A New Project...

(Special thanks to Stephanie for inspiring this one.)


As if we didn't have enough to do already, Casey and I began making baby wipes today! Yes, folks - homemade baby wipes.

We took a roll of Viva paper towels, cut it in half (to make two toilet-paper sized rolls), removed the cardboard middle (by just fiddling around with our fingers for a minute), and then inserted one half-roll into a Tupperware container with two cups water and one tablespoon each of baby wash and baby oil.

It was as simple as can be, and is great for many reasons!

1) Cost - When looking at bulk packaging only and forgetting about sales or coupons, you can get 576 Huggies wipes (refill pack) for approximately the same price as an 8-pack of Viva Big Rolls - $14.99.

My Big Rolls have 110 sheets each (though new packaging has 115 sheets each), which means that we get 1,760 baby wipes versus the 576 in the Huggies package.

Drum roll, please - the Viva wipes cost me less than a penny each ($0.0085) and the Huggies wipes cost almost three pennies each ($0.026). That may seem like chump change to most, but in today's economy, my bringing home no paycheck right now, and Casey using up to 20 wipes a day (or more!), we're looking at a yearly savings of about $130 (or basically like getting more than 10 free packs of diapers)!

2) Environment - If you want to choose paper towels that are more earth-friendly (like chlorine-free ones) and make your wipes that way, you're free to do so - and you'll still be saving money over chlorine-free baby wipes!

3) Health - By making my own wipes, I can ensure that what's going on Casey's bottom is exactly what I want there. I can use organic, perfume-free, all-natural, you-name-it baby wash and baby oil. (And if I want to, I could add a drop of an essential oil with a wonderful aroma for a sweet smelling baby bottom!)

The set of wipes we made today is round, as in the picture above. But if you have a wipes container for on-the-go or even one built-in to your Pack 'N' Play like we do, you can simply unroll the paper towels (without ripping them apart) and fold them back-and-forth. This is exactly how the Huggies wipes come in the bulk packaging, and the wipes will easily pull one-by-one from your container.

So, moms and dads out there, give it a try - it's fun!