Homemade Wipes (and Liquid Castille Soap)

One of the things we plan to do in childrearing is cloth diapers. In our month of treatment in New Orleans, we're using disposable for simplicity, but once we're home we plan to start using cloth. 

A friend of mine who also uses cloth diapers gave us the idea of using reusable wipes. It sounds a little strange at first, but with cloth diapers you have to do dirty laundry anyway so why not throw wipes into the mix too? Little J's diapers aren't too yucky yet, and the concept is simple enough, we decided to try them right away. (For the record, we do use disposable wipes when we're out and about, but the reusable wipes have been very helpful in our home diaper changes!)

First, I cut up a bunch of old t-shirts to be wipes. We have three sizes: small, medium, and large, for all our wiping needs. 😅 They work great as spit up rags too!

The recipe I found online for wipes suggested soaking the cloths in the cleaning solution so they are ready to go anytime. However, the wipes can smell a little musty if not used quickly enough. My friend suggested putting wipe solution in a spray bottle and wetting wipes as needed. In the end I did both- the majority are dry and we keep a spray bottle next to our diaper changing station, but a few soaked wipes are in a traveling case in the event I do want to use them out and about (with a wet bag in the diaper bag to hold the used ones for eventual washing).

To make the wipe solution you need liquid Castile soap, aloe vera gel, witch hazel, distilled water, and essential oils. Pour them into a spray bottle, shake, and you're good to go!

I decided to make my own liquid Castile soap from a solid bar. This brand is made with olive oil instead of coconut oil. Step one- chop up the soap.

Step two - melt the soap shavings in hot water. Step three- cool, then whisk/blend together for consistency in further uses. I had to skip that step because we don't have the proper tools in our temporary kitchen in New Orleans. The liquid soap was mixed enough to use in the wipes now, but for future uses of the castile soap I'll need to blend it more. 

Here's a picture of our reusable wipe set-up: