From the get-go, we shot for homemade wipies. I mean we had all these old white t-shirts, why not cut them up and reuse them? Why pay for wipes when it took minutes to make them?
Though we aren’t using them in the hotel at the moment, homemade wipies were much easier than anticipated. We threw them in with the cloth diaper buckets and then in with the cloth diaper laundry. For poopy diapers, we used compostable wipes–which I’ll post about next. But for pee diapers and washing of the face and hands, these were perfect and easy to use. We hung them up to dry and dropped the folded tiny cloths in the warm water. Utilizing the entire container within a week, we washed out the container, let it air dry and did it again.
The recipe is in the picture below. I wrote it on the box. When it wears off, I write it again but it’s a memorized formula by now. I’m looking forward to getting back to them!
I found the recipe on Green Anthropology’s blog. That woman has all kinds of great ideas!
In the kitchen, before the move.
What have you found you can make rather than buy?
Couldn’t find any articles about cloth wipes, but I found some on cloth diapers:
- Why I Chose Cloth Diapers for my lil’ ones (picklesandpansies.wordpress.com)
- Cloth diapering Eww! Or Oooh! ? (jackscrunchymama.wordpress.com)
- The Fluffy Butt Journey (and no, this is not about my own fluffy butt, but thanks) (thewellnesschallenge.ca)
Attempting zero waste lifestyle in a military household 
Much thicker and nicer than the ones that fall apart mid wipe I am sure! That Baby is one lucky girl!
You rock, Jennifer! And thanks for taking up my blogging slackage. So very busy here.
I used to make my own wipes as well, only I used a half-roll of paper-towels — before I was Trash Nazi. This is such an easy thing to do! The beauty of homemade wipes is that you KNOW what’s going into them (especially if your baby has sensitive skin) and wash-up is a cinch.
For particularly nasty poopie diapers, I used dry toilet tissue to remove the “bulk” flush the whole mess into the commode. Then my wipes (which cleaned better than store-bought ones) finished the job up nicely. And what a fresh-smelling baby bootie. 🙂
Once baby begins eating a solid diet, be careful about putting poo into garden compost. e-Coli in the human gut (as with other carnivores, ominvores) is not present in poo from ruminant animals, typically used to amend compost. Not safe for amending edibles.
Michelle Woods—yes ma’am. And so darn easy to make. I wonder how much money we’re saving….LOL!
@Shannon—I’m stuck in this hotel room. I had all these written posts I’d never published from up to two years ago. I don’t know why I didn’t publish them. I think the most fun was just writing them. So I used the little schedule widget thing and started scheduling them to clean out my draft folder. Once they’re all gone, I might give up the blogging. We’ll see how busy things get with the unpacking + baby. I think when the blogging slows, it means life is going on. I like that.
It made me laugh when you wrote baby bootie. My husband was reading it to me and I said, “She did not say that.” He said, “Yes, she did!” 😀
Don’t worry, no poop goes in the compost. When it says compostable wipes I have faith they compost in the landfill, not in our garden compost. But now that you say that, I wonder if they really do compost….
And maybe we’ll just do what you did with the toilet paper and use the homemade wipes for left over poop as well. Sounds like a pretty darn good system! Thanks for the help!! 🙂
We just use printed washcloths on my sons bum (Plain washcloths in the bath) with foaming bum spray. I find it easier to throw the cloth diapers and washcloths in the diaper pail for laundering rather than wipes in the garbage. And I agree it was a huge cost savings.
You will note that none of this involves a whole lot of labour. It just requires one of us to remember to do it. That’s the only real added effort that cloth diapering requires, in my opinion: remembering.
@Luz—so easy to just throw it in with the cloth diapers. We’re back in the house now and it is so much easier! Thanks for reading!
@ Milagros—I totally agree with you! I have to keep on it when they get low so we don’t run out. My husband is great about it all!