I love the Honest Company’s baby wipes. They are, most importantly to me, not made with toxic chemicals or parabens, which sadly many commercial wipes contain. They are infused with plant extracts and contain no harmful synthetic fragrance. They are also nice and thick, so they do a good job of wiping baby bums clean. On top of that, the Honest Company claims that their wipes are biodegradable, so that makes me feel slightly less guilty about my family’s carbon footprint (but only a smidgen).
That being said, the cost of wiping two adorable baby bums really adds up and I wanted to find an alternative that was still safe and natural but that could also save some money. I first tried an option I found on various blogs that involved taking a paper towel roll and cutting (it was more like sawing) it in half with a serrated knife and then pouring a wipe solution over one of the halves and creating wipes that way. This was a disappointment for multiple reasons.
First of all, I need things to be quick and simple; cutting paper towel rolls in half really is not an activity I’d like to add to my already long list of things to do. Second, the wipes didn’t work all that well. They ended up being really thin (even though I bought a more absorbent brand of paper towels) and, call me picky, but I need a strong, thick barrier between my hand and poop!
I ended up finding a great solution for me that meets my criteria (safe, 09natural, saves money, quick, simple, strong, and thick) and is more environmentally friendly: cloth wipes. I didn’t think cloth wipes would be a good option for me because it sounded like too much work, but it turns out that they can be really easy to do! See below for exactly how I make my cloth wipes.
Simple Cloth Wipes
Wipes Material
Let’s start with the material for the wipes. I have seen many people blog about making their own cloth wipes by cutting up and sewing old receiving blankets. This option wasn’t appealing to me because I don’t sew much and as I said, I wanted to keep it really quick and simple. I had already been using some great little baby washcloths by Spa silk that are soft and thin, but sturdy, for wiping the girls’ faces after mealtimes or for bath time, so I decided to order some more of those for my wipes, but in a different color to keep the “bum wipes” separate from the “face and bath wipes.”
They also have washcloths in what could be considered more traditional boyish colors and prints here. I also like these washcloths because they come in a pack of 10 for a decent price. I ordered 2 packs, and, voila! I had my wipes material all ready to go – no sewing required :). I find that 20 wipes last me about two days for two babies. The one thing I did do which required a small amount of cutting was that I decided to cut the tags off of each wipe because I decided that I didn’t want those hanging out and getting in the way when using them. Finally, fold the wipes lengthwise and put them in a stack.
Wipes Container
The next thing I did was find a wipes container. I know some people use old wipes containers from store-bought wipes, but since the Honest Company wipes come in soft, flexible packages, that wasn’t a good option for me. After doing a lot of research, I decided on the OXO Tot PerfectPull Wipes Dispenser with Weighted Plate. I wanted to make sure that only one wipe would come up at a time, and
I wanted the wipes to be easy to get out (I do not want to add any complications when dealing with a squirmy baby and a messy diaper!). This wipes dispenser has not disappointed. The lid opens easily by just gently pushing down with one finger. The weighted plate that comes with it really does work to make it easy to pull just one wipeout at a time, and there is a clear window that you can look through to see how low you are getting in wipes. You can put the folded stack of wipes in the wipes container and get ready for the final step.
