Ten Great Alternative Uses For Baby Wipes.

 Ask any parent and they'll tell you that babies get into absolutely everything! Due to their inborn inquisitiveness, babies are always pulling things down, spilling things out, or taking things apart. I would experience this phenomena first-hand, one late rainy afternoon in 2005. 

As I went about taking care of my household chores, I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet my usually - I-can't-let-you-out-my-sight-without-suffering-a-very-audible-breakdown - 10 month old daughter was at the time. Not aware of the old parenting rule that states: "if your child is too quiet, they're usually getting into something," I decided to revel in my quiet time.

However, I was in for quite a shock when I went to check on her. To my chagrin, my ten month old was surrounded by a sea of clean, unused baby wipes! She had managed to get hold of a newly refilled container, and proceeded to have a gala time pulling every last one of them out onto the floor.

After excitably explaining to her that baby wipes were not to be played with, I stared in shock at the pile of ruined wipes, fully aware that they could no longer be used for their intended purpose.

Not to be daunted, being the frugal spender and creative thinker that I am, I immediately figured out several alternative uses that would prevent the wipes from going to waste.

Here is a list of my ten tried and tested alternative uses for baby wipes:

1.) With a little Vaseline, use a dry wipe to buff and shine your dress/casual shoes (this technique can be used in bringing new life to your handbags and briefcases as well).

2.) Using a wet baby-wipe, clean and spruce up your synthetic leather footwear.

3.) Baby-wipes are great for dry and wet dusting.

4.) With a little all purpose cleaner (preferably a "green cleaner"), baby-wipes are perfect for cleaning everything from kitchen counter-tops, to tubs and bathroom sinks.

5.) Baby-wipes make great dishcloths for washing dishes.

6.) Using a little liquid dish detergent:

a.) place a wet sudsy wipe in the microwave

b.) let microwave run for a couple of seconds

c.) let wipe cool down

d.) proceed to clean the interior and exterior of the microwave with said wipe

7.) Using a wet baby-wipe, remove crayon marks from walls.

8.) Wet baby-wipes are also great for cleaning up fresh liquid spills from the carpet (if your quick, you can even catch the spill before it leaves a stain).

9.) Use wet baby-wipes to clean the interior of your vehicle (i.e. dashboard, door handles).

10.) To keep your dresser drawers spelling fresh, place a few drops of your favorite essential oil on a dry wipe, and place it in your dresser drawers.

It's amazing the creative and unique ideas you can come up with when you're faced with a minor predicament. Whether we realize it or not, our children can inspire ideas within us, both big and small.