Average cost per pound to make soap

[anabanana's candles]

I wanted to know if anyone would share their cost per pound to make soap.

I am trying to figure it out.

[OverSoyed]

Depends on the type of soap and the ingredients you are using. The source of your materials also factor into the cost.

[Carrie]

I highly recommend the SoapMaker program. It stores all of your recipes and keeps inventory. You can even inventory jars and soap boxes. Just enter them as ingredients and use them in the program. It adds the cost of those items into the cost of the product.

I use several expensive oils in my soap recipe so it probably wouldn't be a good soap to compare.

[thecandlespastore]

It depends on:

1. Cost of base oils and equipment

2. Whether you have them shipped to you or not

3. How much the fragrance costs. I use fragrances that are $13.95 to $85 a pound, that all gets factored in.

4. You also want to factor in your time making soap, most people don't pay themselves what they are worth.

Here is a simple cost calculator. I know there are others but I can't find them right now;)

http://www.saratogascents.com/cost_calculator.html

[sudsnwicks]

It depends on how fancy a soap you are wanting to make. Let's say I were to make a basic soap using 100% lard, no scent or color. Well at our grocery store here, the lard is $1.45 for a 1 lb brick. Add to that the cost of the lye needed for it (about $0.40), and it'd be $1.85 for this 1 lb batch.

[Darbla]

....add to that your electricity, cost of water and paper towels and whatever else you need to clean up after, etc.

[Sally]

It depends on:

1. Cost of base oils and equipment

2. Whether you have them shipped to you or not

3. How much the fragrance costs. I use fragrances that are $13.95 to $85 a pound, that all gets factored in.

4. You also want to factor in your time making soap, most people don't pay themselves what they are worth.

Here is a simple cost calculator. I know there are others but I can't find them right now;)

http://www.saratogascents.com/cost_calculator.html

OOO this is just what I'm needing, thank you for posting the link.

Now I've looked at the Soapmakers site I'm even more impressed.

I think I will be getting this for the future.

Sally.:highfive:

[anabanana's candles]

I just got on soapmaker and you all are awesome. Always the best tips. It is just what I was looking for. Thanks