A non-kitchen/kitchen gadget

[eleny]

I knew I had to have one when I first saw the tv ad for Lysol automatic soap dispensers run by battery for home use.

Gunky pump soap dispensers turn me off. We're only two people in this house but they still get nasty so fast. After all, you use them when your hands are dirty or greasy. I'm always scrubbing ours. So when I saw them at my store the other day I bought one. It emits just the right amount of liquid soap and it doesn't drip afterward.

The only thing to remember is to put it a bit off to the side so you don't accidentally cause it to dispense. And pick it up from the top to move it.

I was brought up during the time of Ivory soap on the side of the sink and Sweetheart or Cashmere Bouquet in the tub. So this was definitely an over the top purchase. But I don't regret it. The neatness factor wins out over frugality in this case.

[Lifelong Protester]

1. Cool! I've toyed with the idea myself

although that one looks kind of big. I have a small house and don't like the "crowded" look. How does it fit in your kitchen, as in, do you like it, size-wise, if that doesn't sound like too dumb of a question. I saw one by simplehuman, and really gave it a second look.

BTW, I totally identify with your soap references!!

[eleny]

2. Our rooms aren't really big

The house was built in '48, so you get the idea. I cleared a spot on the bathroom counter and we like it there. Meantime, I'm trying to figure out how to fit it at the kitchen sink so I don't accidentally activate it. It's a crowded area with the coffee pot up there. But I'm determined to figure it out.

Last autumn I injured my wrists and shoulders dealing with all the snow we got. It was even hard to press the soap pump and then wash my hands. I could really have sued one of these as ordinary task twinged badly. Now I'm thinking of an elderly relative who has flare ups of arthritis in the hands to the point where turning on the water at the sink is hard. So I"m going to get them one of these for the bathroom sink. Just a small assist but I wish I had one for the past year as I was healing.

I think there's three different soap fragrances. We got the "Green Tea & Ginger Scent". There's also a "Grapefruit Essence Scent".

[Warpy]

3. I just use the pumps and try to hit them with the cleanest part

of my hand so the scuzz doesn't build up fast. My sink is incredibly cluttered, so I have 3 pumps lined up: Palmolive, Dr. Bronner's and sanitizer. I'm about ready to ditch the sanitizer, I just never use it. I'll replace it with a weak bleach solution in the same bottle with a spray nozzle, all the better for the cutting board.

Hand pumps are such a massive step up from the bar of soap sitting in the line of grey goo that I can't imagine needing anything automatic or powered.

[eleny]

4. I can imagine lots of people who could use these

Arthritics, people who have had strokes and myself who had injured wrists that made small tasks like pressing a pump painful. Having been in the medical profession I bet you would have more ideas on who could benefit.

The only trouble I had was the usual wrestling it out of the sealed plastic!

[Warpy]

5. Arrrgh! Plastic blister packs!

I keep tin snips in the kitchen drawer for those bastards. They're doubly annoying because they rarely have a recycling stamp, something that is necessary to keep the damned things out of the landfill.

I can usually manage the pump with the side of my wrist when my fingers are complaining.

[eleny]

6. Honestly, the sides of my wrists were the worst

Last November and December when my hubby was real ill I got out the roof rake twice to remove heavy snow from our ranch house roof. I know - very unwise especially at my age. It didn't hit me for a while. But around New year's I got into terrible pain. My left wrist is still somewhat swollen on the sides. It got to where I just left a bar of soap in the sink to make the small task a little easier. I couldn't even twist my wrists as usual to wash my hands. I probably could have used my elbows to hit the pump but I longed for something automatic. Now I have it and am loving it.

My aunt has flare ups of fibromyalgia in her arms as well as arthritic hands. So she's getting a little gift bag of the starter Lysol pump with bottle of soap, the assortment of 4 replacement soaps and a package of batteries - all taken out of the plastic. :D

We used some scissors to get it out the other day. But I think that a box cutter with the single edged blade would be easier. "There Oughta be A Law"!

[alfredo]

7. I put cheap shampoo in my dispenser. Works fine.

[pengillian101]

8. Woiuldn't ya know..............

My guy thought that that was the greatest and wasted money.

The plastic is "cutting" edges. I still have a finger scar months later, Don't waste your money!

JLO

[eleny]

9. I don't know what you mean

You don't touch the dispenser to get the soap out. I've already purchased one and it works better than expected.

Maybe you mean the packaging.

[pengillian101]

10. Sorry for my weird reply.

I DID mean the packaging. Those things drive me nuts.

We purchased a different brand of soap dispensers - one for the kitchen and one for the bathroom. They worked like a charm for a month or so. Now I am unhappy with them. They quit dispensing the soap. Changed soaps, changed batteries...nothing.

We have the SoapMagic.



Oh, and the other thing - the cost ended up being $35.








I'm glad you like yours - what brand is it? I'd like to try another brand.

[eleny]

11. Thanks!

Packaging is a scourge these days.

We got the Lysol brand at our local supermarket. So far so good. I expected it to leak on the counter a tiny bit after it dispenses. But it hasn't done that. I'll use it for a couple of months and if it holds up I'll probably get another for the kitchen.

A related story - A friend of my husband retired and works part time with one of his nephews who has a business where he installs soap dispensing machines in commercial locations. I asked about how they worked since I figured they were hard wired to an electrical source. But he said that they were also powered by batteries albeit more powerful than double A's.

:hi: