While there’s no denying the convenience of store-bought cleaning wipes, they’re far from a perfect solution! That’s what motivated me to come up with the homemade alternative I’ll be sharing with you today: DIY cleaning wipes.
We’ll start by exploring some of the things that give these homemade wipes an edge over the store-bought variety, then we’ll dive right into the simple tutorial for how to make them. By the end of this post, you’ll know everything you need to know to make (and remake) your own reusable cleaning wipes! 🙂
For more recipes for DIY cleaning products and tips for using them, check out my eBook Cleaning House! You can buy it in my shop, or get it for free if you’re an OGT Plus member!
Related: This Is What You Need To Know About Cleaning Vs. Disinfecting
The Problem(s) With Store-Bought Disinfecting Wipes
1. Create Waste
Any sort of disposable product creates waste, and wipes are no exception. While disposable wipes can be a smart choice in high-risk environments like hospitals, they aren’t typically necessary for home cleaning and disinfecting.
Related: 11 Easy Ways To Make Your Paper Towels Last Twice As Long
2. Contain Harsh Chemicals
You don’t need a laundry list of chemicals to clean surfaces or kill bacteria and viruses. But store-bought wipes feature a lot of them, including synthetic fragrances, toxins, and respiratory irritants.
3. Costly
One container of cleaning wipes doesn’t usually last very long, especially if you clean frequently. Even if you’re paying just a few dollars per container, that can add up fast!
Related: This Is The Best Way To Clean & Sanitize Your Hands On The Go
The Solution: Make Your Own Cleaning Wipes!
But you can avoid all of those drawbacks just by making your own cleaning wipes at home. They’re easy to make, cost-effective, and reusable—what more could you want?
Before we get to the how of making them, let’s quickly review what exactly goes into them. (I’ve provided a few alternatives in the following section just in case you have trouble finding certain ingredients.)
What’s In Them?
You only need three ingredients to make your own DIY cleaning and disinfecting wipes:
- Rubbing Alcohol – Rubbing alcohol is an extremely affordable disinfecting agent and is effective against many viruses at concentrations of 70% and up.
- Dish Soap – Adding a bit of Dawn dish soap to your homemade wipes enhances their ability to cut through greasy messes.
- Simple Clean Essential Oil Blend – Simple Clean makes a great addition to almost any homemade cleaner. It has a fresh, clean scent and it gives the wipes another boost of germ-killing power!
No Rubbing Alcohol? Try These Alternatives
- While rubbing alcohol makes an ideal disinfectant because of how cheap it is, there are other options you can use if you can’t find it:
- Bleach – Add 2 teaspoons of household bleach to 2 cups of water to make a simple yet effective disinfecting solution. (To avoid any potential of creating hazardous fumes, avoid mixing bleach with anything except water.)
- Hydrogen Peroxide – You can use undiluted 3% hydrogen peroxide to disinfect hard surfaces around your home.
- Soap And Water – Good old soap and water will get the job done too! Soap lifts viruses and bacteria from surfaces so you can rinse them away.
How To Make DIY Cleaning Wipes
Ingredients:
2 cups rubbing alcohol, 70% or higher
1 tsp Dawn dish soap
20 drops Simple Clean Essential Oil Blend
Other supplies:
Quart-sized mason jar
Stack of clean cloths or rags
Directions:
Add the rubbing alcohol, dish soap, and essential oils to your jar. Put the lid on and swirl or shake gently to mix.
Next, remove the lid and add your cloths or rags to the jar. Continue adding more until the cleaning solution has saturated all the cloths, then add one more for good measure.
Replace the lid on the jar, then turn it upside-down for a minute or so. And voila, your reusable cleaning wipes are ready to use!
How To Use Them
You can use your homemade wipes to wipe down countertops, clean up spills, dust your baseboards, and more. If you’re using them to disinfect frequently touched surfaces, pre-clean the surface with soapy water first, then use your cleaning wipe and allow the surface to air dry.
Collect the dirty/used wipes in a container, then when you’ve used them all, toss them in your washer to clean them. Once they’re clean, add them to a fresh batch of the cleaning solution and use them again!
Be sure to thoroughly clean both the jar you store the wipes in and the container you use to hold the dirty wipes between uses too.
Have you tried making your own reusable cleaning wipes?
Reusable DIY Cleaning Wipes
Equipment
- Quart Sized Mason Jar
- Several Clean Cloths or Rags
Ingredients
- 2 cup Rubbing Alcohol 70% or higher
- 1 tsp Dawn Dish Soap
- 20 drops Simple Clean Essential Oil Blend Or your favorite essential oil
Instructions
- Add the rubbing alcohol, dish soap, and essential oils to your jar. Put the lid on and swirl or shake gently to mix.
- Next, remove the lid and add your cloths or rags to the jar. Continue adding more until the cleaning solution has saturated all the cloths, then add one more for good measure.
- Replace the lid on the jar, then turn it upside-down for a minute or so.
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