I used these wipes on my youngest when he was in diapers and now both of my kids use these as flushables. They are a little bit of a chore to fold, but I sit down about once a month to do them while I watch a movie and it's definitely worth it. I found the original recipe here (thanks, Trina!). She has great pics so if my post is hard to understand (I plan on taking instructional pictures the next time I make wipes) you ought to pay her blog a visit.For this recipe I have tried using Bounty, Bounty Basics, and Up (the Target brand). Even though the Up brand paper towels seem thicker and softer when they are dry, I actually prefer the Bounty because they seem to hold up better once they're wet. For a little more expense, you could also try Viva brand paper towels - the "Charmin" of paper towels. Obviously, there is no comparison. The most important thing is to use a paper towel that will hold up when it's wet and that comes in a "choose-a-size" that can rip into thirds.
Here is what you'll need:
- paper towels that rip into thirds
- olive oil
- castile soap or natural liquid baby soap
First, tear your paper towels into thirds. Fold and stack them "accordion style" so that when you remove one wipe from your box, the next will pop out. I get my containers out and make my folded stacks of paper towels equal to the height of the box when I am pressing down on the dry wipes.
Next, boil 3/4 - 1 Cup of water (depending on the size of your stack). When the water comes to a boil, add 1 Tbs of olive oil and 1 Tbs soap. Wisk together with a fork before pouring it over your stack of paper towels. I find that a loaf pan works well for a single stack and a 9"x13" pan works well when doing multiple stacks. Allow wipes to cool before putting them in an airtight container. I keep the wipes we use for hands and faces in an old Huggies wipes container and I keep the wipes we use in the bathroom in a Huggies Clean Team wipes container and they both work really well for me.
2 comments:
this is a super cool idea but what would you suggest for those of us who don't have an exsisting container and the folding technique do you need to interlace the top of the last wipe with the bottom of the last or just stack them and they will "pop" up anyway? Could you also add essential oils to this as well for a little bit better smell? Where do you buy castile soap?
You will need some type of container one way or another, unless you want to keep them in a gallon size zip lock. If I didn't already have a container, I would still buy a container of generic wipes and reuse the container. They seem the best suited for these and they usually cost less than $2-$3.
As far as folding goes, you do need to fold them so that they interlace accordion style. I tried folding them seperately into halves instead of accordion style into thirds once and using them was kind of a pain. I think it's worth the extra effort.
You can add essential oils if you'd like. One to three drops should be more than enough and you might not want to add it if your skin is especially sensitive.
You can make your own castile soap or buy it. I've found it cheapest at Target (in the costmetics isle next to the Burt's Bees and other natural cosmetics) and on Amazon.com. I've also found it at the health food store (Good Earth and Sunflower Market) but it tends to be a little more expensive if you buy it from those kinds of places.
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