I’ve always been a big fan of disinfecting wipes.  They’re easy to have on hand, easy to store, and make day to day clean ups super easy.  What I’ve never been a fan of, however, is their questionable ingredients, their smell and their unnecessarily hefty price tag.

Since I started making these, I’ve never gone back to store-bought disinfecting wipes.  I love that I bought the ingredients to make these about a year ago and I’m still using the same ones (so cheap!).  I love that I don’t feel bad using them to wipe down the counters we eat on.  I also love that their smell is pleasantly natural (not that over-powering-hospital-smelling one you get from Clorox wipes) and that it takes me about 10 minutes to make a batch that lasts about a month.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups hot water, boiled tap water or distilled
• 2 tablespoons castile soap (I use Kirk’s because we have really hard water)
• 2 tablespoons witch hazel
• 30 drops grapefruit seed extract
• 40 drops tea tree oil
• 20 drops lemon essential oil
• 20 drops grapefruit essential oil

Other things you need:

• 1/2 a paper towel roll (I cut mine in half with a sharp knife, see picture below…you can use a whole roll if it fits inside your container but I found that I don’t go through mine that fast)
• sturdy plastic container with tight-fitting lid (if the lid doesn’t seal tightly, your wipes will dry out quickly)
• mixing bowl

Steps:

1. Boil your 2 cups water and pour into your mixing bowl.

2. Add the castile soap and witch hazel to your mixing bowl and mix.

3. Let mixture come about to room temperature.

4.  Add in the grapefruit seed extract, tea tree oil, lemon essential oil, and grapefruit essential oil and mix well. (Essential oils are heat sensitive so that’s why you wait for the water to be room temperature.)

5. Place your paper towel roll into the container and pour the solution over your paper towels.

6. Then flip it over and let sit for another few minutes.

7. After about 10-15 minutes, your towels should be entirely saturated.

I would highly recommend using a Bounty roll because they are more sturdy.  The towels that I used for this particular batch were a cheap brand and they got all smushed and shriveled.   They still work, for sure, but they just don’t look as nice and, as you would expect from cheaper towel, don’t stand up to vigorous scrubbing as well.

8. Once everything is saturated, remove the lid and take out the cardboard on the inside of the roll.  That will get the roll dispensing for you just like you see in Clorox wipes.

And there you have it! Homemade chemical-free disinfecting wipes you can feel good using in your home!

PS: These are surprisingly effective for cleaning your face with when you’re feeling lazy…and not at all harsh on the skin.

XOXO,