A popular Instagram Reel is sharing a cheap and easy way to make your own eco-friendly cleaning wipes.
The hack is illustrated by Instagrammer Jena (@essntialjena), who shares popular eco-friendly and toxic-free DIY videos for home activities.
"This inspires me to clean more during the week," she wrote in the video.
The scoop
This is how the super simple hack works. Fill an airtight container with microfiber cloths. Add one cup of white vinegar and one cup of water, along with some plant-based, non-toxic soap and a few drops of pure essential oils.
Just like that, you have a jar full of reusable, non-toxic wipes anyone in the family can quickly grab to clean up almost any mess.
How it's helping
Reusable wipes can save you money since they don't require you to constantly buy new ones. Plus, this solution is significantly cheaper than constantly buying bottles of cleaning spray and rolls of paper towels.
They are also good for the environment.
Paper towels are immediately thrown out after one use and require constantly producing new ones. In the United States, 2% of the garbage in landfills consists of paper towels.
There are plenty of studies to show that, overall, it is better to reuse towels and textiles, in general, than to recycle them — and it is much better than using disposable paper towels.
The benefits mainly come from avoiding the production of new textiles, which requires a lot of water and energy. Making paper towels means cutting down trees and making parts of the trees into pulp using electricity, which typically requires burning dirty energy sources, like coal and oil, that pollute the air.
Recycling textiles also requires energy, which fills the air with planet-warming gases. And disposed paper towels in landfills release methane, another harmful gas that warms the planet even more.
By purchasing reusable towels and holding onto them for as long as possible, instead of using paper towels that don't last, you are doing a lot of good for the environment.
What everyone's saying
Comments about the eco-friendly hack were positive, though one viewer of the video seemed concerned about one thing when they wrote, "Hi! Great idea but my partner absolutely hates the smell of vinegar. Will there still be a vinegar smell after mixing the mixture?"
Jena reassured them that "the water, soap, and essential oils really mellow out the vinegar smell."
Another commenter wrote, "Lol. I thought the DIY was having the kids do it."
Whether the parents do it or the kids, this hack can benefit everyone.
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