Using Cloth Toilet Paper?

During the holidays, Michael and I talked about how to save money. We already felt like we had cut quite a bit of frivolous spending last year: we gave up cable, our family doesn't eat out much and if we do, only half of us go or EVERYONE eats a kids' meal, etc. We have even gone so far as to stop getting half price drinks more than every other week, even though it is only $3. And when we get 20oz sodas for our monthly trip to see Gabe's birth family, we get the generic ones from Walgreens because I can often get 4 20 oz sodas for $1.68. I have cut my coupons for 6 hours every Sunday night, played the grocery game, run to 6 stores every Monday, and built up quite a hoarding of 70% off shampoo, toothpaste and Pam. I won't have to buy contact solution for 3 stinking years.

But we still had to figure out how we could cut our spending even more. HOW? I told Michael I would do anything...make cloth toilet paper and diaper wipes...whatever it takes.

So one night I sat up researching and realized that using cloth toilet paper and wipes is great for a variety of reasons:

1) its more natural on the delicate parts of our bodies

2) it reduces waste considerably and is therefore helpful to the environment

3) it is less expensive

4) its better stewardship all around

5) none of this is time consuming...I am adding maybe 5 minutes extra work to my day if that.
So I researched all about it, and I psyched myself up. Then the next morning I made the announcement to my family that we were going to start using cloth toilet paper. And it went like this:

"No. No. No. ...... No. You can't be.....NO! I won't do it."

"I will buy toilet paper with my allowance."

"I will go to 7/11 to poop if I have to. I am not using cloth toilet paper."

I was very disappointed and hurt, actually. Because the extra work would be MINE...I would be washing the cloth toilet paper, and I felt like if I was willing to do that, people should be willing to wipe their butts on it. But the point was, I soon realized, that they didn't want me to wash their butt wipes....it was embarrassing to them.

But I was determined. I decided that I will use cloth toilet paper if no one else will. And that will at least be a step in the right direction.

So I bought some half-price flannel. I chose fabric that was sort of pretty, soft, and camouflaging, if you will. So I cut them all up.

I also cut up a stack of old flannel receiving blankets and made 24 cloth diaper wipes for the babies.

I sewed them up.



For the babies, I made a diaper wipe solution with some added lavender essential oil, and I loved the smell SO STINKING MUCH, I made some for myself.

I put it in a spray bottle next to my box of dry wipes. I can have dry or wet wipes for myself. I use it just like TP and then put it in a wet bag.



At the end of the day when I wash my toddlers' wipes and diapers, I throw in my cloth TP. I don't sit and examine it. I just dump the contents of the bag into the washer lickety split, so seriously...my family should be doing this, too. Privacy is still maintained. I always wash my diapers twice in scalding hot water and I line dry them in a purifying sun 9 months out of the year, so they could not be more sterile. (PS: Urine is sterile anyway).

I just have to say this: I hope I NEVER go back to paper TP. Seriously. You have to believe me. I've used TP a few times like at church and all I can say is "ouch." This experiment has changed my entire outlook on what is "normal". I am going to raise my toddlers to use cloth wipes, and maybe when they go use the potty at Walmart they will go, "Mommy, what is this awful scratchy stuff?"

I also decided that a HUGE expense in my house is feminine products because we have 3 chicks in the house, and disposable feminine products are very expensive. We spend easily $15-20 a month on products ON SALE! So I ordered the famed Diva Cup. When I received it in the mail, I held it up and said, "You have GOT to be kidding me." Let me tell you. It was more comfortable than a tampon. I never leaked once, and I changed it 2-3 times in 24=hours. I am not kidding. I will never go back to paper tampons. Never.

I also bought 3 of these fuzzi bunz mama pads (mama cloth) because I didn't feel like I could make them myself. With the DIVA cup, I don't even need these. But did try them out and OMGoodness! I will never go back to paper pads. Never. (I also bought a small package of fuzzibunz cloth diaper wipes to use until I made my own. I prefer flannel. Although the fuzzibunz are SUPER soft, they smeared poop more than wiping it off of the toddler bums.)

Do you see a trend here? I'm not trying to save the world, but there IS far less waste in my house. When we use paper diapers, we fill a diaper pail EVERY DAY. That's a trash bag used 31 days a month, plus the stank that it is in it. For my cloth diaper pail, I have had the same trash bag in it for 6+ months. I spray it every night with bleach/water solution as soon as I empty the contents into the washer. I used to buy a box of 700 wipes every 7-10 days, depending on Ella's digestive system (poor thing). That's $35 ish a month from Target for TRASH I am going to just throw away? Now I use the cloth diaper wipes and when I go to spray out my diapers at the toilet right after they shooshoo, I just rinse off the wipes, too, and throw them in the bucket. I wear rubber gloves and its all very sanitary. The sprayer washes the poop off so no dunking in the potty.

So the point of sharing everything you ever wanted to know about my poop, pee, and menstruation: consider switching to cloth family wipes, even if just for urination. You will thank me if you switch to the Diva cup and/0r fuzzy cloth mama pads. And my goodness, the homemade diaper wipe solution with lavender essential oil makes me AND the toddlers happy every time I wipe their little butts. I use them on them at night for their "spit baths" if we don't do a bath and it smells so calming and relaxing. Mmmmmmmm!