Little Green Project . . . Homemade Boogie Wipes

Apparently I'm doing a monthly post about "being green" . . . and technically this wasn't one of my "top 10" because I just came up with it today, but it's my blog, I don't have to follow my rules!

Awhile back I was sent some sample packs of Boogie Wipes. I kind of rolled my eyes at the idea . . . and tossed the individually wrapped wipes into my diaper bag. And at least one of them has managed to move through the various diaper bags, and now purses, ever since. But I'd never actually USED any of them.

So fast forward to this weekend. Little Bit had (has) a runny nose. I don't carry baby wipes (cloth or disposable) anymore since Little Bit is potty trained. This winter I had a small bag of cloth wipes that I kept with me because of runny noses and such, but now it's summer, so I took that out. . . And of course, didn't think to put it back in when Little Bit got sick. So, I got to church and realized that I had nothing to wipe her nose. No biggy, stop by the bathroom, grab a piece of toilet paper, keep it with me. Which worked great until it somehow slipped behind me on the pew, and suddenly she's in desperate need of a nose-wiping and I can't find my "tissue". So I remembered that boogie wipe in my bag (and because I transfer the essentials to a different bag (full of quiet toys) for church, I even knew where it was), grabbed it, unwrapped it, and used it instead of the piece of toilet paper for the rest of church.  And it was kind of nice.  . . other than the fake grape scent (ick! but there are other options). It was damp, and soft, and really big. Which was nice since I was using it throughout the rest of church, but seemed like a total waste if used as intended, to wipe a child's nose ONE TIME . . .  The other thing I didn't like was, while I like the individual wrapping as a way to carry one with me for "emergencies", it's not the most convenient way to grab one when you need one RIGHT NOW! . . .

So I started thinking . . . and re-read abit about the concept . . . the whole, saline thing and such . . . and you know, it makes sense . . . except for them being huge, that still doesn't make sense to me. . . afterall, this past winter I became a "neti pot" convert, but can't very well do that for my two year old. . . and wiping with a saline wipe isn't going to do the same thing as nasal cleansing, but still . . .

And then yesterday I cleaned out the back of the minivan (you may remember, I cleaned the passenger compartment last week, but didn't have time to clean out the back). And one of the things that I brought in was a wet bag that I use for cloth wipes when I have a child in diapers. It happened to be one of these. Which, while they're not sold as a wipes bag, I found ideal because they're the right size, and have 2 compartments.  So anyway . . . I'd had it in my "emergency cloth diapering kit" I kept in the car, but obviously that's not needed any more.

So as  I was getting ready to go grocery shopping today, I actually DID remember that I needed something for Little Bit's still-runny nose. And I noticed that wet bag. And I thought about the Boogie Wipes. And I had a brilliant idea!! I grabbed a small stack of my cloth wipes, a cereal bowl, and sea salt.  Filled the bowl with hot water (because salt dissolves better in hot water, doesn't it? I don't know for sure. . . ), added some salt, stirred it around, and then tossed the pile of wipes in the bowl, squeezed out the excess water, and slipped them in one side of my wet bag. It worked GREAT! I had a soft, soothing, cleansing, cloth on hand whenever Little Bit needed her nose wiped (and then just tossed the used ones in the other side of the wet bag), and no waste, or money spent (except a few cents worth of salt and water).

So, assuming you don't already have the whole cloth diapering set-up (which is another awesome way to go green, and save some green, but there's tons of information out there on that, I'll leave that to the "experts" to write about). Here are things that work well for cloth baby wipes, and cloth "kleenex":

• cut an old t-shirt into squares (if you don't care about looks, no need to hem. I cut up a t-shirt when we were all sick probably 5 years ago, and other than some of them now being so thin they're almost see-thru (it was an OLD t-shirt to begin with), they work fine)
• cut up some flannel or a thin flannel receiving blanket
• Or get cheap baby washcloths from the dollar store, just make sure they're cotton, not a poly-blend)

If you don't have a handy-dandy wet bag like mine, and don't want to spend the money to get one. Two ziplocks would work too. One for the clean, wet cloths and one for the used ones. When you get home just throw the used ones in the laundry and rinse out that ziplock.

And there's my easy, cheap, homemade version of Boogie Wipes.