Anti Clorox Wipes

In a house full of cats and an active toddler around, messes are inevitable. Namely, messes of the bodily function variety.

That’s right. Cat pee and potty training smears.

It happens. Daily. Gross, but it’s kind of a moot point when you’re in love with those little rascals.

So, when we recently ran out of my OCD-ish husband’s favorite clean-up tool, disposable Clorox wipes, I found myself hesitant to buy some more. I knew full well that it was contributing to an eco-hater status, which I cringed over every time we wiped a potty seat. Plus, the nasty chemical makeup of the wipes bummed me out.

Of course, I did what every mother does when faced with a dilemma: I took to Pinterest.

There actually wasn’t as much as I thought I’d find, but I really only needed to find one great pin. And I found an awesome resource for you guys at Live Renewed. You’ve got not one but TWO recipes for a natural disinfectant.

I decided to take her Castile soap (ahem, I hope you all know we mean Dr. Bronner’s when we say that, right?) and tea tree essential oil recipe and run with it, mainly because I had all the ingredients on hand.

Side note: My essential oil experience has been a fun experiment that’s working out quite well so far, and I still haven’t ordered my replacement lemon (and any new ones I’d like to try out, so any suggestions for new “flavors” would be welcome in the comments!), which is why I didn’t try the other recipe. I’m loving the quality and non-pressure system that Native American Nutritionals has in place compared to others.

Anyhoo, back to the wipes. Here’s how I put this shebang together:


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For the reusable wipes, I just cut up a couple of (*cough* too small *cough) soft old T-shirts, which gave me…like…maybe 16-20 wipes per shirt, depending on how big you make your wipes. You can also use old cloth napkins (I cut up a few of those for the days I’m out of T-shirt rags) or your husband’s old boxers or whatever. Just check first. Let’s just say I’m waiting for mine to give up on a couple of crappy white tees to sacrifice for the cause. I’m not sure if color really matters or not; it’s not like I care whether they get stained since they’re rags, but I’ll be sure to update you if the color runs. (That said, if you have something white to cut up or use, um, choose that. Probably best.)

Anti Clorox Wipes - image 44b94-photo2b2 on https://megactsout.com


Here’s the stuff I mixed up. Per her recipe, I used about 10 drops of tea tree oil (which actually SMELLS like it’s disinfecting, I kid you not! Like Lysol, but natural!), two tablespoons of Dr. Bronner’s, and a cup of water. I ended up splashing a little more water in to moisten all the wipes, but I think it’s because I put the solution on the bottom of the container instead of pouring it over the top.

Doubt that this stuff works as well as Clorox? Behold…doesn’t this look all disinfecty? If that were a word, of course…

Anti Clorox Wipes - image 184b6-photo2b3 on https://megactsout.com

Right?? So, I put the solution at the bottom of my empty, de-labeled and washed Clorox container…

Anti Clorox Wipes - image 06786-photo2b1_1 on https://megactsout.com

Sexy. Anyhoo, this is the point that I cut up my reusable wipes. I wadded them together, kind of in a roll, and pulled them up in the middle (I didn’t end up using the old white napkins on the outside since there wasn’t room in the tube)…


Anti Clorox Wipes - image 3ccbe-photo2b4 on https://megactsout.com

Don’t overthink it. Just shove it in and pull in the middle. It works. Okay, this is probably the point I should have poured the solution over everything, but I had already put it in the bottom hoping that it would seep upward. I’m sure it probably would have seeped just fine, but I’m an impatient mama and love to see results. So, I splashed a bit more water on the top and shook the thing. Here’s our final product:


Anti Clorox Wipes - image 7e7e4-photo2b5 on https://megactsout.com

Anti Clorox Wipes - image 8b373-photo2b3_1 on https://megactsout.com

Yup, I grabbed a marker and labeled it with a cheeky description. It also has the recipe in small lettering on the other side, just in case my husband feels like whipping some up next time, or in case my incredibly shoddy memory fails me. Again.

I’m keeping them where we kept our old wipes, under our bathroom sink. It’s where we dump Hadman’s potty and where they get used most frequently. This also happens to be where our laundry hamper lives, so it’s perfect. If I think it’s gross to toss these in with the laundry, I’ll grab our old wet bag from cloth diapering days and keep them in there ’til all the rags and linens need to be washed. No big deal.

Whatchya think? Would you try reusable wipes, or are you addicted to your current method of disinfecting? No judging here.

(By the way, there’s an affiliate link or two included in this post. Just a warning. It won’t blow up your computer, and if you purchase anything off of Amazon after clicking through my links, even if it’s not a product I listed, you’ll be helping to run this here little blog. Which is awesome of you and earns you a gold star for the day.)

Why Would I Want One of Those?

Our house is a step back in time. Our TV is an Admiral. (Dave’s from a long time ago.) No flat-screen. Just a big black box. We keep it prominently displayed just in case someone considers casing the joint. (And when it goes, we have a second just-as-outdated TV waiting in the wings.)

We have a record player (that also plays cassette tapes – I only have one anymore – and radio) in our sun room.

And, in an unfun take on the ever-popular, ever-ruined (in the library world, at least) “Where’s Waldo” books, just try and see what’s missing from our kitchen. Aside from general housewifey cleanliness.

Anti Clorox Wipes - image 95769-kitchenwtext on https://megactsout.com

Yup, no dishwasher.

There are a couple of reasons that we never took that plate plunge.

First, there’s no realistic space for the thing without making the place look seriously effed up. The base cabinet would look all funky near the sink, and there really isn’t the space for it there, anyway. Our kitchen’s a pretty good size (there’s a wall of cabinetry behind where I took the picture and tons of space for a small table/stools and cat food – priorities, people – on the right), but it was built in 1920, so there’s really no non-awkward place for one.

Oh, and for the record, I’m not sure if it’s the more efficient way to wash or not. I should probably search for some ways TO make it more efficient, but the comparisons seem minimal (and, in all honesty, I’m tons faster than Dave at it, so I think it’s a tad more efficient the faster you are; play “beat the water”, it’s fun. *shakes head* It isn’t.). Still, I’ll continue the search. In case you’re wondering, here are a few interesting articles: Treehugger (love them), NPR (love them, too) and GizMag (who?).

Anyhoo, the other big reason is that we really don’t care. We’ve been offered the gift of a dishwasher several times, but we always quickly agree that it wouldn’t be necessary. We really don’t mind washing dishes by hand. And, regardless of what it may sound like, we tend not to have a full sink of dishes always waiting to be washed. (Sometimes a couple of random mugs or a plate and a knife or fork from breakfast. Maybe.)


I know. Crazy, right?

I guess that, since we’ve lived here, we’ve really gotten used to this method. Our apartments didn’t have dishwashers, but we both grew up with them (and I’m assuming Dave didn’t do a lot of kitchen cleaning as a teenager…just a guess; I, however, have done an @$$ ton of it since early childhood), so we know the pros to those magical mystery machines. Really, yes, they’re great. We get it. We do.
But, a dishwasher’s not a necessity. Plus, I’ve come to enjoy dish washing.

Okay, wait. The wording’s wrong there. I’ve come to enjoy not mind dish washing. Using a brush (we used to have one for just the baby’s stuff plus a bottle brush to keep it all “less contaminated” and started using the old baby brush on our stuff…now that he’s allowed to eat dirt and other things I can’t fathom, we’re using the same one), it’s fast and easy, and seeing an empty sink and full dish rack is completely fulfilling.

It also gets me off my @$$. It’s easy to fall into the “sit and stare at the TV” mode after eating, especially a bigger meal like dinner. But, knowing that there’s a pile of dishes waiting in the sink makes me completely unable to relax. No way. So, after the dishes are done, sometimes I ride off the rush of having accomplished at least one tiny bit of housework for the day, using the adrenaline to get something else done…or patting myself on the back and feeling that I’ve deserved some TV/blogging/Ancestry.com/reading/stare-at-my-husband-until-he’s-uncomfortable time.

And what’s better than that? Even when we move one day and, say, the joint doesn’t have a dishwasher…I doubt we’ll jump on the bandwagon.

What about you guys? Who’s a hand washer? Who swears by their dishwasher? Who just makes their kids do it like my mom? I can’t blame her, really. Her parents got an automatic dishwasher after she graduated and got married (which happened practically at the same time), so I think she realized what her value was to the family. 😉

Come to think of it…wait a minute.

Hmm. Hmph.