This is my great grandmother's recipe for "stretching" a bar of soap. She kept a quart jar under the kitchen sink. Every tiny scrap of bar soap, too small to use, was put in the jar. When the quart jar was full of soap bits, she put them all in a...More
This is my great grandmother's recipe for "stretching" a bar of soap. She kept a quart jar under the kitchen sink. Every tiny scrap of bar soap, too small to use, was put in the jar. When the quart jar was full of soap bits, she put them all in a large pot, covered the soap with water and let it sit until all the soap was melted. (Maybe a couple of days.) Then, she added 2 cups or more of water and "cooked" the melted soap over very low heat stirring occasionally until she had a nice liquid soap. Some was poured into clean empty ketchup bottles to use for hand washing. Some was poured into a quart jar and covered. It was used for washing dishes, mopping floors and cleaning kitchen counters. When money was tight, she used it for cleaning the bathroom. She liked to add about 1/3 cup white vinegar, hot water and "homemade liquid soap" when washing dishes, cleaning and mopping. After my Gma washed dishes in her enamel pan, she poured the hot soapy water into a bucket and mopped the kitchen and bathroom floors. Before pouring out that "good soapy water" as she called it, she used what was left to mop her back porch and steps.
