ugly soap...

It's a well known fact that I am cheap.  Well, my hubs says it so much nicer when he refers to me as frugal.  Whatever the word chosen, I hate to waste money or resources.  The idea of waste makes me insane. For the past couple of years we have been saving all the little bits of the soaps I've made.  I didn't want to see my hard work go into the trash, I was convinced it still had value. 

Well, yesterday was the day, I finally made rebatch soap, as it is correctly called.  Ugly soap is what I am going to forever call it.  It's ugly in a beautiful way. After grinding it all into small slivers, I loaded it and a small amount of water in the crock pot.  

I was questioning how it would turn out, I envisioned a muddy gray color. I was wrong.  It's closer to a gray/green color, with flecks of vibrant colors scattered through out.  Heating it again did away with any fragrance that was left, so right before I molded it I gave it a healthy dose of "lush succulent", my absolute favorite scent for soaps and candles. 

Because it has already been processed, I knew it wouldn't be smooth, wasn't expecting it to be.  I also knew that it wouldn't have to cure, as it had already done that.  I am going to let the bars sit for a couple of weeks, so most of the moisture is gone and they will last longer. 

I've already tried it, shhh... don't tell Hubs' he wants to be first, but I had a small ball left yesterday when I made it.  It lathers beautifully and from what would have been waste, that we discretely collected until the jar was full we now have 11 more bars of soap. 

It doesn't matter what it looks like.  It has great value and use. My penny pinching heart is in heaven! I put the big jar back under the sink upstairs, ready to start collecting for the next batch. Amazed that it worked and ready to tackle the next project. 

I am not old enough to have lived through the depression.  In fact I am fairly positive I never even heard my family members talk about it.  Sure, like most people I am aware of it, I love history and understanding cause and effect, but I have no idea where that part of my nature comes from.  I had a great aunt that was very frugal also, so maybe it runs in the blood?

I simply loathe waste.  I hated when we went through drive thru's and they would load up your bag with condiments and napkins.  I hated to see them wasted. I am forever looking to see if there are any ways possible to use up things. 

For as long as I can remember I've heard the old quote "use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without".  Again, I don't know where that entered my memory, yet there it is, it feels like it always has been. I am that crazy person that saves all her egg shells and dries them out before grinding them.  They are great for feeding my garden.  I do the same with coffee grinds.  

I have never in my life felt I lived a life of lack.  Even when funds were tight, even now when the world is working hard to make people feel that I've always had a mindset of abundance. I know a lot of my thriftiness is responsible for that.  

I keep listening to folks talking. For over a year now things have been seeming to become harder to come by, shelves have more consistent bare spots and prices are going up.  

Yet as I stood in my kitchen grinding up nubs of old bars of soaps, I didn't feel that lack or stress, I felt thankful that I had the skills to take what would have been trash and create.  It felt ironic and empowering.  It was even funnier because I was in the middle of all my canning projects for the day.  Carrots, apple/pear sauce and cranberry juice.  I didn't want my produce to go to waste, and we'd been gifted with a huge fruit basket over the holidays. 

I'm still pondering what to do with all the oranges, I might dehydrate those to use to sweeten water over the hot summer months. 

I don't know that abundance like we were used to is going to return in 2023.  I am prayerful, but I feel things are changing in a strong way.  I feel like we will have plentiful abundance of the things we need, just not how we had become accustom to.  

I felt the same kind of positive energy when I was using old bits and pieces of lint, small pieces of wood and old candle wax that had melted down to create fire starters before the last bad cold snap.  We didn't go without, even though most of the stores had sold all of the fire starters they had in stock. A few bits of kindling and a small fire starter was all it took to start some beautiful warm fires. 

I hope that I am not the only cheapskate around.  I hope there are far more like me than those that simply toss something, before considering it's useful life.  It will help so many realize they are already living a life of abundance, maybe not in terms of Madison Ave marketing or Wall Street, but in terms of a real life.  Not the fantasy that holds you bound to a life you don't want or need. 

Sustainability, upcycling, recycling, reusable, renewable... these are all things that have been around for a very long time.  How do you think feed sack material became a thing? I'm proud of my frugal ways, I am thankful for the abilities and inquisitiveness to keep finding more ways to do things. None of it is a gimmick or marketing slogan, even if the original line that goes through my mind all the time was. During my research I found that you can even do it with store bought bars of soap, if that is your thing. 

Well, it's time to get busy doing the things that create this life.  I have a few sewing projects to finish up on my to do list.... 

love, prayer and hope...