There is nothing magical about hand soap, dummies. Are you a dummy? Probably not. But common sense goes out the window when people panic and when someone is hysterical the traditional cure is a good slap. While there are few reasonable alternatives to toilet paper, there are many items that can replace a hand soap pump or refill. Soap is soap.
My sister-in-law pointed out to me last week that all shelves were cleared of hand soap in her California city, but the dish soap aisle was fully stocked. She bought a bottle of Dawn. If Dawn can clean dishes and baby seals, it can certainly clean your hands.
Sure enough, in my Arizona stores—even at the height of the store-storming last week—dish soap was fully stocked.
I repeat: there is nothing magical about hand soap—shampoo, body wash, dish soap, laundry detergent, little soaps from hotels…all except hotel soaps have been in stock at every store I’ve been to and are likely in your home now.
Taking a little tour of my home, here are common household items we could use to wash our hands when our Method dish soap refill runs out (That’s right, dish soap. I buy the Method or Seventh Generation dish soap refills instead of the hand soap refills because the dish soap is usually cheaper at Target and as far as I can tell the hand soap and dish soap are identical.)
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If you’re willing to brave in-store shopping you can probably find these items cheaper, but seriously, you will not need to shop at all because I bet you already have them. I’ve listed the normal Walmart/Target price so you don’t get screwed by Amazon profiteers, and whether items are available with Amazon Prime or Amazon Fresh. If you’re not a Prime member go here to get Prime free for 30 days while you’re stuck at home.
Out of hand soap? Use these common household items that are also soap!
Method dish soap crap ton (Prime) or Seventh Generation dish soap one bottle (Prime) (typical price $2 per 12 oz)
Dawn dish soap crap ton (Prime) or Dawn dish soap one bottle (Fresh) (typical price $1 per 10 oz)
Oxyclean laundry detergent for black clothes (Prime) Tide laundry detergent (Fresh) (typical price 12 cents per ounce)
L’Oreal Ever Strong shampoo one bottle (Prime) (typical price $6 per bottle)
Olay body wash 2 bottles (Prime) (typical price $4 per bottle)
I’m old enough to remember a time before hand soap pumps were ubiquitous. Your sinks probably all have a little dent next to the faucet—that’s where people used to put a bar of soap in the old days. You can also use a saucer as a soap dish, or even the plastic lid from a coffee or oatmeal can if you’re worried your kids will break your saucer (you can poke holes in the plastic for drainage). Nobody’s coming over, so don’t worry about how it looks.
Caress bar soap (Prime) Bonus: it smells like Grandma’s house! (typical price $1 per bar)
You know you have a stash of hotel shampoos, body washes, and soaps. Now is the time to bust those out! They’re fun for the kids to use because they’re so cute and tiny, I wouldn’t even bother pouring them into a hand soap pump.
Soap is soap. Don’t freak out. Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!
Read all posts in this series: Advice from a frugal mom during coronavirus
Related: When Should Kids Wash Their Hands? 10 Handwashing Tips for Kids in the Kitchen!
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