Thrifty Thursdays: Make Your Own Baby Wipes

Weekly Savings: $1.24
Monthly Savings: $4.96
Yearly Savings: $59.50

Last October I got in a "crunchy" mood, and decided to try making my own baby wipes. I just recently sat down and did the math on whether or not it actually saves us money, and was surprised at what I found. Even though I'm not a money-saving genius, I did use the word 'thrifty' in my blog name, so here is a thrifty tip from me to you: try using cloth wipes! Not only are they less expensive than disposables, but they are super cute (since you can choose whatever fabric you want for them -- ours have froggies and duckies and Curious George on them), and they also clean poppy bottoms more effectively than disposables.

There are lots of websites that can tell you how to make your own wipes, if it's something that you want to try. But this post is about the thrifty side of doing it yourself, so without further ado, here is what it cost me to make a bunch of baby wipes:

• 1 yard of flannel (made 65 wipes, approximately 5"x6" each) = $2.99

I already had the thread that I used for zig-zagging the edges, so I didn't include that cost.

The cost for making a batch of cleaning solution is as follows:

• 1 Tbsp. baby shampoo (I use Aveeno or Burt's Bees; 8oz. for ~$5.00 = $0.32/Tbsp.)
• 1 tsp. mineral oil (16oz. for ~$4.00; $0.04/tsp.)
• 2 C. water (negligible)
• a few drops of essential oil for fragrance (negligible)
• Total = $0.36 per batch of cleaning solution

Since I use Nature's Miracle Stain and Odor Solution for both soaking the wipes after use and also in the laundry when I wash them, I am including that in the cost. I use ~1/4C. in the soaking solution and ~1/4 C. in the wash, so that's a total of 1/2 C. per batch of wipes.

• Nature's Miracle Stain and Odor Solution (1 gallon bottle for ~$25.00 = $0.78 per 1/2 C.)

Adding up the cost of the wipes ($2.99), the cleaning solution ($0.36), and the additional soaking/washing cost ($0.78), the initial outlay for the first batch of cloth wipes cost me $4.13 cents. That is a cost of approximately 6 1/2 cents per wipe, which is almost twice as much as I was paying per wipe with the disposable brand that I had been using.

BUT!

Those initial 65 wipes that I made will get us through an entire week. So, let's look at the cost of re-using these wipes for an entire month (four weeks). The cost of the wipes remains the same ($2.99), the cost of the cleaning solution is quadrupled ($1.44), as is the cost of the soaking/washing solution ($3.12). Therefore, the first month of using homemade wipes cost me $7.55, or just under 3 cents per wipe. Already cheaper than buying disposables!

Just for fun, six months of cloth wipes costs me $30.35 (almost 2 cents per wipe), and if I use the same flannel wipes for one year, my total outlay is only $57.71, which is under 2 cents per wipe and just under half of what I would have paid for my old brand of disposable wipes over the course of the same year. And these numbers don't take into account the fact that cloth wipes clean better than disposable wipes, so although I can get away with using only 65 wipes per week with my homemade wipes, I would be using probably 100 or more disposable wipes in the same amount of time.

I am really glad that we switched from disposable to reusable wipes. $60 may not seem like that much money over the course of a year, but that $60.00 could pay for an extra date night with my husband, or 25 movie rentals, or a care package for a relative who lives far away, or... who knows? If I found $60.00 in a jacket pocket I'd be thrilled to pieces, so I think it's a worthwhile amount to shave off of my yearly expenses. :-)