Make your own DIY disinfecting wipes for a fraction of the cost of Lysol or Clorox wipes using this tutorial using all products from the Dollar Tree!
We’ve all tried to DIY at least one thing we had never DIYed before during quarantine. Banana bread, that painting tutorial from Pinterest, cutting your own bangs. Nothing like a global pandemic to get you crafty yah know.
Ok all joking aside, I know I’m not the only one who struggled to get disinfecting wipes and sprays during these months or quarantine (and sometimes I still can’t always find it!) So I decided to try my hand at making my own and honestly it’s super easy. And, pretty much everything I used is from the Dollar Tree, so it’s super affordable.
What Makes a DIY Disinfecting Wipe Work?
Ok, so first things first let’s talk about WHAT makes DIY disinfecting wipes legit. Like how do you know it’s really disinfecting if it doesn’t say “kills 99.9% of germs and bacteria” on the front, you know? Luckily, the CDC has us covered. They say that using alcohol with at least 70% alcohol content is effective at disinfecting your home and specifically calls that out in a recent Coronavirus fact sheet.
You can use either ethanol (that’s what in the alcohol that you drink) or isopropyl alcohol (that’s what’s commonly called rubbing alcohol). Both ethanol and isopropyl alcohol are effective disinfectants so long as they are at least 70% alcohol.
Isopropyl alcohol: I’ll be using rubbing alcohol, which you can usually find between 70-99% alcohol content.
Ethanol: The kind of alcohol you drink can also work. But, keep in mind ethanol alcohol is measured by the “proof” The proof of the ethanol is double the alcohol percentage. This means 100 proof vodka is only 50% alcohol, so you need something 140 proof or higher. This means that bottle of Tito’s probably isn’t going to work. You’re gonna want to look for a higher proof grain alcohol (usually found near the vodka) such as Everclear or grain alcohol.
Ingredients for DIY Disinfecting Wipes:
- Alcohol of choice – make sure its 70%
- Paper towels
- Dish soap
- Round plastic Tupperware (you can get these at the Dollar Tree)
- Essential oil (this is optional) I’m using lemon and orange which do have some of their own cleaning properties, but I’m using them more to give it a nice smell.
- Measure about 1-¾ cups alcohol (if you got something closer to 90% or higher do 1-½ cups and ¼ cup water to cut it a little)
- Add 3 tablespoons of dish soap, and mix
- Add in about 10 drops of your essential oil now if using.
- Taking the paper towel you’ll cut it in half with a serrated knife and push into the container of your alcohol mixture.
- Close it tight and flip the container upside down to fully saturate the paper towels.
- Open it back up and you’ll see that now wet the inner cardboard tube pulls out super easily.
- Grab the first paper towel from the center of the roll and start using them!
