Homemade Baby Wipes

Some could accuse me of being cheap. I hope frugal is more accurate, but there's a fine line that I haven't quite been able to clearly distinguish. So I'm a little of both. Hopefully penny-wise but not pound-foolish, as they say. When it comes to disposable diapers, for instance, I figure why spend your hard-earned dollars on something if the purpose is simply for the baby to poop in it before we throw it away? So I gravitate to the least expensive generic brand. Same thing goes for wipes. I like those thick, soft, cloth-like wipes that smell like baby lotion just as much as the next hip-momma, but let's face it: I'm using it to wipe off poop, not give myself a 2-minute spa treatment. So a few years ago, before Julien was even born, some gals at my church were giving out this recipe for homemade baby wipes, and I committed it to memory. When my boys were both in diapers, we made our own baby wipes, and we're still making babies, er, I mean baby wipes. I always gladly share this recipe with anyone who's not too proud to carry around homemade wipes in their designer diaper bags.

HOMEMADE BABY WIPES

Supplies you will need:

• 1 roll of Bounty paper towels
• 1 serrated knife or hand saw (for cutting rolls in half; I've heard a table saw works beautifully as well, for all you handy-Dads)
• 1 mixing bowl able to hold approx. 3 cups liquid
• 1 whisk or fork to mix (if using baby lotion)
• approx. 1 TBS liquid baby soap OR baby lotion (choose your favorite)
• approx. 1 TBS baby oil
• approx. 1 1/2 to 2 cups water
• Storage container with air-tight lid or gallon-sized zippered storage bags

Directions:

1. Using serrated knife or hand saw, cut Bounty roll into equal halves.

2. In mixing bowl, dump in 1 TBS of your favorite scented (or unscented) baby soap and 1 TBS of baby oil, and whisk together.

3. Carefully add about 1 1/2 cups tepid or warm water, and mix together. (Try to avoid making lots of suds)

4. Place half-roll of Bounty in preferred storage container, and pour liquid mixture over it as well as inside the cardboard tubing. Allow it to absorb all the liquid.

5. Store wipes in air-tight container. Cardboard tubing will soften and can be removed in order to pull wipes from the center or to flatten the roll for easy portability.

6. Voila! You have saved yourself big bucks making your own baby wipes for pennies.

Tips:

• If using baby lotion, whisk with a little water and wait to add oil until the lotion is sufficiently diluted. This avoids yucky clumps.

• Although Bounty paper towels are rather expensive, they don’t fall apart like most other paper towels, so I don’t recommend a substitution. I buy them in bulk when they are on sale and use a coupon!

• Liquid amounts will vary depending on size of paper towel roll and your preference. You really don’t need to measure anything!