about three months ago, we switched to cloth diapers and fell in love.... that started a chain reaction in the way we as a household view our "disposable" lives.
Have you ever thought about it? I know we hadn't until we switched, but practically everything we use is disposable, convenience based, the "easy" way.... but what all are we sacrificing?
we have also changed over to flannel family cloth wipes instead of using toilet paper. A decision which raised many eyebrows amongst our friends and family....
*Cheaper - we bought old flannel sheets from thrift stores to cut into squares, sewn together into "two-ply" cloth wipes
*Softer!!- especially using old flannel so it's already 'broken in'
*Cleaner- tiny crumbly bits of tp left in inconvenient places anyone? *ew*
*Easy use- so easy the 8 year old drama queen can do it!
oh and for what everyone thinks would be the worst part, I wash them every couple of days or so (as needed, when the dirty ones fill up the wet bag) and all I have to do is dump the contents of the bag into my washer. I never touch them until they are clean. So easy!! In fact, my husband has even been known to wash them :-)
We use kitchen towels instead of paper towels too, and are in the process of making mama cloth for menstrual use instead of paper maxi pads. I also use cloth nursing pads which I love alot more than the paper ones I had bought to start with, and they're alot more cost effective too!