How to Make Homemade Cleaning Wipes

Wipes are pretty useful things. You can use wipes for’almost everything.

But when you think about the cost of cleaning wipes, it’s like you’re throwing away lots of money.

Aside from our previous post on Alternative Uses for Baby Wipesand’Making Home Made Baby Wipes, in this post, we’ll teach you how to make homemade cleaning wipes.

Things you will need:

• Round plastic food storage container with firm fitting lid – at least 1 litre capacity
• Roll of full sized paper towels (choose good quality ones for best results)
• Liquids of your choice (see recipes below)
• A drill to poke a hole through the top of the container or knife to slice an opening.
• A bread knife
• Measuring cups

Steps:

1. Drill a hole in the top of the lid.

2. Place a block of wood underneath the lid to support it (not on your kitchen bench mind you!) and drill a good 1cm hole in the’center. Make sure the hole is nice and clean and doesn’t have any sharp plastic bits on top (use a small piece of sandpaper if it does) otherwise it might tear the paper towel. Another method is just it cut a cross into the middle of the top – be careful!

3.Get you roll of paper towel and cut it into two ‘toilet paper’ sized rolls. Use a bread knife to do this. It will take a minute or two to get through the roll, but try and cut it as neatly as possible.

4. Place one of the halves into the bottom of the container – save the second half for a refill later on.

5. Using a measuring cup, very gently pour the following cleaning solutions over the top of the paper towels. You will usually need about two cups of the solution depending on the thickness and quality of the paper towels you are using.

6. Place the lid on top and leave it to absorb overnight.

7. In the morning, open your container and gently pull out the cardboard middle of the roll.

8. Find the end of the roll in the middle’where you just pulled out the cardboard.

9. Thread it through the hole in the lid and pull gently and you’re’done!

Here are some recipes for cleaning wipes that you can use for your new container:

1. General All-Purpose Cleaning Wipes

• 1.5 cups of white vinegar
• 1.5 cups of water

Mix well and pour into the canister. – Leave overnight before use.

2. Disinfecting Wipes

• 2.5 cups of water
• 1/2 cup Dettol

Gently mix and pour into the’canister. Leave overnight. These wipes are great for toilet seats or disinfecting the cot after it has been painted with poo.

3. Glass Cleaning Wipes

• 1/2 cup Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol (available from chemists)
• 2.5 cups water
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar

Just a few tips: Use only enough solution to moisten the wipes.Keep some in a sealed container. If the wipes dry out a bit – add more solution.

Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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