Homemade Household Wipes
Just a few simple ingredients, plus a little craftiness, and you can have your own natural, healthy, multi-purpose household wipes! The tea tree oil acts as an antiseptic, while the Castile soap will leave everything smelling soapy fresh (honestly, is there anything Castile soap can't do??).
Scroll down for a video to walk you through this step by step!
The best part is - you know exactly what's in them. No scrutinising over a long ingredient list of words you can't pronounce, wondering if this stuff is safe to spread over your entire home. These are safe as you can get, while still giving a thorough clean. Why pay for commercial products with potentially harmful chemicals when such effective ingredients can be found naturally??
However, you will still need to head to the shop to get some super strong paper towel. You really do need to use a very strong towel for this recipe. Go for a brand that spruiks the whole 'works when wet' line - that's what you need! :-)
I've used a plastic container in 'how-to' video - an old food storage container that I'm trying to repurpose while I move our household towards less plastic. If you can do this with a glass container (perhaps with a recycled plastic lid that you can pierce), it's going to be better for both you, and the environment.
Lastly, don't expect these to leave that weird, slightly sticky result on your countertop - I don't know what chemical is used in the supermarket brands to do that, but it's not in these! You'll be left with a squeaky clean, slightly sudsy surface. You can easily go over with a clean cloth to finish - a small price to pay, if you ask me!
If you find your wipes dry out before you've had a chance to use them all up, just pour a little more water over the roll to bring them back to life :-)
What You'll Need
Equipment
- Container, with a lid you can pierce
- Pen
- Sharp stanley knife
- One roll of strong paper towel
- Bread knife
- Bowl
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup filtered water
- 3 tbs Castile soup (Dr Bronner's brand is great, and any scent will work fine - pick your favourite!)
- 3 tbs white vinegar
- 1 tbs baking soda
- 5-10 drops good quality tea tree oil (undiluted)
Method
- Mark a small dot around the centre of your container lid, and carefully cut an 'X' shape. This is for your wipes to pull through.
- Using a bread knife, slice through the paper towel so you have two even halves (or adjust to the size of your container). Remove the inner cardboard roll of one half, and pull up the inside piece of paper towel so it's ready to pull through your container lid. Place in the container.
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until well combined.
- Pour mixture over the paper towel. Pull through the prepared piece of towel from the centre of the roll up through the 'X' on the container lid, and then place the lid on the container.