Get a free Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap (and tell us how you use it, please!)
Good morning, dear readers!
I'm pleased to say that our chalkboard wall is up and running, which means that tomorrow, I'll get to show you Sonia and Zoe's FINISHED (!!) room.
Schweet.
But for today, I have a special offer from ePantry, just for Frugal Girl readers.
(In case you haven't heard, ePantry is a subscription service that delivers green cleaning products and toiletries right to your front door. With each order, ePantry also saves 25 square feet of rainforest, which is excellent.)
Free Full-Size Dr. Bronner's Liquid Castile Soap (!)
Yup! Here are the details.
For NEW epantry customers, place an order of $20, and you'll get a free, full-size Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap (which normally costs $16.99 at ePantry.)
EXISTING ePantry customers, never fear! You can get a bottle of Dr. Bronner's for 50% off by clicking right here. It'll be added right onto your next shipment.
For ePantry noobs, here's how this'll work.
1) This special, limited-time offer is only available now through August 30th, so sign up with this link.
2) Next, answer a few easy questions about your home, cleaning schedule, and favorite products. ePantry uses your answers to get a feel for what you like & to suggest products for future shipments.
3) Customize your basket!
4) You must be at a final total of $20 to check out. The minimum is for first-time orders only.
5) Once you have filled your basket, click Finish & Pay!
ePantry never locks you into a delivery schedule, and after your first order, there's no order minimum, so you can order as much or as little as you'd like.
You can also choose to order nothing in the future...it's completely up to you.
Also! ePantry has a referral system, so if you send a referral link to a friend or family member, they'll get $10 off their order, AND you'll get a $10 credit. So if you share the ePantry love, you can get yourself some free household goodies.
Is ePantry right for you?
If you love to actually go to a store and shop, you might not like ePantry. Me, though? I haaaate shopping, so I dearly love having household cleaning supplies show up right at my door.
(The other day when Sonia, who loves to shop, saw an ad for some kind of delivery service, she said, "WHO would be lazy enough not to go to the store??" and I was all, "Ummmm, me." Ahem. #homebodyforever)
Also, a lot of the things I order from ePantry are things I buy from a regular grocery store, not from Aldi, so my ePantry order sometimes saves me from having to stop at Aldi plus a regular grocery store.
Even if you do love to shop, though, ePantry might save you money if it keeps you from dropping in at, say, Target, with all of its tempting shiny objects. 😉
If you think it might be a good fit for you, though, it's at least worth placing one order, because you'll get free shipping and your free $16.99 castile soap too.
If you try it and decide it's not for you, you're not under ANY obligation to order anything ever again, so it's pretty risk-free.
How to use liquid castile soap
I'm actually pretty new to liquid castile soap, as I just bought my first bottle this year! And I've only made soft scrub with it so far.
But apparently you can use castile soap for lots of household tasks, as long as you dilute it properly.
(Here's a handy list of ways you can use liquid castile soap.)
I bet that there are a bunch of you out there who are waaaay more experienced castile-users than me, though.
So, tell me! What do you use liquid castile soap for? What works? And what doesn't work?
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New customers: Don't forget to go sign up for ePantry to get your free bottle of Dr. Bronner's.
Existing ePantry customers, get your bottle for 50% off by clicking here!
Disclosure: ePantry links are my affiliate links, which means that when you make a purchase through any of these links, you help keep the lights on around here at no extra cost to you.
Back in the 70's I used Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Oil Soap for a body wash. It was so invigorating! We used to camp at the springs in north Florida and since it was bio-degradable we would use it in the springs 72 degree water. That would wake you up! I saw it a few months ago and, since it brought back memories, I bought a bottle. Liked it as much now as I did back then.
A 72 degree shower would be, uh, invigorating no matter what soap you use!
Do you just put a teeny drop onto your pouf or washcloth?
Yes, just a drop or two on a very wet washcloth. My last body wash had a pump that produced foam so when that was through I washed it out and
poured straight Dr. Bronner's in that bottle. The foam pump might it light and fluffy.
And, yes! The spring water puts a spring in your step! If you ever make it down here again try camping at some of the places around Gainesville. We have a lot of natural springs around here and you can tube down the Ichetucknee River. Great fun!
I use it to make my own foaming soap! A few drops, my favorite essentail oils, and fill up the dispenser with water and ta-da!! No more buying soap.
Do you add the essential oils just for smell? Does the castile not have enough scent when it's that diluted?
I also use it for foaming hand soap. I add in a couple drops of tea tree oil and lemon oil for antibacterial purposes. We love it!
I used the baby wash for my kids when they were little. Now one of the things I use it for these days is pest control for the woolly adelgid on my Eastern Hemlock trees. I use the peppermint castile soap and dilute it with water and use a spray bottle to spray areas that have the pests (usually on the underside of pine needles). I've been doing this for about five years, and my trees have stayed healthy. I usually only need to use it after milder winters here in Southern New England.
We love Dr. Bronners! It's the only cleanser we bring when we go camping, as it doesn't harm the environment. At home we use it as a body wash, hand soap, and dish soap for hand-washing dishes. Like most people, we started with the peppemint, and now we alternate between lavender (my favorite) and citrus (husband's favorite), occasionally using the unscented baby wash for variety, ha!
what is your recipe for soft scrub?
I got it from an ebook in the big DIY bundle...I'd have to go digging to find it! I believe it was in a book by Stephanie Langford.
We use it instead of bar soap. We all like it waaaay better. Just a couple of drops on a washcloth in the shower, or on your hands at the sink, and you are good to go. Hubby likes the peppermint, but almond is my favorite.
We use it when we go camping, as it's the only thing you can use that doesn't harm the environment. I haven't used it for anything else yet, but I'm looking forward to finding new uses!
I really like the idea of e-pantry, however we live in the city right now and it is really hard to get deliveries (sometimes they get stolen). Maybe when I'm in a different home I'll give it a try!
I'm just not a fan of the philosophies printed on the Dr. Bronner's bottles, so I'll pass on this one 🙂
Looking forward to your room reveal!
Ooo....great point! This triggered my doing some reading on their website, and they will use some of their profits to help fund the legalization of marijuana. No, thank you!!
Reminds me of something I read from a former slave: "WHERE you buy is just as important as WHAT you buy."
I've been using it for years- either lavender or tea tree oil for my face and body. I use the unscented in the bath for the kids. I also use it as hand soap. I use Sal's Suds around the house for washing floors etc.
I find it on sale very reasonably every other month or so in the grocery store and then I stock up. does the trick and it's pure and simple. There's too many scary things in other products- ever since I was diagnosed with melanoma earlier this year I have become super vigilant about what products come in our home.
Hi Kristen! I went over to sign up, but I think I messed something up. Even though I created a new account and am a new customer I was getting the 50% off deal instead of the free bottle. I think it had something to do with me clicking back or refreshing the page. Not sure, but I was about to place my order when I realized that I was not getting the the freebie.
Oh dear. I will email my epantry contact and get her in touch with you so we can get this worked out properly!
Thank you Kristen. They got in contact me with me and had fixed the issue. Unfortunately I have an APO AE mailing address and they won't ship to APOs. Thanks anyway for the opportunity and your help.
Oh, man. But it's good to hear that their customer service was so helpful!
I bought washing soda, and baking soda and bars of Castile soap to make laundry soap. Haven't figured what my itching is telling me I am allergic to, at least I'll have pure laundry soap.
Dr. Bronner's works well as a diluted cleaning spray - particularly for greasy kitchen messes. I love the soft scrub suggestion. I also use it diluted (1/3 soap, 1/3 water) to refill hand soap dispensers; I would suggest adding some essential oil because I don't love the residual smell of peppermint. One of the uses I would caution against is using it to brush your teeth! A bridge too far for me.
Yes. Soap in my mouth is just too off-putting for me to even try!
Has anyone figured out how to use Dr. Bronner's in areas with severely hard water? Something about hard water causes the soap to separate leaving visible drops of oil on the surface of dishwater. I've searched and searched online and haven't been able to find any solutions so I decided that there probably isn't any. Sadly the separation is so bad it leaves dishes with a greasy film so I can't use the soap.
If anyone here lives out west and uses Dr. Bronner's, I would love to know how to use it with hard water.
Frances
Have you tried a citric acid treatment like Lemi-Rinse or Lemi-Shine? It works really well for dishwasher (machines), but I haven't made a solution for hand-washing.
We use Dr. B's soap in our bathrooms. I've repurposed 🙂 Bath & Body Works pump bottles, and refill periodically with Dr. B's soap. The soap has to be mixed with water as it is concentrated so a bottle lasts for quite a while.
I've placed my first order with ePantry. Thanks Kristen for the tip!
Ahhhh!! My epantry order with a full price bottle shipped yesterdaaaaaaay. I just use it for foaming hand Soap so a bottle lasts for. Ev. Er. Oh well, I'll find a place to tuck away a halfprice bottle. We don't use oils in ours and it is plenty scented, and soap is the most studied disinfectant on earth. Also if there was one more step to loading the soap bottle it would never get done and that's just gross.
Oh, man! Well, at least now you'll be set with castile soap for somewhere around forever.
I love the soap and use it for almost everything around my house - hand washing laundry for the delicate items, cleaning the floor, dish soap, etc. I figured out that it is camping friendly. I'm not a fan of the overly religious messages on the bottle though. Thank you for sharing the deal!
I am very curious to try this Dr Bronner's castile soap as a read only great stuff about it! I am switching to natural cleaners and would love to try to clean with castile soap! Greets, Janet!