Home-made Clean-Up Wipes


Peter Fournier and Catherine Fournier

Home-made wipes are really easy to make, they smell so good, work the same as the others, and save both money and time! 128 of them cost less than a dollar. For the baby wipes version of this recipe, you could sesame seed oil instead of baby oil as it's less drying.

Baby Wipes

Here's what you do:

Buy a small or regular sized roll of Quilted Bounty, unless you have a container big enough for the big roll. With a butter knife or handle of a spoon (and this is definitely the hardest part) remove the cardboard core, using the knife to loosen the core from the towels. Slide the core out and discard it.

Cut the roll in half so you have two smaller rolls (looks like two huge rolls of toilet paper). An electric knife does the neatest job, but a regular bread knife will work. Save one half for later and use one for now.

Place the cut roll into a tall plastic container that just fits the roll snugly. Then in a separate container, mix two cups water, 2 T. baby oil, and one T. baby bath (like Baby Magic or any generic baby bath). Mix well and slowly pour all over the paper roll. Place a lid on the container. A loose fitting lid is easiest with baby wipes (when you're working with one hand.) The top will prevent the wipes from drying out. If it gets a little dry, just reconstitute with a little water.

These wipes can then be pulled up and out from the middle of the roll, and since they're perforated, they're really easy to separate when wet. Pull out some extras and store in a zip-lock for your diaper bag, too.

These personal wipes are good for bigger people too!

Clean-Up Wipes

Following the same recipe as above, use cleaning detergent or all-purpose cleaner in place of the baby bath, and eliminate the baby oil all together. Then put the container wherever they are handy for a once a day wipedown of sink and toilet. Just make sure the outside of the container is labeled differently than the baby wipes so they don't get mixed up.

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