You won't believe how easy it is to make your own all-purpose cleaning wipes. These all-natural wipes are made with just 4 natural ingredients to create wipes that clean hard surfaces-- keeping your house clean.
Instead of using harsh chemicals, I put these all-purpose wipes to use around my house. They clean hard non-porous surfaces with just a simple wipe down.
Please note: Despite the URL, these wipes are NOT effective disinfectant wipes. According to research and studies, rubbing alcohol can be used as a hard surface disinfectant. While not as powerful as hospital-grade cleaners, it is said to be effective at germs. But that is using rubbing alcohol alone, not diluting with water, as this method for making wipes do.
I am known to be a bit of a clean freak--like constantly wiping down my house.
And while there are a lot of really great all-purpose wipes out there, I prefer to use as many natural products in my house when possible.
My favorite all-purpose wipe is made with paper towels, liquid soap, and rubbing alcohol.
All Natural Homemade Wipes for Cleaning
Why I do love my homemade cleaning wipes?
- SIMPLE to make
- Free from harsh chemicals
- Frugal, as these homemade disposal wipes are cheaper to make than any wipe you can buy.
How to Make All Purpose WIPES
- Mix together 2 cups warm water, 1 tablespoon liquid soap, 1 cup rubbing alcohol together--you must use at least 70% rubbing alcohol (90% is better)
- Place paper towels in a container that just fits them. I use a large glass cylinder container that was made to store food, but you could tear off the paper towels and place them in a large rectangular container. You just want the container to not leave much space around the paper towels, so they absorb the liquid.
- Pour liquid over paper towels.
- Now the cardboard tube is easy to pull out.
- And you can easily pull paper towels out one at a time!
A Few Notes on these Homemade Wipes:
- These are NOT meant to replace disinfecting products. I can not speak to the effectiveness of these wipes against any bacterias, viruses, or spores. I just use them as one method to help keep my house clean.
- If you can't find a large glass container to hold a whole roll of paper towels, tear the roll into individual sheets and roll up lengthwise and place in a 2 quart glass ball jar or lay flat in plastic container. You can even rinse out an old Clorox wipes container or baby wipes container to use.
- I love to add in essential oils to give these wipes a natural scent. You can add in 10 drops of any essential oil you like. I personally prefer lemon, for a fresh scent.
- Do not use these wipes on human skin or as baby wipes.
- If you omit the dish soap, these wipes are safe to use on granite counter tops, as alcohol is safe on granite according to Granite Gold. You can still use them with the soap on granite, but would need to rinse off and buff dry, as the soap can leave a residue on the granite over time.
Directions For Homemade All Purpose Wipes
Click on Image for Printable PDF for natural wipe directions.
I can not guarantee the effectiveness of these wipes against germs.
Sarah
This is a great idea! If you wanted to be more environmentally conscious you could cut some cloths into squares and use instead of paper towels! Then just toss them in wash and use again and again!! Win for Planet Earth!
Derek
Do the paper towels 'stand up' well, without easily falling apart?
Kristen Chidsey
Yes they do--but I use heavy duty like Costo or Bounty 🙂
MaryLou Dennis
They say for making do-it-yourself hand sanitizer that the mixture should be 60% alcohol. I see no reason why that percentage shouldn't work for household cleaning. So just upped the amount of alcohol and drop the amount of water until you have 60% alcohol content. Then they should be considered pretty antibacterial.