By Diana Saufley

Hopefully soap is something that you use on a regular basis.   Today soap comes in many forms and options and used mostly for bathing but it does have other uses.  It’s the fall season and I usually prefer to write about home décor. But I also like finding opportunities that preserve the environment by utilizing things that you already own that can be re-used.

First, let’s tackle the bar soap.  Still a favorite to liquid soaps by most Americans and fewer bottles in landfills than with liquid soaps.  But what do you do with those little “shards” of soap that no one wants to pick up or use when there is nice, big, new hunk of soap waiting to be opened?  See the list below for things you can do with the soap shards.

1. Get a hosiery knee-high or cut off an old hosiery leg and deposit your soap shards into the toe until you have enough to equal at least a small bar of soap.    Tie the top of the knee high in a knot or use a rip tie or string to close off the top opening.  With this homemade “soap –on-a-rope”  you can:
   • Tie it by your outside hose to wash hands after gardening, dealing with waste cans, or pets
   • Take camping in a re-sealable bag.  Remove the plastic bag and tie the soap-on-a rope to the shower head or tie around your wrist if you will be bathing in open water.
   • Take in the car on trips in case you encounter restrooms that have no soap.  Keep the sealable bag with the soap in your purse or backpack to be at the ready and to keep everything dry and clean smelling. Great for the gym too, just add water.
   • Tie it to the bath tub faucet to teach little ones about hygiene without keeping up with slip, sliding soap in the tub.  It’s is harder to eat it when it is in the hosiery and attached to the faucet.
2. Take the shards of soap and soften them in a pot until they are lightly softened.  Squish all the pieces together and press into soap mold, or small Jell-O mold to create a new bar of soap.
3. If you like a little exfoliation with your bath, take the shards and create a new bar as mentioned above, then place the bar into a produce onion or citrus bag.  Make sure the bag you choose it is not too rough for your skin.
4. Buy a natural sea sponge, cut a slice into the center and place soap shards in it to create a soap sponge.  The soap will stick to the sponge when it is wet and stays in place.

On a similar topic: I hate cleaning my tall shower stall since it requires that I take a shower to clean it.  I have some Head & Shoulders Clinical Strength shampoo that was intended for one of our dogs but I didn’t care much for the smell.  So one day when showering, I decided to see what job it could do cleaning the shower door, tile and floor pan.  It did a fabulous job without much scrubbing and wasn’t near as caustic or abrasive to my hands or the shower glass as some bleach or abrasive cleaners can be.  It required a very small amount of the shampoo to clean the whole shower, so is very economical too.  And when the dog does need a bath, I can use it to keep her squeaky cleanas well.