While there’s no denying the convenience of store-bought cleaning wipes, they’re far from a perfect solution! That’s what prompted me to come up with a homemade alternative that I’ll share with you today: DIY cleaning wipes.
We’ll start by exploring a few things that give these homemade wipes an edge over the store-bought variety, then we’ll dive into a simple tutorial on how to make them. By the end of this post, you’ll know everything you need to know to make your own reusable cleaning wipes! 🙂
Related: Cleaning Vs. Here’s what you need to know about pesticides
Problems with store-bought disinfectant wipes
1. They create waste
Any type of disposable product creates waste, and wipes are no exception. While disposable wipes may be a smart choice in high-risk environments such as hospitals, they are generally not necessary for cleaning and disinfecting the home.
Related: 11 easy ways to make your paper towels last twice as long
2. It contains 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 a lot Among them, including artificial fragrances, toxins and respiratory irritants.
3. They are expensive
A container of cleaning wipes usually doesn’t last very long, especially if you clean frequently. Even if you’re only paying a few dollars per container, it can add up quickly!
Related: This is a great way to clean and sanitize your hands on the go
The solution? Make your own cleaning wipes!
But you can avoid all those pitfalls 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 how To make them, let’s quickly review what Goes right into them. (If you have trouble finding certain ingredients, I’ve provided a few options in the section below.)
What’s in it? Ingredients for DIY Cleaning Wipes
You only need three ingredients to make your own DIY cleaning and disinfecting wipes:
- rubbing alcohol – Rubbing alcohol is an extremely inexpensive disinfecting agent and is effective against many viruses at concentrations of 70% and above.
- Dish soap – Adding a little Dawn dish soap to your homemade wipes increases their ability to remove sticky dirt.
- Simple clean essential oil blend – Simple clean Makes a great addition to almost any homemade cleaner. It has a fresh, clean scent and gives the wipes another boost in germ-killing power!
How to Make Reusable DIY Cleaning Wipes
Ingredients:
Other Supplies:
Directions:
Add rubbing alcohol, dish soap and essential oil for your jar. Place on the lid and stir or stir gently.
Next, remove the lid and add yours Cloth or rags in a jar. Continue adding more until the cleaning solution has saturated all the cloth, then add one more for good measure.
Replace the lid on the jar, then turn it upside down for a minute or so. And VoilaYour reusable cleaning wipes are ready to use!
How to use your DIY cleaning wipes
You can use your homemade wipes to clean countertops, clean up spills, dust your baseboards, and more. If you are using it to disinfect frequently touched surfaces, first pre-clean the surface with soapy water, then use your cleaning wipes and let the surface air dry.
Collect the dirty/used wipes in a container, then when you’ve used them all, throw them in your washer to clean. Once they are clean, add them to a fresh batch of cleaning solution and use them again!
Be sure to thoroughly clean both the jar in which you store wipes and the container you use to store soiled wipes between uses.
OGT readers love these wipes
I followed Jilly’s “recipe” for DIY cleaning wipes, and I love them. I’m a grandma, and I still had my baby’s cloth diapers! So I cut some of them into rectangles, and they make great wipes. Thanks, Jilly!
Becky F.
Love the product! I use Simple Clean essential oils to make my disinfectant wipes. That’s great!!
Tammy S.
Love the scent. I use this along with Geely’s recipes for foaming hand wash and reusable clean-up wipes. Very happy with Simple Clean and love the scent.
TEDDY B.
Get your supplies here
Reusable DIY Cleaning Wipes
Can’t find cleaning or disinfecting wipes in stores? Not only are it easy to make your own at home, but they’re also cheap, effective, and infinitely reusable!
- 2 Cup rubbing alcohol 70% or more
- 1 tsp Don dish soap
- 20 drops Simple clean essential oil blend Or your favorite essential oil
-
Add rubbing alcohol, dish soap and essential oils to your jar. Place on the lid and stir or stir gently.
-
Next, remove the lid and add your clothes or rags to the jar. Continue adding more until the cleaning solution has saturated all the cloth, then add one more for good measure.
-
Replace the lid on the jar, then turn it upside down for a minute or so.
