This is possibly a silly question - but what can be done with the remnants of the small bars of soap that we provide for guests? And don’t anyone dare say that we should use liquid soap instead - my partner won’t have it in the house!
I use them in my part of the house. I do provide liquid soap though so don’t have that many. There are many online articles about the topic. Here is one:
Use them as sachets and place them in the drawers to keep clothes smelling fresh. I grew up putting Maja soap in each corner of drawers.
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What a great idea! - thanks!
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Can you melt them and make new soap?
I just found this on the thrifty fun blog and think it’s a good idea:
“I grate them up in food processor when I have a bunch and use them to make the homemade laundry detergent with borax and washing soda that has been on this site for a long time. I’m sure the recipe is the archives”
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Why out of interest @southendbootboy. Guest far prefer it.
Cut them into small pieces, put them in a jar (to about half full) then top it up with boiling water. You can use the resultant squishy soap for many things.
I have 2 different types of bar soaps. I save them each seperately in zip loc’s when full I drop them off at the homeless shelter and they melt them down into new bars for the homeless they serve.
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My wife hates liquid soap and says the dispensers are unhygienic
I offer both. The dispensers get wiped down with antibacterial wipes between guests, so no, there’s nothing unhygenic about them.
And the remnants get used in my own bathroom.
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I kind of agree with her thinking and I wipe mine down with a bleach cleaner between guests. I also leave a new, small bar of soap for each guest. However I can count on one hand the number of times the bar soap has been used in almost four years. And it is boutique, organic soap. I do think most guests prefer liquid vs bar.
Yes, drop a load in your local fountain on New Year’s Eve, or whenever you feel like a mischievous fourteen year old 
JF
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I have one of these in our personal bathroom and it’s perfect for end pieces of soap.
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That’s the best suggestion we’ve had so far…!
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Ah okay…personally I think solid soap is much more unhygenic as you have multiple hands and their bacteria sharing a single block.
With liquid soap I wiped down the container with anti-bacterial wipes daily when there are guests.
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You know those plastic mesh bags that produce such as ginger or garlic are sometimes sold in? I save them. If you put your soap butts in one and tie it closed, you have a great scrubby to use in the shower. They suds up nicely and help exfoliate.
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We do exactly the same. Our guests like the liquid soap. We don’t offer (or even have) any bar soap.
We buy refills (much bigger size) of the liquid soap, and we reuse the dispenser bottles over and over and over, cleaning as @muddy described, between guests.
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Seriously, there’s no soap that is unhygenic as long as you wash your hands correctly. 15 seconds and don’t forget to scrub around any rings and your thumb - we do hand washing training for new healthcare workers with some stuff that shows what they missed when they washed. People miss their thumbs 90%+ of the time. There is no evidence that bar soap is less hygenic than the squirt pump.
I also assume that guests prefer liquid soap and that is all we provide; however, about 50% of our guests seem to bring their own bar soap as it gunks up the shower caddy and the sides of the sink, so I am not really sure about the preference even. We’ll continue to provide liquid soap as its ultimately more economical. In our own apartment, we prefer bar soap for bathing and face washing but do use liquid soap for handwashing. I’ve never really given it much thought, it’s just how it’s panned-out.
It never ceases to amaze me how germ-worrisome hosts can be. And yet many admit to not wearing gloves when they change bed linens - that is where you should worry about germs. Real germs, meaning body fluids containing blood-borne diseases. Very unlikely to come across those on either type of soap.
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Even the touch less ones?