Homemade Baby Wipes Tutorial (Easy & Inexpensive!)

As a thrifty stay-at-home mom, I am always looking for creative ways to stretch our dollars.  If you are a mom who has ever purchased baby wipes, you know that without coupons or store deals, they can get pretty pricey!  Not to mention, your child may have a bad reaction to certain brand, so you can't always just grab whatever is least expensive on any given week.  In addition to that, I have heard all kinds of rumors about the additives in commercial baby wipes which makes me very leery to use them on my little one.

I am not an extreme couponer (or really an extreme anything for that matter) and I don't buy newspapers for coupons mostly because I am too cheap and lazy.  But what I do love is online coupons and I use them often!  I currently stumbled upon the Healthy Essentials website which is simple to use and while they offer just a few coupons, they're for great products.  Healthy Essentials is currently offering $1/Johnson's Baby Oil and $1/Johnson's Baby Wash which will cut down the cost of these homemade baby wipes considerably!

With that being said, I stepped out on a branch and decided to make some baby wipes for Miss Presley right here in our house!

Here are the 5 things you will need:

• 1 Paper Towel Roll (You will need an unused roll.  For the purpose of this "recipe" of baby wipes, however, you will only be using half of the roll.)
• 1 Tablespoon of Baby Oil (1 Tablespoon = .5 Ounce)
• 2 Tablespoons of Baby Wash (2 Tablespoons = 1 Ounce)
• 2 cups of Boiled Water (maybe a little bit less water?)
  
• 1 Container (One that is big enough to contain half a roll of your favorite paper towel brand; I used a tupperware-type container from the Dollar Tree which will cost you a whopping $1!  Though, I imagine a large Ziploc bag would work as well.)

I started by boiling the two cups of water in order to sterilize the water.  (You could also use distilled water from the store.)  While the water was heating up, gather your supplies! 

*Side note:  If you use boiled water, you want to wait for it to COOL DOWN all the way before pouring it on the paper towel roll!*

I got one of the largest knives in my knife block and started cutting the paper towel roll in half.  At first I used a bread knife but that made a complete mess - so I started using our santoku/chef knife and that worked much better.

This is the result of cutting the paper towel roll in half - not anything too difficult!

Next, you are going to carefully pull the cardboard roll away and out of the roll of paper towels.  Again, this is easy-peasy.  Afterwards, set the roll down into your container (I faced the side I just cut downward) and begin mixing your ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.

And let me just tell you, this smells MAGICAL!
It is honestly that sweet baby smell that is incredibly infectious.

Finally, pour the solution all over the roll of paper towels - don't be shy! - make sure you pour the solution over the entire roll. 

Once the solution was added, I put the lid on my container and let it sit for about 10-20 minutes.  Then I flipped the container upside down and let it sit for another 10-20 minutes so the solution could settle in all over the roll.  And voila, you've got some fantastic smelling, homemade baby wipes!


Here is the price breakdown:

• 2 cups of water: FREE!  (If you use your at home tap water & boil it beforehand.)
• Bounty Paper Towel 3 Pack of 103 - 2 ply sheets: paid $4.99
  =$.83/half roll, which is what I used for this "recipe"
• 20 oz. Equate Baby Oil: paid $2.47
  =$.06/tablespoon, which is the amount I used for this "recipe"
• 28 oz. Johnson's Baby Wash: paid $3.97 (orig. $4.97 before $1 coupon found here)
  =$.14/ounce, which is the amount I used for this "recipe"

Total Spent: $1.05 for 103 baby wipes!
*compare to $2.37 for a 64 ct. of commercial wipes online
 

My purpose for sharing this is to simply encourage all parents out there that if you have been considering making your own wipes, that it is very doable!  It's very cost-effective (especially considering that most parents have these few items on hand) and doesn't take any time at all to put together.  So don't be intimidated because if I can do it, so can you!  As we start putting these wipes to good use, I will make sure to update on how the review of how we like the wipes as well as our favorite paper towel brands to use!

If you enjoy Chasing Moonlight & Roses, LIKE us on Facebook or vote for us at Top Baby Blogs!