Homemade Wipes Tutorial

It seems that everywhere I turn on the blogosphere I am running into "tutorials" on how to do things. So, I thought I would post a tutorial that could be helpful for all of my mommy friends.

As most of you know, we use cloth diapers part time for a number of reasons - save the environment, health, and cost. I have a number of friends who have ventured into cloth diapering as well. But, what about wipes? With Katherine I used a bunch of cheap washcloths with plain water and threw them into the wash with the diapers.

For those of you who do not use cloth diapers, I would like to tell you how to make your own wipes. Before you laugh, it also saves money and is better for your kids because it does not have all of the chemicals in store bought wipes. It was funny because I had the directions and wrote "make wipes" on my to do list. After I finally made them, I laughed because it was so easy that there was no need to even add it to a list. Full credit should be given to Janna for this tutorial as she gave me the "recipe". Since she does not have a blog, I will post it.

Homemade Baby Wipes
Needed:
Bounty Paper Towels (I like the "select a size" ones as they are great because each paper towel is about half the size of other brands and a better size for wipes.)
Choose 2 of the following: Baby Lotion, Baby Soap, Baby Oil
Boiling Water
Air tight container with a lid

Take the paper towel roll and cut is across the middle so that you have two short, rounded paper towel rolls. Place one roll inside the container.

Boil the 2 cups of water. While the water is boiling, measure 2 Tablespoons each of 2 of the items listed above and add to the pot. Stir till dissolved.

Then pour the mixture over the top of the paper towel roll in the container. Place the lid on top and let it set for 5 minutes. Make sure the lid is on tight and flip over where the lid is on the counter and let set for 5 minutes. The wipes are ready. Before using, take the brown roll out of the wipes and proceed to use the wipes from the middle of the paper towel roll.

I love that I can use the soap, lotion or oil of my choice so they can be more natural and with a fragrance I like. Also, since it is basically a soapy towel, we use them to wipe hands and faces as well.

As far as cost, the homemade wipes are $.015 per wipe (when you buy paper towels by the case at Amazon). Pampers and Huggies wipes bought in bulk are $.03 each. When you consider the number of wipes that are used of over the course of a baby's diapered time, that can add up to a lot of savings.

This post is a part of Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer. Head over there for more great ideas.

WFMW-Great Music for Toddlers

This year Katherine received some music CD's for Christmas. From Grammy and Grandad she received "Bullfrogs and Butterflies". And from Nana and Pops she received "The Music Machine".
Both of these were personal favorites of mine when I was a child. I remember mom singing the Herbert the Snail song, "Have Patience" when we were not patient many times.

Until I listened to these as an adult, I did not realize how dated these CD's were. Now, I was a child of the 70's and had these as records. In fact, mom still has the records and we have no idea what to do with them in this day and age. The words and spiritual concepts are not dated but the music styles are very 70's. It is really funny. I still love them.

So, I am curious as to what music you like to listen to with your toddler/preschooler. We are interested in both Christian and fun secular CD's. Some of my other favorites are Sandra Boynton's "Philadelphia Chickens", Jack Johnson's Curious George Soundtrack and John Lithgow's "Singin' in the Bathtub".

This post is a part of Shannon's Works for Me Wednesday hosted at Rocks in My Dryer. Go over there to see what works for others and what they need advice on.

How do you manage your toys?

Katherine has a lot of toys. And after Christmas, she has even more. What will it be like when her birthday arrives in 2 months? Really I am not quite as frustrated with the amount of toys as I am in where they are all located - IN OUR DEN! See, we have no game room, play room, etc. Katherine's room is pretty crowded with all of her furniture that there is not really room for a lot of toys in there. I plan to move her to the current guest room sometime this spring in preparation for Squeak's arrival and then there will be more room.

So Internets, I am curious, how do you organize and manage your kids toys? Do you rotate them? Do you have neat little bins? If so, what works for you?

Head on over to Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for more Works for Me Wednesday advice.