This Reader Will Never Buy Baby Wipes Again…
Sent from reader, Samantha:
When my first daughter was an infant, she had trouble in the warmer months (aka March through October in KY) with topical yeast infections. Worried for my miserable baby, I took her to the doctor, who promptly prescribed a topical anti-fungal . . . which did not work.
In desperation, I hit the internet for inspiration. I have been making my own baby wipes ever since! After two days of using the homemade wipes, my daughter’s skin issues were nowhere to be found and diaper rash became a thing of the past! Not only that, but they cost significantly less than even store-brand baby wipes and take less than 10 minutes to make!
I now use the wipes for my youngest, who’s still in diapers, but also to remove my makeup, clean dirty hands on the go, you name it! Interested?
My cost breakdown and recipe are below:
Viva Vantage 6-roll pack with 95 sheets per roll goes on sale for $4.99
I get 2 wipes per sheet, so that’s 190 wipes per roll.
190 wipes X 6 = 1140 wipes per 6-roll pack.
$4.99 for 1140 wipes = 0.0044 cents per wipe or about 42 cents per 95-wipe batch.
Coconut oil – I use 2 tablespoons per 95 wipes
You can get a 2-pack of 30-oz jars at Wal-Mart for $9.98
That’s roughly 17 cents per ounce.
An ounce is equal to 2 tablespoons, so that’s 17 cents per 95-wipe batch.
Olive oil – I use 1 tablespoon (1/2 an ounce) per batch
It costs roughly 16 cents per ounce.
That makes it 8 cents per 95-wipe batch.
Dickinson’s alcohol-free witch hazel is about 23 cents per ounce.
I use 1 tablespoon (1/2 an ounce) per 95-wipe batch.
That means it’s roughly 11.5 cents per 95-wipe batch.
Tear-free baby/kids wash/shampoo – I use 1 tablespoon (1/2 an ounce) per batch.
The cheapest I’ve found is about 7 cents per ounce.
That means it’s roughly 3.5 cents per 95-wipe batch.
Total cost of “ingredients” with the half-cents rounded up:
.42+.17+.08+.12+.04 = 83¢ per 95-wipe batch.
One 6-roll pack of Viva Vantage will yield 12 batches. This means that 12 batches (1140 wipes) cost me $9.96 or 0.00874 cents per wipe! onlinepare that to a 1200-wipe pack of Parent’s Choice wipes, which is $20.98 or a little less than 2 cents per wipe! With those, I’d only have to use 50 wipes to spend $1. With mine, I’d have to use over 100 wipes to spend $1! Plus, my kids have never had diaper rash and my 2 girls have been cured of topical yeast infections since I adopted the following recipe.
Items you’ll need:
~Viva Vantage paper towels (Tip: nothing else works as well. I’ve tried!)
~coconut oil
~olive oil
~tear-free wash or shampoo
~alcohol-free witch hazel (Tip: alcohol-free is important here! I reonlinemend Dickinson’s.)
~a measuring cup
~boiling water
~a tablespoon
~a container large enough to fit the width of the paper towel roll into. (Tip: I use a washed-and-dried 30-oz plastic coffee can. It’s the perfect size and shape, and you can keep the lid and close the container to keep the wipes from drying out.)
Directions:
1. Put water on to boil.
2. Cut a Viva Vantage roll in half, resulting in 2 shorter rolls. (Tip: You’ll want to use a serrated knife for this to make it easier on yourself.) Dust off all the resulting little fluffs.
3. When the water is boiling, pour out 1 1/2 cups (12 oz. – for drier wipes) or 2 cups (16 oz. – for wetter wipes) in a measuring cup, then pour the hot water into the container/coffee can.
4. Add two tablespoons of coconut oil to the hot water. Stir until it melts and mixes.
5. Add 1 tablespoon each of the witch hazel, tear-free wash/shampoo, and olive oil. Stir to onlinebine and don’t worry if it gets bubbly.
6. Set your half-roll of paper towels vertically into the mixture. After a couple of minutes, the center cardboard roll will be soggy and you can easily remove it and throw it away.
7. After 15 minutes or so, flip the roll over and put it back inside the container/coffee can so that the liquid distributes evenly.
8. As soon as the liquid is evenly distributed and not too hot to the touch, you can tear off the wipes at the perforations and move them to any container you like. I keep washed-and-reused Cottonelle fresh wipes containers and fold my wipes inside those at home. I throw a plastic zipper bag of wipes into the diaper bag or my purse when I’m going out.
Be warned: What started as a desperate search for something that would help my baby’s topical yeast infection resulted in addictive cost savings!
HAPPY FRIDAY!
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