How much does it cost do make 36 bars of handmade soap? Assuming that you have a 36 bar soap mold already, you can make a bar of soap with luxurious ingredients, a fabulous fragrance and eye catching color for just $1.00. Hard to believe? Check out the price break down below.
All of these prices are based off of Bramble Berry’s most popular sizes. Keep in mind that you can save even more money if you buy in larger, bulk sizes! Oh and I found the olive oil at our local restaurant supply store, Cash and Carry.
Here’s my recipe:
*This recipe used 8 ounce of fragrance oil and .5 ounces of colorant.
Price Break Down:
Pomace Olive Oil– $1.49 per lb (gallon size)
Coconut Oil– $1.85 per lb (7 lb size)
Palm Oil– $1.88 per lb (7 lb size)
Jojoba Oil– $0.68 per oz (1 lb size)
Shea Butter– $0.45 per oz (1 lb size)
Castor Oil– $0.21 per oz (1 lb size)
Lye– $0.37 per oz (2 lb size)
Fragrance Oil– $1.57 per oz (1 lb size)
Colorant – $4.00 per oz (1 oz size)
Fragrance Oil– $1.57 per oz (1 lb size)
Colorant – $4.00 per oz (1 oz size)
Grand Total: $36.20
Price of materials per bar: $1.00 per bar
I will be sure to upload some pics, I’m really looking forward to using the mold. Oh and by the way Ann Marie Thanks for the sample scent it smells really nice!
My 18 bar soap mold arrived on Wednesday, Guess what I’m doing this weekend, lol ! A batch of spa salt bars and a batch of what I call scent of sari swirled with orange and yellow for a spring time look. Thanks Ann Marie!!
With the affluent worrying about diabetes and heart disease and the poor seeing their food budgets decimated by double-digit inflation, a five-year period of 3-5% annual increases in sugar demand may be coming to an end.
With the affluent worrying about diabetes and heart disease and the poor seeing their food budgets decimated by double-digit inflation, a five-year period of 3-5% annual increases in sugar demand may be coming to an end.
This is impressive. I’ve been searching for posts like this for almost a week and i tend to not understand all of them except your post. Awesome.
We would LOVE to ship to you in South Africa; you can check out via the shopping cart. Our site is set up for international shipping (http://www.brambleberry.com). Or if you have someone coming to the US, we would be happy to ship it to their hotel as well so they can pop it in their suitcase. It would take up about 1/4th of the suitcase though!=)
absolutely cannot wait to get this mold! so excited!
thank you for the price break down…
xo
Thanks! π
tincanac, I just ordered one for myself and I can’t wait until it arrives. I love doing swirls in my soaps so I’m going to get a kick out of doing them in this mold.
Yield being the total weight of all ingredients listed.
Hi Ann Marie
Greetings from Puerto Rico. Sorry for the ignorance, but what is Yield?
I will do this recipe this same weeks. Thanks!!
Hi Ann Marie! Greetings from Puerto Rico!
Sorry for the ignorance, but what is Yield?
I see it on the recipe.
I will try it this weeks!
Thank you
I am in love with these moulds – do you ship to South Africa? I have been having a terrible time freeing my soap from my makeshift mould which was originally intended to be a toolbox! I will have to post pics on my blog on how crazy the unmoulded soap turns out – every single bar is a surprise π
this post reminds me that I need to update my pricing on oils and re-configure my costs; thanks for posting this! π
GORGEOUS SOAP
Thank you, once again, A-M, for being so helpful! I found your article on pricing MP soaps extremely useful when I was selling those. π
I agree buying in bulk is a great money saver. For me the cost of shipping/essential oils is what has grown enormously. I am fortunate though I live in Illinois and can buy my oils/butters in bulk from a large supply company here. I also just purchased the 18 bar mold so I can make more soap and save a little on the back end.
Though, to be totally honest, my ‘go to, works every time’ recipe is the Lots of Lather one from here: http://soap-queen.blogspot.com… If I’m super non-creative, I’ll go back to that one every time.
I’m seeing some materials costs go up so it’s definitely a good idea to be checking right now. After all, in order to be a sustainable business, we all need to make sure our Cost of Goods Sold is in line for what we’re selling our final product for.
Costco has similar priced Olive Oil so if you’re near a Sam’s Club or Costco you can get great pricing for bulk oils.
Cash and Carry and me are like BFF’s. I swear, I’m there every week buying Olive Oil! =)
I’m not really wedded to any one formula. I’m super lucky that I work at Bramble Berry so I have any and every oil at my disposal so I can try different recipes. In fact, the one above, I did at a 2% superfat and then at an 8% superfat to see what I thought of the soap when it cured out. It’s just about cured so I’ll have to go do those experiments soon! =)
Good job on the buying in bulk. That’s a great way to save.
It is fun to look at other people’s formulas. I use twice as much palm as I do coconut. Your formula is just the opposite! I am going to make a 1# batch up using yours and see the difference, besides the wonderful lather. π I just picked up 500# s of oil trying to lower my cost per bar. You get to a point where you have to do everything you can to cut costs, other than firing my dh!
Michlle in NV
It’s been over a year since I’ve costed out my base recipe. Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you for the information!
I wish I lived closer to “cash and carry” ~ AND I love seeing the price break down. I do this myself ~ so it’s nice to compare. Beautiful soap is pictured.
I love Cash & Carry!!
Thanks for posting this, Anne-Marie.