How new parents can save money by making diaper wipes
‘œChildren will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them.’ ‘“ Richard L. Evans
Baby Sam is three weeks old today and already it feels like we’ve spent a thousand dollars on formula, diapers, and baby wipes. Jennifer warned awhile back that over the course of a lifetime, it will cost us about a million dollars to raise him. And while, we haven’t been able to go the plastic-free route when it comes to diapers, I’m still looking for ways to reduce costs even if I’m not doing much to reduce his environmental footprint at this stage.
One tip I got from other moms: homemade baby wipes. My sister (who had three kids in diapers at the same time) sent me this economical baby wipe recipe:
Cut a roll of Bounty paper towels (or any ‘œheavy duty’ brand) in half. This will require some muscle or an electric bread knife. Remove the cardboard tube. Place paper towels in a 5-quart container. In a 2-cup measuring cup, mix together 1/8 cup of baby oil and 10 squirts of baby wash. Slowly (the key word is slowly ‘“ otherwise you will have lots of suds) add hot water to make a total of 2 cups. Pour over paper towels. Cover and let stand for at least 10 minutes before using. Store covered so they won’t dry out.
She liked them a lot more than Pampers, Huggies and other store purchased versions and saved money this way. How much money can really be saved? According to this mom who tried it out of budget-necessity, the savings add up:
They are less expensive than store bought wipes, by far! If you buy an 8 pack of Scott paper towels for $5.50, you can make 16 batches of baby wipes. Each batch makes 60 wipes, so that’s 960 wipes for about $5.50.
One tub of Pampers or Huggies Baby Wipes (70 to 80 wipes) will cost about the same amount. Does anyone want to guess how many diapers and baby wipes we’ve used in just three weeks? Believe you me, it feels like we have already filled a corner of the nearest landfill.
Homemade baby wipes are more disposable and supposedly even flushable, whereas store wipes are harder on the environment. Here are a few variations of the recipe that I found online:
And thanks to Mombian for pointing lesbian moms to the recipe that requires power tools:
I think it adds an interesting element of excitement and danger to an otherwise mundane task.
Have any new moms or dads tried making these at home? And is it worth the savings?
Photo credit: stock.xchng.
We use cloth diapers and cloth wipes. We only use wipes (Seventh Generation) when we are out of the house. Since we wash our own diapers, the wipes go into that load so they don’t add anything.
A fabulous mom I know uses soft cloth wipes with tea tree oil. She does a quick rinse at the end of the day and tosses them in her high efficiency washer.
I love this idea – I’m not a parent myself but I would imagine that you also feel better knowing that you have more control over the chemicals that you are using on your baby.
Wow – I never really thought about this before. But since I’m obsessed with hand wipes, I suppose the same recipe could be used for that.
Debra: Bravo for using cloth diapers and wipes. For us, the cloth diaper option seemed too complex so we opted for the easy way out.
Meredith: One of the recipes I linked to mentioned Tea Tree Oil. Here’s the wikipedia entry – since I had never heard of it before.
Bryan: My sister’s kids had sensitive skin and the store bought versions weren’t helping… so you’re right, homemade means you’re very aware of the ingredients.
Serena: Funny… I can’t relate to the obsession since I’ve never really used hand wipes – except when they give them out on planes and in restaurants.