. As I have little experience with regard to this topic, I queried my glasses-wearing Facebook friends and received several suggestions about websites for purchasing glasses.

I did, however, want to give other Best Readers in the World a chance to weigh in on the eyeglass quandary.

She writes:

I hope that you can shed some light on shopping for eyeglasses. I have gone to the same optometrist forever to have my eyes checked even though she is “out of network” for my insurance because I think she is such a great doctor, but I go to an “in network” provider for my frames and lenses to save money. I still end up paying almost $350 out of pocket for frames and lenses even though my prescription is not out of the ordinary — my eyes really aren’t that bad. I do get progressive lenses so I don’t have the “bifocal” line and I get the non-glare so that my lenses don’t end up flashing in a photograph. My insurance policy is supposed to pay 100% up to $130 on frames and there is no copay on lenses. I just don’t understand all of the jargon associated with the various coatings and material used in lenses that must not be covered by insurance. Also, I can find no shopping guides. Could you research and clarify some of these issues and have some suggestions about where to shop to save some money and still have quality eyeglasses?

Greatest Readers in the World who happen to wear eyeglasses, would you be willing to help out a fellow Great Reader? If so, please send your feedback to my email address below.

Meanwhile, keep being great, and spend this Valentine’s Day knowing you are appreciated by the Bargain Advocate.

If you have insight about a frugal living topic or an idea for a future column, please email me at amroy@nncogannett.com. I’d love to hear from you!

Happy saving,

Abbey