That sounds a lot like what I did, only I lived in my little dwelling for 6 years and then "added on". I bought 8 acres of open land in 2003. Built a little 24x24 double car sized box with a 6x6 bathroom in one corner. Shower, no tub. Electric tankless water heater, because I knew I wouldn't be living there the rest of my life and didn't want to waste that electricity keeping water hot in the future. Along that wall, there is a full size washer and dryer, shop sink (deep plastic free standing), full size dishwasher with adjustable top shelf to fit quart jars, Jenn-Aire drop-in cooktop with down draft exhaust vent, and more counter space with a microwave sitting on it. I had a larger toaster oven that replaced the need for a full sized oven. I have a full size refrigerator and an upright freezer (that's in the big house now). The cabinetry is all raw unfinished oak and particle board stuff I got from Lowe's and hung or placed myself. Particle board/formica counter tops. Bought an old chemistry lab drawer cabinet and topped it with more counter top. That's my "island" sitting next to a couple of sets of 6 ft tall, 2'x4' metal frame shelves that separate the "living room" from the "kitchen". Separating the "living room" from the "bedroom" was a rack I built to hang clothes on. There's baseboard heat on 3 walls, and a through the wall AC/Heat combo unit mounted up high on the "living room" side. So half the structure is "wet" (bath/kitchen) and half is "dry" (living/bed). Had a little 13" TV sitting on top of a stereo. Two doors. 8 windows, ceiling fan, electric outlets mounted 4 feet high instead of 18" from the floor. I can actually see the outlets above the couch and not have to crawl around looking for them. Very nice! I hung all the insulation, the paneling (actually outdoor lapboard panels with a woodgrain finish that looks really nice, rustic, cabin type). I hung the cabinets, painted the concrete slab floor, the ceiling, trenched and buried 700 feet of water line, made the connections to the supply and the house, and hired everything else out. It had a 12x24 covered porch on the front, and a 12x24 pad on the back (in hopes of possibly adding a greenhouse type structure in the future (not yet)). Had a septic tank put in that was large enough to compensate for the little house and the future bigger house. Worked out very well! In 2011, I added onto the front of the structure more carport, and a 3000 sqft house and use the original structure now for tool storage and canning. Bought lots of surplus office shelving cheap and use those for storing extra empty jars, full jars, tools, and other junk. Stereo is still there and I crank it up when I'm canning. So these are connected now by 36 feet of covered concrete pad (3 car carport). Metal roof covers everything. Vinyl siding, gutters. Quite happy with it all now. Quite happy I built the little house first. I couldn't afford the full house in 2005. So it all worked out. Built a pole barn in 2010. Nice to park the tractors under. Want to channel the water to tanks to use for irrigation. Have two 40 ft storage containers on either side for dry storage of materials and tools that can stand the heat. Have another one out in the pasture with a bunch of my brother's stuff in it and another couple thousand canning jars. i struck it with someone on Craig's List one time and made an unbelievable deal, so I had to store them somewhere. :-) They keep getting more and more expensive, so maybe one day, I'll start selling some of them off. Lots of older jars that I'd never consider using. Lots I would. Still collecting... :-( :-)

If you check your books it should give the size on a "standard" wooden box soap mold (makes 28 bars, about 3.5 oz, if I remember correctly), maybe something like 12" x 10" x 4". Remember you need something you can comfortably be able to cover for about 24 hrs to insulate it & keep the heat in, & still be able to cut decent sized bars. I think my reciped called for something like 2-3 lbs of vegetable shortening, plus the oil, water, & lye. Then I just added rose fragrance oil at trace, poured & covered, wrapped & let set.(I wanted to peek so badly, but I waited....) Best of luck! Hazel

My main concern with MP soaps is that you don't know what is in it, or what is not in it. Do they still contain all the natural glycerin? That's very important. Do they have chemical hardeners, etc added. Can we just buy regular white unscented grocery store soap and melt it into molds and add colour and scent and call it homemade? We can do that but is it the same? Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with MP soaps. It's not a question of right and wrong or better and worse, it's just that they are two different things and shouldn't be lumped together into "homemade" when the finished product is probably different. Do the customers know the difference whe buying "homemade" soap? Is it labelled MP? I know remaking soap is a lot of work, I've done it many times with my CP/HP! I'd almost rather mix up some CP soap in the blender and aging it than rebatch. If I needed "homemade" soap in a pinch, I think I would buy MP but I would label it MP instead of Homemade. Dollarama used to sell large bars of white unscented goat's milk soap for $1.00. Many times I thought about buying it and melting it down and adding colour and scent but I didn't because it and probably had chemical hardeners cals in it and no glycerine. Commercial soap is very hard on your skin. I guess it comes down to this: Why do we make soap instead of buying it in the first place? I know there are some good MP soap bases out there but you do need to careful about the glycerin content, etc. so the finished product is the same as the customer is expecting. If your repeat customers are thrilled with what you make, then don't worry about it. Sales and happy customers are what determine your success, not what other soap makers think - and that's true of all crafts, art included. A degree in art does not a successful artist make. But that is another discussion...

"Tue, Aug 19, 08 at 16:32 I've just started making soap (more like a mess than anything...) and need tips. Its mostly just MP soap right now, but I plan on making soap from "scratch" once I get the hang of it. Most everything I've made so far is too soft or just plain runny. A couple of my soap-making books suggest using beauty bars and unscented bar soap to make a higher quality product (by adding oils of course). I currently have palm oil, almond oil, coconut oil, a few tiny bottles of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap (base I guess...), and Kirk's Castile soap bars on hand. Recipes are welcome! :) Thanks! " Hi Abby, I have not attempted MP (nor really want to), so keep this in mind; I am coming from purely a "from scratch" experience only. If you are wanting to make your own soap, buy yourself a good quality scale. I use a triple beam scale, but you could get a digital scale that will measure down to the gram or tenth of an ounce, with a tare feature. To me it sounds like your soap has too much added oil in it You said that you are mixing ¾ of a cup of added oils/fats, to 2 cups of already made soap. First of all, measuring by the cup is not accurate for CP soap (MP, I am not sure of remember) Volume by the cup, is very different then by the weight. How much air is in that cup? In order for the oils/fats to be incorporated into the grated soap, would have to be far less than the amount that you have used according to that recipe. Most soap on the shelves, if it is indeed soap, the superfatting (this is what you are really doing, by adding the extra 0oils/fats, is at best around 8% and definately not close to zero at all. (Anything less than zero will burn skin = chemical burn from the sodium hydroxide, and just above zero could irritate) I make CP soap at 3 ½% superfatting, and that is low to most soaperÂs preferences. So, I would guess that the already made soap that you are grating is between, 4 to 9%; then you are adding more oils/fats. The amount that you should consider to add to that may be around 2 to 5%, but this is only a guess because we do not know how much "extra"/superfatting is in the store bought soap. The oily soap that you have made must have far exceeded the 8 or 9% that I have mentioned. This will not harden up for you. That soap is not usable in that state. Salvageable? Probably, but not at this stage of the game. Find yourself a good scale, and a mentor for making your MP soap, even a local hobby shop may be a good start? I hope this helps a bit and have fun with it! I check this forum infrequently but post any more questions; some others may help as well.