I do something almost every other day but never really gave much thought into how much it saved me exactly. All I know is that it not only saves me but I also like what it is.
With so many little ones in diapers we go through a ton of wipies each day. No matter how many coupons I use it still seemed like a ton of money and to top it all off 4 of my little ones have such sensitive skin that no matter what wipe I used it seemed to always not set too well with their skin. So a friend from church told me I should make my own wipies and I decided to give it a try. I realized it was saving me money and I could use the wipies to not only clean tushies but it also worked well for a quick wet bath for when we were out and in desperate need of a bath but no where close to have one.
Tonight as I made this batch of wipies I decided to try and figure out how much each wipe cost me versus the store brand and Huggies brand. Below are the items I need to make my wipes. I use baby wash, baby oil, water, and Bounty paper towels. I do not use any alcohol as that is what irritates my little ones' skin. The big white container with the blue lid is where I keep my mixture in and the clear container on top is my wipie box. I use the select a size Bounty paper towels because they are the perfect size for a wipie; and I use Bounty because they are a paper towel that truly does hold up and does not leave little white pieces on the little ones' tushie.
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With so many little ones in diapers we go through a ton of wipies each day. No matter how many coupons I use it still seemed like a ton of money and to top it all off 4 of my little ones have such sensitive skin that no matter what wipe I used it seemed to always not set too well with their skin. So a friend from church told me I should make my own wipies and I decided to give it a try. I realized it was saving me money and I could use the wipies to not only clean tushies but it also worked well for a quick wet bath for when we were out and in desperate need of a bath but no where close to have one.
Tonight as I made this batch of wipies I decided to try and figure out how much each wipe cost me versus the store brand and Huggies brand. Below are the items I need to make my wipes. I use baby wash, baby oil, water, and Bounty paper towels. I do not use any alcohol as that is what irritates my little ones' skin. The big white container with the blue lid is where I keep my mixture in and the clear container on top is my wipie box. I use the select a size Bounty paper towels because they are the perfect size for a wipie; and I use Bounty because they are a paper towel that truly does hold up and does not leave little white pieces on the little ones' tushie.
Let me give you the recipe for a batch of solution for my wipies:
2/3 cup of baby wash
2/3 cup of baby oil
1 gal of water
That is all!! Now this does make a huge batch of solution which is why I have that big bowl. I then take apart the paper towels as you see in the picture. Then I fold them over in half one at a time (you don't have to do one at a time but I don't like to waste several wipies when I only need say just one). I begin to stack them into the clear container and every so often I will use my measuring cup I keep in the bowl to pour some solution on the towels. Don't worry if you pour too much as you can just add more paper towels. I do that until my wipie box is full. I can't tell you exactly how much of the solution to use per box of wipies as it depends on how big your box is and how much you put in the box. I like to push my wipies down as I pour solution on so that I can get quite a bit of wipies in it. The solution lasts me about 15 loads of wipes. Now how many wipies is a load? Well I use one roll of Bounty 2-ply which equals 193 wipies so that batch of solution will make approximately 2,895 wipies. Give or take.
Now for the cost of my wipies and the savings. Well the items I have pictured above cost me a total of $15.80. I bought the paper towels at Target using store coupon stacked with manufacture coupon to bring the price to $14 for 15 rolls worth. The baby wash was bought at our grocery store and is their brand. It was on sale for .89 for the bottle as was the baby oil. So, the baby wash will last me approximately 3 batches worth; the baby oil about 4 batches worth, and the paper towels one batch worth. Now I am NO economics major (truth is I took so much of economics in college I left more confused than enlightened) but I do know this is some serious savings! Here is how I tried to figure my costs per wipie:
1 GAL OF WATER= FREE
2/3 CUP BABY WASH= .03cents
2/3 CUP OF BABY OIL = .02 cents
1 ROLL OF PAPER TOWELS = .93 cents
TOTAL COST FOR ONE LOAD OF WIPIES = .98cents
DIVIDE THAT AMOUNT BY THE NUMBER OF WIPIES MADE OF 193
BRINGS THE TOTAL APPROXIMATE COST PER WIPIE TO....
1 CENT or .01 or 1/100th of a dollar
I think that often the store brand is a good deal versus the name brands but often the quality is not great but what is most important to me is the fact that my little ones do not react well to the alcohol because it dries out their skin. Even when I tried the unscented and sensitive wipies the results were still the same. Perhaps to some people it is not worth the time (which really is fast for me now) but because I have been making mine for so long it is not only fast but pretty darn feasible. Your price can even go down if you find better deals on your Bounty paper towels.
If anyone has any other money saving ideas I would love to read them and I am sure others would as well.
4 comments:
we have been using these for quite a while now and they save us a ton of money. I did a post about it on our adaptions blog awhile ago(http://adaptions4kidz.blogspot.com/2012/02/making-your-own-wipes.html . I had just the small batch directions but would love to update it and add your giant batch directions if thats okay. Love your blog.
Actually, your wipies only cost you about a half a cent each!
Shelly, I tried making my own wipes a couple of years ago (right before we left to get Elijah) as my baby's skin was very sensitive (she's since potty trained). I don't remember my exact recipe, but it was done by sawing the roll of paper towels in half and pulling them out of the middle. The problem was it got moldy after a few days. Have you ever had any problems with that? I assume you go through them pretty fast, but just wondering. Thanks for the recipe!
Jill I have never had my wipes mold. I do not even cut the paper towels in half like they say to. If I do not use the select a size ones what I do is unwrap the paper towels one at a time and then use scissors to cut in half. If you use less wipies than only do a small amount at a time. You could even half the solution recipe so yours does not sit around as long.
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