Make Your Own Baby Wipes

When someone first mentioned this to me I thought "that's crazy! what can work like store bought baby wipes??" But, with going down to one income for C's first two years and Baby K coming along and having to go back to work we needed to save some money. So, one day I was out of wipes and I thought, "okay I'll give this a try and maybe I'll save some money. How hard could it be?"

Actually, not hard at all, and it does save you money. I've been doing this for almost a year now and I thought I would share it with you.

There are a ton of "recipes" for home made baby wipes around the internet but, this is the one I use that works for me.

1 jumbo roll Bounty paper towels (these are really thick and won't disintegrate)

1 1/2 cups hot water (if you use a regular size roll of paper towels you'll need less water)

1 Tbs baby wash (I have used Johnson & Johnson and also generic Target brand baby sensitive)

1 Tbs baby oil (whichever you prefer)

You will also need a container to keep them in. I use an old ice cream tub that has a handle on it.

Ingredients

1. Cut your paper towel roll in half and remove cardboard cylinder. You can save one half for your next batch.

2. Heat your water in the microwave for 2 minutes. Place your halved paper towels cut side down in your container.

3. Add baby wash and baby oil to water and stir gently to not create bubbles.

4. Pour mixture over paper towel roll. Put lid on container and flip upside down for 5 minutes to let mixture get all the way through.

5. Use wipes!

Easy! This usually lasts me a week or so depending on how messy the kids' diapers are, if you only have one child in diapers it would probably lasts 2-3 weeks. And you still have the other paper towel half for the next batch. This is also a great idea for babies with skin allergies because you can use whichever baby wash and oils your baby is able to tolerate. And if you're really creative you can decorate the container and give these as a shower gift with the recipe attached.

Kid's Room Clean Up

I was so excited about getting organized I hopped right in with something I've been wanting to do for a while. I forgot to take a before picture so, just pretend that the huge brown bookcase is next to the dresser/changer combo you see in picture 3.

Over the summer my brother-in-law moved in with us to help take care of the kids so that I could work part-time. In order to do this we had to put both kids in one room. It's been driving me crazy to have all the clutter and stuff in that room! The big brown bookcase was full of stuff...

Ugh!

I originally thought the brown bookcase would be great because we use cloth diapers for our daughter and we needed a place to put them along with the disposables we're still using for C. But, it's just so massive it made the room feel smaller and blocked the window. Also, C really likes to rock in the rocking chair that is a family heirloom and he knocks it into the bookcase constantly damaging both.

Once I moved the monster bookcase out of the room, I brought in a shelf unit that we've been dragging around since college. It's sturdy and can take a beating.

I brought in a basket we were using for C's books in the living room cabinet to put all of the cloth diaper stuff in to keep it organized. I also put a lamp on top for our night time book reading. Then I put all of C's books on the shelf below that.

The last thing I did and the only thing I actually bought was to put some baskets on the bottom two shelves to hold toys and small board books.

I love it! It really opens up the room and I can see the window when I walk into the room(the window is to the right of the rocking chair). I love that C no longer climbs on the rocking chair to reach his books too.

Next week's project... figuring out what to do with the monster bookcase.

Diapers.com is Awesome!

With all of the crazy stuff that is going on around here, I've become a big fan of shopping online. Usually, I'll run out to Target or my local Albertson's with my coupons and pick up the 9,000 diapers I need. But, right now we just have so much to do and my pregnant body doesn't really like loading and unloading a toddler in 100 degree weather.

I had heard of Diapers.com before and was sort of skeptical because I'm one of those people that waits until you're using the last diaper out of your diaper bag before you go to the store. I thought I probably wouldn't get my diapers in my time of need! But, if you order before 6 pm about 2 days before you are about to run out of diapers you will be good to go. The diapers ship quickly and you don't have to worry about leaving the house.

I was so excited when I ordered my diapers because I was a first time customer, I got $10 off of my order as well as the coupons for $3 off Huggies that Diapers.com supplied. I also received free shipping because my order was just over $49. It was awesome! On top of that, I went through Ebates.com (which you should also check out) and I received 1% cash back on my purchase. You can get 1-4% cash back from Ebates.com when you shop Diapers.com. One other thing, you can also mail them your manufacturers coupons and they will credit them to you account! How cool is that??

I was so happy with my purchase that I am about to order a few more things for Baby Girl from them during their huge June sale. When you sign up for an account with them you can also get credit for referring other shoppers. Your friends can also save $10 on their first order and they can get $5 towards their second order! And you get credit too! This is definitely something worth checking out. If you're interested in visiting Diapers.com click on the button from my side bar and if you purchase something you can enter my referral code for you $10 off...HAAR6944 is my code, it's also on my button. You can join the referring fun by checking out their Refer-a-Friend Program. Have fun checking out all of their great gear, toys, and fun things for mom!

Disclaimer: I did not receive anything from Diapers.com for this post. I'm just sharing my enthusiasm for a great company!