Cloth Wet Wipes, for Clean Butts.

I've recently had a couple of people suggest that I start blogging. Well what they don't know is that I sort of half heartedly tried that already. The results were less than awesome (although meaningful to me as they recorded the journey of my pregnancy and the birth of my first child). So here I am trying again. I can't tell you how flattered and humbled I am that people actually think the things I do are worth reading about, or even more shocking; worth emulating. This time around I plan to write about things other than (but not excluding!) making and having babies. Things like cooking and sewing and crafting. I have tons of projects that I've done that would've made cool blog posts, but since I've already finished them and I don't have any photographs of the process I figured my best bet would be to start from today (although I am in the process of writing out Cyan's birth story, so that will be here some day for you to read.)

So I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon cutting out cloth wet wipes, and most of this morning sewing them.

Look at those pretty wipes all ready to be sewn!

Cloth wet wipes, you might ask? What the hell are those? Well exactly what they sound like. Wet wipes, er... made from cloth. Most of you already know that I am frugal (savvy, thrifty, cheap), yeah I said it. I'm CHEAP. I admit it. There is nothing I hate more than spending money on something unnecessarily. Especially something I know I can make myself for less. I'd like to think that makes me "green," but really I know it's just me being cheap.  Why on earth would I continue to buy disposable wet wipes when I can save a fortune and make reusable ones myself?!?  That would be madness! Pure madness!! I digress. When I first started my cloth diapering adventures with baby #1 I was using old fashioned throw away wet wipes. The problem? When I went to go put the poopy diaper into the hamper I had to fish out the dirty wipes and throw them away. GROSS. People always tell me I'm brave for  cloth diapering (all that poop!) but really folks, I don't like touching poop anymore than you do.

At the time I was part of a local group of cloth diapering mamas, and we got together to discuss all things cloth diaper (geeky right??) I know, I know, but really it was the best information exchange a noob like me could have asked for. One of the awesome ladies from the group asked me why I didn't just use cloth wipes (DUH!/lightbulb/forehead slap)? Well obviously. And being the cheapskate crafty person that I am, I immediately went to Walmart in search of fabric (don't judge me! Walmart is cheap, and Goldsboro didn't have many options). I quickly found a bolt of revolting leopard print flannel for $1/yard. Flannel is perfect because it is durable and soft. Leopard print is perfect because who gives a crap? We're wiping poop here. And $1/yard? Hells yes! I quickly whipped up a batch of cloth wipes, and I was (and still am) very happy with the results. No more fishing out wipes! They ALL go into the hamper and the wash together. Booyah!

Old wipes. You know you think the leopard print is fly.

Well this time around, although Weiland is potty training and out of cloth diapers, he hasn't mastered the self butt wipe and needs some ASSistance (haha I've got jokes). So I found that I didn't have enough wipes for both babes. I bought some more flannel ($1/yard!!) and set to work.

They are super easy to make. You just cut out rectangles (or squares, or trapezoids, I don't care, whatever floats your boat), in my case I used a plastic storage container from Target as a template, and sewed two pieces together, zig-zagging around the edges. Easy peasy.

Had to take a feed the baby break when I was SO close to the finish line!

Now what do you use to make them wet and, er... wipey, you might ask? Well that's pretty darn easy too. I just took an aluminum water bottle that I had lying around the house (any bottle would do), and mixed a squirt of baby shampoo, about a tablespoon of olive oil, a few drops of tea tree oil, and warm water. BLAMO! Instant wet wipe solution.

The line up.

You could probably just use warm water and baby shampoo, but you would have to make just enough for one day, because they would start to smell foul after that, and lets face it I'm too lazy efficient for that noise. I like to make the whole batch at once. Who's got time to make fresh wipes each day? Not this girl. So I found adding tea tree oil helps tons. It's naturally anti-bacterial so it keeps away the funk. Plus I like the way it smells. Now your probably wondering why I use olive oil. Well the thing is it lubes up the wipes. Yeah lubes. Baby butt lube if you will (WOW that sounds horrible after writing it...) But really, they wipe better. The oil makes them a little bit slippery and aids in the whole process.

So there you go. Put the wipes in container with a lid, pour the solution over them, and you are good to go my friend.

Hooray for clean butts!

(And before anyone asks: NO, I was not planning for a girl. NO, I do not care that the wipes/container are "girly." NO I do not think that my sons care if the things used to wipe their butts are not "manly," nor do I think they will be scarred for life because of it. If you are worried about that, get a life! These are literally made to get shit on. Who cares!)