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Wellness Mama » Blog » Natural Home » How to Make Natural Disinfecting Wipes for Home Cleaning

How to Make Natural Disinfecting Wipes for Home Cleaning

August 20, 2019 (Updated: May 12, 2020)   —  by Katie WellsMedically reviewed by Dr. Shani Muhammad, MD

How to Make Natural Disinfecting Wipes for Home Cleaning

Reading Time: 4 minThis post contains affiliate links. Click here to read my affiliate policy.

Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Disinfecting Wipes With Essential Oils
  • Soap Is Safer
  • Castile Soap and Vinegar Are Not Friends
  • Alcohol: Not Just for Drinking
  • Natural Disinfecting Wipes Recipe
  • Other Natural Disinfectants to Keep on Hand+−
    • White Vinegar
    • Hydrogen Peroxide
How to make natural disinfecting wipes for the house.
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Those ready-made disinfecting wipes in the plastic containers can be so convenient for sanitizing and eliminating messes. Our family doesn’t use toxic conventional cleaners, and with a large family the cost of natural store-bought cleaners adds up fast. These natural disinfecting wipes are super simple to throw together and are a safe, effective solution to clean surfaces around the home.

Disinfecting Wipes With Essential Oils

Many of my cleaning products (and beauty products) contain essential oils. When used properly, they can be potent germ killers that are still safe to use around little ones. According to my research, all essential oils are anti-microbial to some degree, but lemon and tea tree are particularly effective. Both of these oils have a wide degree of safety for all ages when used as a surface cleanser. When these essential oils are combined, they may provide powerful protection against a wide array of pathogens, including potentially E. coli, MRSA, and salmonella.

Soap Is Safer

The 2013 FDA decision to ban several antibacterial soap ingredients caused quite a stir! Their decision was based on a lack of evidence for the long term safety of these antibacterial substances. In collaboration with the EPA, they also found some potential risks of these chemicals.

The official release also stated that evidence shows that at least for hand washing, plain soap and water is as effective as antibacterial soap when used correctly.

Of course, disinfecting surfaces is important, especially when it comes to surfaces touched by raw meat. Other types of household cleaning also require a little more power than traditional soap and water. Still, to respect the levels of healthy bacteria in our home, I use any disinfectant sparingly.

Castile Soap and Vinegar Are Not Friends

I’m a big believer in the power of vinegar. A lot of cleaning recipes use vinegar as a disinfectant, but vinegar and soap do not mix when it comes to cleaners. Since this recipe for natural disinfecting wipes also uses castile soap to break down greasy residues, vinegar won’t work here. (Lisa Bronner, from the Dr. Bronner soap family, spells out why vinegar and soap don’t work together as a cleaner in this article.)

Alcohol: Not Just for Drinking

Since there’s no vinegar in this recipe, alcohol serves instead as a disinfectant and degreaser. Alcohol evaporates quickly, allowing the cleaning solution to dry fast. (Certain rooms, like bathrooms, benefit from a fast-drying cleaner to help prevent mildew growth due to wet surfaces).

Many people have isopropyl or rubbing alcohol around, but this recipe calls for another kind of alcohol… vodka!

How to Make Natural Disinfecting Wipes for Home Cleaning
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4.41 from 5 votes

Natural Disinfecting Wipes Recipe

Ever since having children, I started making my own homemade baby wipes, so it only made sense to create natural disinfecting wipes for our kitchen as well!
Prep Time 4 minutes
Servings 6 wipes
Author Katie Wells
The ingredient links below are affiliate links. Click here to read my affiliate policy.

Equipment

  • 6 store-bought washcloths (the cheap, thin ones or 12 large t-shirt fabric squares)
  • Glass container with a sealable lid (about a 2-quart capacity)
  • Large mixing bowl

Ingredients

  • ½ cup vodka (NOT rubbing or isopropyl alcohol)
  • 3 TBSP castile soap
  • 1½ cups distilled water
  • 30 drops tea tree essential oil
  • 35 drops lemon essential oil

Instructions

  • In the large bowl mix together the alcohol, soap, water, and essential oils.
  • Place two of the washcloths or fabric squares into the glass container, then pour about 1/3 of the cleaning solution over them.
  • Repeat this process until all of the cloths and solution has been used. (This approach guarantees evenly wet wipes.)
  • Put the lid on the container and move the container around, tipping it upside down and back again to make sure the cloths are fully saturated.

How to Use:

  • Remove a wipe from the container, and wring any excess liquid out over the other wipes. Use it to disinfect and clean surfaces around the house.
  • Since these natural disinfecting wipes are sturdier than the store-bought disposable ones, they hold up to scrubbing surfaces much better.
  • Test any new surfaces in an inconspicuous location if there’s any concern the wipe could damage the material or surface to be cleaned.

Notes

  • To wash: Launder with other kitchen towels. I always keep a small laundry basket on hand in my pantry for towels and wipes. I wash them together in hot water with a splash of hydrogen peroxide and regular laundry detergent.
  • I am comfortable using these and have never had a problem using natural disinfectants like this. Please note that these are not broad spectrum disinfectants like those used in hospitals and should not be treated as such. This recipe is designed for household use and not as disinfecting wipes for skin.

Other Natural Disinfectants to Keep on Hand

These wipes are my go-to cleaners for most kitchen messes. I also keep white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide on hand for big kitchen messes.

White Vinegar

Vinegar is used in food preservation for a reason: it inhibits bacterial growth. It isn’t technically a disinfectant, but it is an effective degreaser that has some antibacterial power too. I keep a bottle of white vinegar in a spray bottle in our kitchen for use on sticky messes, grease, and sometimes as a first pass on raw meat before using these wipes.

Hydrogen Peroxide

Another natural disinfectant that I keep in the kitchen is hydrogen peroxide. I add a spray bottle top to a regular hydrogen peroxide bottle and use this to disinfect cutting boards and raw meat dishes before washing them regularly. We use food-grade hydrogen peroxide to keep our pool clean without chlorine too! Now that I keep this 35% food grade peroxide on hand, I can make a stronger concentration for use in the kitchen. Just make sure to always store hydrogen peroxide in a dark-colored opaque bottle to keep it from breaking down in light.

This article was medically reviewed by Dr. Shani Muhammad, MD, board certified in family medicine and has been practicing for over ten years. As always, this is not personal medical advice and we recommend that you talk with your doctor or work with a doctor at SteadyMD.

What are your favorite natural cleaning tips? Are natural disinfectants part of your routine? Let me know!

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Category: Natural HomeReviewer: Dr. Shani Muhammad, MD

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About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder and CEO of Wellness Mama and Co-Founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a wife and mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

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Reader Interactions

Discussion (71 Comments)

  1. Claire

    April 29, 2020 at 10:31 AM

    Thanks so much for sharing this, but please make sure your readers are aware of the need to be extremely cautious with essential oils around pets. Tea tree oil, for example, is highly toxic to cats, and they don’t even have to ingest it to be poisoned by it. Thank you!

    Reply
  2. Ginny

    April 18, 2020 at 2:57 PM

    Hello Katie how long can you use the disinfecting solution before you should make a new one?

    Reply
  3. jean

    March 28, 2020 at 10:46 AM

    Can I use gin instead of vodka? I have that already and not interested in drinking it.

    Reply
    • Katie Wells

      April 8, 2020 at 9:53 AM

      I don’t think gin is strong enough and might leave a residue…

      Reply
  4. Kirstin Swenson

    February 12, 2020 at 7:08 PM

    Why castile soap instead of sals suds?

    Reply
  5. Jessica

    January 19, 2020 at 1:54 AM

    Can this same mix be used in a bottle as a disinfectant spray?

    Reply
  6. Luisa Murcia

    October 9, 2019 at 12:44 PM

    Hi Katie, I love all your recipes but some of them call for tea tree EO and I’m allergic to it. (inflamed, red, itchy hands allergic). What could I use instead? Or do I just increase the lemon EO? Thank you!!!

    Reply
    • Katie Wells

      October 22, 2019 at 9:39 PM

      Lavender works in its palce

      Reply
  7. K. A.

    September 2, 2019 at 5:59 PM

    Hi Katie. I love using this recipe as a kitchen cleaning spray. It smells good and does a great job cleaning. So I now use it in the bathrooms too! However, to make the spray more economical, can I substitute rubbing alcohol for the vodka? Thank you!

    Reply
  8. Cindy

    August 25, 2019 at 4:03 PM

    Have you tried making any kind of probiotic cleaner? I have purchased Airbiotics, which is very expensive and would love to make my own. Gil Carandang (Unconventional Farmer) has a DIY lactobacillus serum that he recommends for odor reducing – it works pretty well. I hope you or your readers have more and better ideas.

    Reply
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