This $10 Buy Makes Your Disinfecting Wipes Look Less Clinical and More Chic
I always had and used disinfecting/cleaning wipes*, but 2020 made them an even bigger part of my life. I keep at least one container in my car, there’s one under the sink, there’s more than a few in my closet where I keep cleaning supplies. And, now that I work out at home every day and need to wipe down my bike and yoga mat, I keep a container next to my little exercise alcove (pictured in this post).
*A note on sustainability! For basic cleaning, I prefer compostable wipes. But since Covid, I cannot find compostable wipes, AND they don’t disinfect, so I’m using the less-eco-friendly but safer-in-terms-of-viruses version for the time being. (Also, sometimes the best solution is the one you’ll use, not the one that makes you feel the most virtuous.)
I have this great little spin bike shelf/organizer thing that I got on Etsy (I wrote about it here) and it has a nook that’s perfect for a standard size wipe cylinder (this is what they are called professionally). I am devoted to aesthetics, so I tore off the Clorox label and covered the container in washi tape. This worked well for awhile, the tape would peel up a little bit every now and then, and I was debating covering the whole thing in contact paper to make it more durable. If I hadn’t been slowly meandering through Target one day in order to feel alive and out of the house, I would still be using my washi taped container, and maybe I would have figured out a way to improve it! But I saw a display of the enHome Bioplastics Bathroom Collection and I was immediately intrigued by their wipe container.
Honestly, I debated if I needed the whole collection, but the only thing i would actually use is the wipe dispenser, so I stuck with that. It comes in three colors: White, gray, and blue. The photos on the Target site are atrocious, and they all look blue. Even in the store I couldn’t tell if I would prefer white or gray, so I bought both to see them in my actual home, sans fluorescent lighting, and then decide. I went with “gray,” but honestly both the “white” and “gray” are just varying shades of beige (“stone” or “earthenware” would sound nicer but let’s be real, it’s beige). The blue is the color of hospital supplies that are trying to look high end, but in the right space I’m sure it could work.
It’s simple to use, although I initially assumed you would take the wipes out of their original container and put them in this, which is not the case. You keep your wipes in the Clorox container, but take the lid off, then put that container into the sleek fancy one, pull the wipe through the lid, and put the lid on. So you’ve got a container within a container. This is 1) Super easy to set up, you literally just pull the top off your wipes and drop them in and 2) It keeps the wipes moist. The whole idea of disinfecting wipes is that they stay wet and wipeable, and the second container is more about aesthetics than moisture retention.
I will admit, I never once thought about how this container would fit in my little bike shelf, and I got a little nervous when I realized this new container was larger than what I was used to. But it fits well, AND I can open this new wipe holder without taking the container out of the shelf, which I used to have to do with my other setup. Now I just press the button on the front, pull a wipe or two out (the dispensing action is also much better), and close the lid. I can do it one handed!
These containers are perfect for, well, everywhere. If I used disinfecting wipes all the time, I could easily justify having one of these containers in my kitchen, bathroom, entryway… anywhere. This is made with the larger, 70ish count wipes containers in mind, but I don’t see why you couldn’t fit most sizes in here. It might rattle around but I think it would still dispense just fine. If you want a sleek option for your disinfecting wipes, this $10 solution is your answer.
