Excellent! I have used them to calculate cost per gram as well, but since selling isn't a huge focal point for me I rarely bother these days. It's definitely a total must for anybody with a business, though! Knowledge/ math/ spreadsheets are power 😝

Can you share how you use your spreadsheet for cost. I've been told I under charge, but I thought they were good prices 🤔

Thanks!

What I did in the past was make a spreadsheet where one tab was a list of my ingredients with the cost/g (divide price paid by grams received). My formulas would be in another tab, and I could call in the cost per gram value from the other tab and multiply cost per gram by number of grams, and then sum that up and divide by the number of units. Don't forget to take the costs of packaging, labelling, ingredient shipping (to yourself!), insurance, your accountant, and all that into your prices as well-you don't want to end up in a place where your business is costing you money! Best of luck & happy making!

@@HumblebeeAndMe thanks so much, that was a lot but I think I can figure it out... unless you want to make a video😉😉😊

You are so welcome, and YAY! ❤️

HOORAY! This is exactly what I was hoping people would feel/experience when I made this video ❤️ I am so glad you're feeling excited and inspired! ❤️ Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making :)

I'm sure you will! It is so useful and once you've got the hang of it I think you'll be hooked ❤️

Carol Hanson I feel the same way right now lol

Is tgere a way to do this with good old math for those of is that would prefer to do it that way? Please?

Thank you so much! ❤️ The written part of the blog might also help clear things up-some things were easier to communicate in writing! I'm so glad you've been noticing & appreciating all the work I put into my blog 😊 I love to share but it's always nice to know it is well received!

Thank you so much, Kirsten! I'm so stoked you found this helpful ❤️ Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making :)

Right?! Spreadsheets FTW!

Glad it was helpful! ❤️

They are the BEST! The searchable part is amazeballs, too-can't do that with my handwritten notes (which I remember every time I have to search through them LOL).

Glad it was helpful + welcome to the spreadsheet fan club ❤️ Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making :)

Hello, would you mind sharing how to add the overall cost per batch of the formulations please. I'm trying to learn how to do it, yet I'm really bad at math and trying my best to learn spreadsheets.

Hello, may you please share the process on how you do the cost per batch on the formulations. I'm very bad at math, and trying my best to learn the spreadsheet thing. May you please help

@@diagrier9963 I’m not the person you asked, and I’m betting you’ve already sorted it out since yours is an older comment… But I just saw Marie’s response to this question on another comment, and as someone who is really not great at math - I get the struggle - I thought I’d post her reply; Marie suggests: 1. Make a spreadsheet tab where you list all ingredients for a given formula; 2. List the cost per gram for each ingredient by dividing price paid for that ingredient (including tax and shipping to you) by the number of grams purchased; 3. Sum those itemized costs per gram up for the whole recipe and divide that total sum by the total number of units (bottles of lotion or tubs of body butter or whatever) for that formula’s recipe. That gives you your raw materials cost per package for each item you just made, but now you have to… 4. Add in the itemized costs of packaging, labeling, lab testing, ingredient shipping to yourself, insurance, your accountant, other related business expenses like utilities, storage fees, etc., [and, ideally, your hourly wage rate?] - add those costs into your per item pricing and divide it by item, as well. That gives you a starting price point per item. As Marie points out, you don’t want to end up in a situation where your business is costing you money to do or it is not sustainable. All these costs are why many do this as a hobby vs. a business, because the costs involved often can make the per item price too high to justify it. But others can make it work somehow if the passion, drive, and logistics are in place. Good luck! 🍀

I am so thrilled you have found this to be so helpful! Over the past few years I've started doing everything in spreadsheets and I cannot understate how much it has helped me learn and grow as a formulator. Spreadsheets FTW! ❤️

@Brooklyn Turner Hello. I'd like to know how you were able to switch between ounces and grams. When I tried the spreadsheet thing, I had so much trouble with just trying to get the percentage right, even when I had the right percentage there, which is 100%. It would always change to 199.00%. I really felt like crying when I could not get it. Also, the batch amount has thousands and numbers behind the decimals. This makes it confusing for me to find out exactly how many grams in or Oz whichever it shows because I'm not sure. I want to use spreadsheet because I don't like the fact of having thousands of tabs open on my computer. And the fear of losing that data if anything goes wrong with my PC. Yet, I'm getting very frustrated and want to give up2

@@diagrier9963 I understand the confusion. KZfaq tutorials on spreadsheets are super helpful for this. It helps you understand cells and formulas. Make sure also that each column is of the right type of input, percentages, etc.

Woohoo! Spreadsheet buddies!

Woohoo, I'm so thrilled you found it useful! I definitely find it's worth the effort to set up the spreadsheet so it does the bulk of the work :) Happy making!

I bet you'll catch right on in no time and be back at it like a champ 😄

I hope you fall madly in love with them! I bet you'll be a pro in no time 😉

You are so welcome! ❤️

Happy to help, and happy making!

I'm so glad you found this helpful 😄

I'm so glad you found it helpful!

Thank you! I hope you can adopt some of the tips & tricks I've shared into your creative process!

Spreadsheets are amazing! Hopefully you picked up some useful tips 😊

I'm confident you'll get the hang of it! Once you start making and manipulating the spreadsheets yourself I think it will seem much clearer :) Make sure you check out the blog post, too!

Hooray! Don't forget to check out my blog (humblebeeandme.com)-I've been blogging since 2011 while I’ve only been on KZfaq since about 2016, so there is TONS more content on the blog! ❤️

Happy to help! Make sure you check out the partner blog post as well :)

Watch 9:04 :)

Thanks so much, Janice ❤️

I'm so glad you found it useful! Happy formulating 😄

@@HumblebeeAndMe I sat up last night and funnily completed my spreadsheet, from soap formulation to final cost per batch. Thank you again this video was most appreciated

@Roxanne Oliver Hello, how did you learn the cost per batch part? I'm still trying to learn spreadsheets. Praying it's a way to get both formula, percentage, batch size ounces, and/or grams (learning how to switch between), also cost per batch all on one spreadsheet. Please help

❤️

I don't, but Skin Chakra has some great posts on pH! Start with this one: skinchakra.eu/blog/archives/497-How-to-adjust-the-pH-of-your-cosmetic-products.html 😊

Glad it was helpful!

@@HumblebeeAndMe Pls Marie,I will like to know what I can use as a moisturizer while making a Handwash? I pray you reply.

Thanks for watching!

Thank you so much! All the best on your formulation & blogging journey 😊

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks so much for watching!

I'm so glad! Happy making 😊

Thanks for watching!

I'm so glad you found it so helpful ❤️ There's also a free partner blog post linked in the description box if you want a quicker written reference. Happy formulating!

@@HumblebeeAndMe thanks so much

They are SO useful! Hopefully you give 'em a try and fall in love ha.

@@HumblebeeAndMe I'll play with it ☺️

Thanks for watching!

I can't say I do, but I don't really maintain an inventory as I'm pretty haphazard with that sort of thing 😝 I loosely track things on Snupps (www.snupps.com/marierayma) but that's about it ha. Hopefully somebody else will have some more interesting tips for you!

I'm so glad! Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making :)

Thanks for watching!

I recommend checking out my Summer Solstice Body Milk to see how I formulated a low viscosity oil free moisturizer :) Happy making!

I'm so glad!

Thank you so much!

I do have one (search "tooth powder" on the blog) but I can't say I'm a big fan anymore. I'm happy with my Sensodyne these days, and so is my dentist.

Thank you! Good to know!

No, it doesn't-empty spaces are just that-empty-and do not factor in at all. I don't understand the second part of your question? I'd recommend reading the blog post and giving it a try for yourself; I suspect you'll find it makes sense when you do it for yourself!

@@HumblebeeAndMe I did!! And you're completely right!

Check out her most recent video that discusses her course she just designed that helps us formulate without using general recipes and instead custom tailoring our own. It sounds really cool.

50 is 50 of whatever unit you want-50 grams, 50 pounds, 50 barrels. Column A is in whatever unit you decide the 50 (or whatever number) is.

Thanks for watching!

Glad it was helpful!

It works for literally any formula!

I will keep it in mind :)

% are %-the precise unit doesn't matter. Get the formulation into % and then go from there :)

@Humblebee & Me May you please elaborate a bit more on that, as I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what's you meaning of your comment. Thank you 😊

@@diagrier9963 What she is saying is, if you want to make 80 oz and your formula contains Olive Oil at 50%, then you will use 40 oz of olive oil. The issue may be taking a formula that only gives ounces or grams and changing it into percents. I guess we can all say we wished we had paid more attention in math class. 😁

Hey Janet! I'm afraid I'm genuinely not sure what exactly you're having trouble with 🤔 Do you have a friend or family member with more Excel experience that you might be able to ask? It would be much easier to troubleshoot if the person could see/use your computer :) Best of luck!

I didn't give up. I am doing better. Thanks for responding. @@HumblebeeAndMe

It sounds like a "1" in the sheet isn't a %, so it's being read as 100%. Double check all the "1" values to ensure they are formatted as percentages. Good luck!

I've never offered such a spreadsheet.

It's because surfactants can vary in strength a lot, so by calculating the ASM you are comparing apples to apples, as it were :)

Nice of you to want to share. I’m not sure the best way to post it, but maybe you could make a Reddit post in the DIY formulators subreddits?

@@_Ag- Thanks for the suggestion. Sorry it took a while to make this answer. I ended up deciding to practically redo the entire original spreadsheet, so now it barely resembles the original whatsoever. In comparison, the original one seems so incredibly rudimentary now - though I thank the OP for giving me a direction to go in the first place, many years ago. But it took some more focused learning of LibreOffice Calc to try and get it to where it is now. What is currently in it, is what I wanted to do for quite a long while but wasn't sure how I wanted to do it. I'm still not sure, but it is what it is so far. However, I'm still working on identifying and fixing any new bugs that have been introduced by my recent major rework. The current incarnation of the spreadsheet now allows for making up to 4 adjustments to an already made lip balm (or any product, I imagine). It has spaces to enter in the current weights after you empty the contents of the current container(s) into a tared measuring beaker - and then add new ingredients to it, all while accounting for the percentages and amounts of what was remaining when you decided to remelt the previous experiment (EDIT: AND the previous experiment, AND the previous experiment, AND the previous experiment). Yes, I really *REALLY* like this part! 😁 I just hope it's working correctly. ^^ *I believe such a feature as this might be desired by many, since I've certainly desperately craved for it for WAY MORE than a good long while myself. 😊* The selling portions are entirely removed now. The only remaining cost info is the dynamically allocated cost of *ALL* the added ingredients themselves... I took out all the cost items related to the tubes and labels and whatnot. I'll have to try and find that formulating subreddit forum soon, especially if they allow for uploading a spreadsheet file! I feel that this spreadsheet could greatly help out other new formulators (ESPECIALLY the multi-adjustment parts that I've been working on lately!!!), and I'd love to pay it forward.

@@enigmaticmf Ooh, sounds amazing! Sounds like your persistence and focus definitely paid off! 👏 I’d love to have something like that at my disposal. Very kind of you to want to pay it forward!

I decided to put it on a Google Drive. I'm just putting my version up, as it's far more advanced at this point. My brain has turned to mush trying to keep everything working throughout all my changes. There are now 9 Adjustment columns! 😁 Link: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VdI2uQM-krLWtPqxw8QS1lXsd6z8fdT3?usp=sharing I hope enough people might see this and try it out. Later I might try finding that forum.. Does Reddit tend to be the active forum for this sort of thing? Or are there other popular forums as well? I just hope everything is working correctly. It seems to be.

@@_Ag- In case you only have mention notifications on... The spreadsheet is pretty much ready for prime time I think, after discovering a fairly hefty bug last night. :) If you can, let me know how intuitive it might be. I've been working on it for so long now, I'm afraid I would have lost touch with any ease-of-use issues that others might have with it. After all, I had never intended on releasing it - until I finally cracked into one way of doing adjustments. I could always add more instructions to the 'readme' file for any areas that might not be clear. Link is in the other post.

Have you read the blog post? :)

I can't help with so little information about what you are doing-have you read the blog post to see the formulations written out?

You'll have to convert it into weights first; I've explained how to do that here: How to convert any formulation to %: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qL6HlLeAxLCtkZs.html www.humblebeeandme.com/how-to-scale-any-recipe/ Happy mathing :)

I cannot provide tech support via KZfaq comments-I recommend starting over and reading the partner blog post as well. Good luck!

Check out the video I shared earlier this month on scaling + converting any formulation to % :)

@@HumblebeeAndMe Oh, my gosh! I am sorry I missed that one! For some reason I though this was the same video and passed it by. My apologies and thank you for not making me feel like the idiot I am ;)

It should be =1-(sum(B3:B9)), not *1-(sum(B3:B9)) :)

Yes :) You're making an 8oz batch or a 100g (3.5oz) batch or... whatever size you're making!

Same here! Wanted to check out the blog post but can't. :(

It is fixed now! That was quite the roller coaster of emotions there for a while 😄

same

I'm not sure if you're asking about formulation development, or determining percentages in formulations provided in grams/ounces/etc. If it's the second one, I've covered that here: www.humblebeeandme.com/how-to-scale-any-recipe/ If it's the first one-it's experimentation, taking notes, learning, and trying over and over again. Think of it a bit like cooking without a recipe-how do you know how much onion to use? How do you know which flavours will work together? Experience, experimentation, and time :) Happy making!

Humblebee & Me if it’s the first one....then do you start by using the suggested rates on the individual items ?

I've shared a tutorial on how to convert formulations written in grams/ounces into % here: Video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qL6HlLeAxLCtkZs.html Blog: www.humblebeeandme.com/how-to-scale-any-recipe/ You can obviously skip the step where you have to determine the weights since you have them already :) After that it's a simple bit of addition and then division. Happy math'ing!

Honestly, whatever works for you is the best way :)

Isabel Orozco main difference is the melting point.

@@chrisr9764 thank you Chris

Chris is right-melting point is a big part of it! I find beeswax makes products feel creamier/tackier while candelilla and carnauba waxes create much thinner, glossier feeling products. I've done some experiments with different waxes you can review here: www.humblebeeandme.com/faqs/can-use-_______-wax-instead-wax-called-recipe/ :)

@@HumblebeeAndMe thank you soooo much you are inspiring big time

I had a bit of temporary down time but it's all back now!

There's a recipe in my book :)