Part 3: Hidden Costs

It's really easy to get caught up in the fun of making these awesome products, but it is also important to get organized and keep track of everything you've purchased. I have a few recommendations below for methods that I've used in the past to keep organized.


1.  Set up a spreadsheet of ingredients and costs. This will be useful for determining a price for the soaps. 

             - Time spent researching soap making. You may not want to include this in your prices initially 
                since you can spend a ton of hours researching.
             - Computer/printing costs  (Keep track of paper, print cartridges and anything else you use to 
                make labels, tags, business cards, brochures.)

Melt and pour soap   Nature's Garden

Colorant

Lavender buds

             - Material costs:

                        a. soap
                        b. colorant
                        c. scent
                        d. additives
           
             - Labor: how much do you think your labor and time are worth?  Don't undersell yourself!
               - Travel Expenses: gas, vehicle costs. You can track your mileage and take the expenses 
                off your taxes. 
              - Obtain a tax exempt form and use to obtain tax exempt status for purchases. 


2. Create labels and price tags for soaps

              a. You will need sticker paper for labels which are to stick on an item. 

Amazon

              b. For price tags I use regular cardstock. 
              c. A software program. I use Swift Publisher 3. It allows me to move items all over the place, 
                  to change colors, crop, fancy cropping, etc. 

3. Create brochures. 
              a. You can purchase nice brochure paper or
              b. Use regular cardstock. It is good to start out with cheap cardstock in case you have 
                  problems lining things up. My printer is really annoying in printing things the way I 
                  want them to be. 
.