Home Made Baby Wipes

I'm sure that many of you already know this little trick to save some dough with baby costs, but in case you don't, here's a recipe for home-made baby wipes. I first found this when Hunter was a baby by simply googling, "home made baby wipes." This is not a rocket-science recipe, so please excuse the numerous pictures of obviousness I've posted to go along with this. It makes a simpleton like myself feel like I'm one of those savvy, how-to moms on other blogs. Woo woo.

I use paper towels that are stockpiled from sales at CVS or wherever. For you crunchier, greener girls I suppose this solution would work well in an empty wipes container filled with dry wash cloths (folded in half once to fit the container nicely) and then soaked with the solution. You might have to experiment with the amount of solution you make to get the cloths evenly saturated and not totally soaked. You can get a 20 pack of plain white wash cloths from Walmart for, like, $6 or something. I got some when Hunter was a baby and used them to wipe his face at meals and then the floor. They're still going strong with baby #2!

Ingredients:
1 Rubbermaid container
1 roll of paper towels (I think Viva would work best, but I'm still trying to get rid of my coupon-sale Brawny ones. I'm not that crazy about 'em, but they do the job)
2 cups water
2 tbs baby wash
2 tbs baby oil or olive oil
a few drops of essential oil (optional, but highly recommended)
a little bit of plain, white vinegar if your baby has diaper rash

1. Get a container from Walmart that looks like this in the housewares section. 2. Use a knife to cut first a little "x" in the middle, then cut out the "x" to make a little square for the wipes to come out of.3. Cut a paper towel roll with a knife so that it's a little shorter than your container. Do not use a serrated-edge knife. This will make a big mess.

4. Find the edge of the cardboard roll in the center and slowly peel it away from the paper towel part until it comes all out. 5. Pull the paper towels up through the center. 6. Get together some baby oil or olive oil (I use olive oil) & whatever baby liquid soap you have on hand. I use my Huggies free and clear that I got for free from Publix when it was BOGO and I had two BOGO coupons, so I got 4 for FREE! :)
7. Fill a measuring cup with two cups of water.
8. Measure 2 tbs of liquid soap & 2 tbs of oil and pour it in with the 2 cups water in your wipes container. (I mixed it this time in my glass measuring cup. Dumb move, because then I had to take the time to rinse the cup of all the soap and oil out instead of just drying it from the water.)

***You can also add a little vinegar if your baby has diaper rash as this can help neutralize the yeast that causes diaper rash. It works pretty well!***And HERE is where you'd add a couple drops of your favorite essential oil. I recommend something that's a natural antiseptic, like tea tree oil. That's what I use to keep it nice and fresh.
9. Put your paper towel roll in, put the lid on, and wait 15 - 20 minutes for all of the water to soak in. You can turn it upside down after five minutes if you want too. Sometimes it's not necessary. I think it just depends on the absorbency of the paper towel you choose.
10. Pull the paper towels up through the hole in the lid, and...

You're done! I've found that this lasts just about as long as a medium-sized package of wipes and is WAAAY cheaper, especially if you work your coupons and sales to buy the ingredients.

PS -I use the smaller, cut part of the paper towel roll just like I would a regular roll, only I stack two of them on my paper towel stand at once. It works fine and dandy!