I love the disinfectant wipes you can buy (Clorox Wipes, Lysol Wipes), but they are expensive and not environmentally friendly.

So, when I am making my own baby wipes and house cleaners, I take the time to make my own disinfectant wipes. They do not use bleach or anything chemical, I simply use a mixture of vinegar, water and essential oils, including tea tree oil which is said to have disinfecting properties. I figure I am paying one-sixteenth or less of the price of one of those tubes of the commercial wipes. They are great for quick wipes, just as you would use the store-bought wipes.

Here's what you will need:

- An empty wipes holder (the tube kind with the flip top), washed out well with soapy water

- A roll of Bounty paper towels

- 1/4 cup water

- 1/2 cup white vinegar

- Tea tree essential oil

- Lemon essential oil

Cut paper towel roll in half (width-wise) with a sharp, non-serrated knife. Carefully remove the cardboard from the middle using your fingers to break it away from the paper towels. Remove the outer half of the roll by using your fingers to break apart one of the paper towels at a perforation and carefully sliding the two parts apart. Now you have two rolls. Save the outer one and you can use it as napkins or on your paper towel holder.

Pour water and vinegar in the holder and add 10 drops of tea tree oil and 6 drops of lemon oil. Mix well.

Put the inner portion of paper towels in the holder. You may have to work it in. Make sure you can get hold of the inner-most paper towel, the one you broke the cardboard away from. This will be the piece that you can thread through the top.

Let the paper towel soak up the mixture and then carefully feed the inner sheet through the top. They will continually feed through this way and will break off at the perforations.

Essential oils can seem expensive, but you are only using them several drops at a time, and the little bottle lasts forever. You are still saving money, and not using harsh chemicals in your home or adding to a landfill.

Every little bit we can do to save money and the environment means something.

Barbara Sims may be reached at wseditor@robinsonnews.com