Green for the Green-Cloth Napkins

As I've mentioned in my other Green for the Green posts, most of the "green" things that happen in this household are all about saving cash. Sometimes it's for moral reasons. Sometimes it's for our health. But nine times out of 10-it's the pennies that I'm trying to pinch. 

Cloth napkins fall squarely into that category. With a little bit of "saving the environment" thrown in there too.

One way I try to save money is to not buy things that are just going to be thrown away. Diapers Wet wipes. Napkins. Paper Towels. A bulk package of paper towels costs $12 at my local Walmart. Twelve bucks! And yeah-it's a lot of paper towels. But it's still too much money. And you can't buy the really cheap ones. No paper towel is better than than a crappy paper towel.

We had a collection of eight store-bought cloth napkins, but when Hannah started eating solids we quickly realized that wouldn't be enough. We had two rolls of paper towels still in the cabinet from our pre-cloth days. (We would use them occasionally to soak up the grease from bacon. We love our bacon.) But we soon found ourselves grabbing for a paper towel to wipe down Hannah's hands and face.

When we ran out of paper towels, I refused to buy more. I'm keeping my twelve bucks and spending it on something better, like more bacon. Thankyouverymuch!

I originally got the idea to start using cloth napkins from this frugal friend. Then I got the idea of making them myself from this crafty gal. And I got the idea to use old t-shirts that were destined for Goodwill from this creative genius.

I just cut up the old t-shirts with pinking sheers (to prevent fray-although jersey doesn't really fray anyway) and threw them in the drawer. And it took me less time than it took Hannah to take a crappy nap!

21 napkins.

0 dollars.

We still have the store bought ones for when company comes over. We're not total cheapos ;)

And you know what? We kinda like our bacon greasy.

Green for the Green-"Family Planning" Edition

I've been meaning to write a post about Natural Family Planning for a loooong time now. This blog can be such a source of motivation and truth if I let it. I admit, I've been too nervous to really dive into the topic.  But this week is NFP Awareness week, so I guess I should finally get to it.

Although NFP is definitely "green"-that's not at all the reason we use it. It's just an added bonus.  Anyone whose remotely aware of current birth control research knows that the pill is linked to breast cancer and so much more. Yuck. With so many risk factors for cancer being unavoidable, it boggles my mind that anyone would ingest a daily pill that puts them so at risk.

Birth control is also poisoning our environment. My hubby, the fish scientist, has read several studies indicating the harmful effects that oral contraception is having on our nation's water supply and its aquatic life. But it's not only the fish that are being affected, this study links birth control to declining fertility in men! Wonderful-so we take a pill to keep us from having children and by the time we're done with it we won't be able to have children!

It doesn't take someone with a degree in medicine or biology to know that the pill is harmful. Just spend five minutes googling-seriously-five minutes. It'll blow your mind.

The Catholic Church's teaching on NFP is so misunderstood. We've all heard the phrase "Keep God out of my bedroom!". But those people forget Who invented sex. Why would we keep the CREATOR of sex completely removed from our bedrooms? Surely God has a plan for sex and that plan is found in the beauty of the Theology of the Body.

If you're totally unaware of what NFP is, here's a great intro written by a fellow blogger.  If you want to learn even more, search for a Creighton Practitioner or a Teaching Couple.

So many have said it better than I can ever say. And I'm overwhelmed by the importance of this post, knowing it might be the first (and only) mention of NFP some people might ever come by. What if I don't say it correctly? What if I come across the wrong way? What if, what if, what if...

What if I never say it? That's the question that should really bother me.

Ted and I use NFP because we trust that God's plans for our family are better than our own.

We use it because we completely respect each other's bodies and would never, ever ask each other to hide, remove, or hinder any part of our God-given fertility.

We use it because the knowledge of a woman's cycle is POWERFUL! Don't believe me? We have NFP to thank for Hannah.

We use it because it demands love, communication, and unity-all things we strive to foster in our marriage.

We use NFP because we value life and would never risk ending the life of a tiny human through the use of contraceptives.

We use it because we obey the teachings of the Church that we have chosen to be a part of. Choosing Catholicism is choosing NFP.*

And yes, we use it because it's green. Freedom from cancer risks, environmental effects, and having to shell out money for that nasty crap are all just one big green bonus to the awesomeness of NFP.

Can it be hard at time? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Without a doubt.

*I should add that Catholic do not HAVE to practice NFP. We are obviously free to throw the charts out the window and just "see what happens". If a couple wishes to avoid a pregnancy for a just reason NFP is the only acceptable way of doing this.

More on Cloth Diapers

I got several questions in the comments section of this post. I thought it would be easier to address them in another post...so this is that post. It'll probably be all over the place.

First-a thank you to these three ladies, without whom cloth diapering would have been a lot scarier.

Sunshine-We started using cloth diapers around two weeks. I didn't want to mess with the meconium and thought it might be a little overwhelming. Plus-we got a box of disposables from our shower so I figured we might as well use them. I would probably do the same with another baby.

Time per week?? That's a tough question because I put them in the wash and then forget about them for 45 minutes. Here is a play by play:

I throw them all in and turn on a cold water rinse cycle and then set a timer for 20 minutes (this takes about two minutes). No sorting-just dump them all in, bag and all. When that's finished, I add detergent and turn on a hot water wash cycle and set a timer for 45 minutes (this takes one minute). Then I do one more cold water rinse (less than a minute). If you had a washer with fancier settings-it would be much easier. Then I throw them in the dryer (one minute) and let them dry. They take around 40 minutes to dry. The covers are dry pretty quick-it's the inserts that take forever. If I wasn't so lazy I could take the covers out after 10 minutes and the inserts would dry faster.

The most time is spent stuffing them. I have the kind of diapers that come with microfiber inserts (Microfiber absorbs quickly-so no leaks). I stuff one insert into each diaper and add the hemp doublers to the nighttime diapers. (Hemp is super absorbent and holds liquid for a really long time-great for night.) This takes about 7 or 8 minutes. Five if my husband is helping.

I do that 2-4 times per week. In total, only a few minutes washing them and a few minutes stuffing them

When I am actually changing her diaper it takes an extra two seconds to take the insert out and drop it in our wet bag, rather than just throwing a disposable in the trash. But we save time on diaper rash cream. So it probably balances out.

Eighteen diapers is plenty for us. I've never had to wash more often than every other day. I have a friend that gets by on less.

I decided on bumGenius because there was a sale :) I knew I wanted a pretty convenient diaper-nothing too complicated. A friend of mine has and I liked the way they work. bumGenius were cheaper-so that's what I got. The Rumparooz claim to fame is an internal gusset-but I don't have any leak problems with the BumGenius. I also knew I wanted an adjustable diaper-I didn't want to buy new ones when she's grew bigger. I like the snap-down feature better than the elastic feature of the FuzziBunz. I bought one of each so I could see which I liked better. I chose snaps over velcro because I thought they would hold up better in the wash. I'm VERY glad I did.

Mandi-What's your detergent recipe? Our water is through Ista. I don't have any problems with the detergent-I've added vinegar to the rinse just once or twice since we've had them. (Vinegar softens the water, which helps get rid of build up. And yes, I know you know that Mandi-that's for other readers.) bumGenius says you can use 1/4 cup of bleach once a month. I did that once and it worked AMAZINGLY!

Christine and Emily-I hung them on the line when I was at my parents' a few weeks ago. Everything dried great except the hemp inserts-those would have to be dried in the dryer. (And a bonus-the sun bleaches the poop stains out!)

Sarah-Congrats!! I had to hunt for Borax and Washing Soda too. I did find Borax at Walmart-it was near the OxyClean. It's in a big cardboard box. The Washing Soda I found at Kroger, a local grocery store. It wasn't with the other laundry detergents-it was with the dish soup. Both cost around 3 dollars. The only other detergent I've tried is the bumGenius one because a sample came with the diapers. It worked really well-I would probably buy that if my mix gave me any problems.


Jenelle and Laura- The only rinse I do is in the washing machine. I dump all the diapers into a wet bag (which is a bag designed to keep the wet stuff in) after I change her and leave them there until I was them-poo and all. I just do a pre-rinse before I wash the diapers. I have NO issues with poo in my washer. Some people think that's an issue but it's absolutely not. The washer is designed to clean itself!

Allie-I'm still so excited about the possibility of you having two babies! Any readers use cloth diapers with twins? Or two kids at once? Advice for Allie? I would still do cloth with twins-double the diapers mean double the expense, and double the savings! It really isn't THAT much extra work. Maybe you could hold off on buying them until you got into some sort of groove (if that's even possible..) and then decide?

Awaiting-When we're out I still use cloth. I have two medium sized wet bags (small are way too small) and I just throw the dirty diaper in them until we get home. I have some cloth wipes in my diaper bag and a little 3 oz squirt bottle. The bags get washed with the diapers. It's no big deal at all.

Grace-Don't stop googling! You can do it! Two friends wrote about cloth here and here. I like this website. It's a lot of info at first-just wade through it. Also, go to YouTube and search FuzziBunz Review or bumGenius Review. It helped me to see the diapers "in action".

And if you're still left in the dark check this out. You can buy a sample pack of all sorts of diapers and then return them. It'll only cost you 10 bucks in the end. Maybe you could even wait until after the baby is born and take it as slow as you like!

And feel free to ask me more questions.

Any other questions out there?

Green for the Green-Cloth Diaper Edition

Call it what you will-crunchy, granola, green. I really don't care. There are aspects of our life that definitely fit this hippy, earth loving category and other aspects that fall far from the green tree. More often than not, my motivation for doing something seemingly "green" comes down to money.

I'm a pretty frugal person. Like, really, really frugal. Exceptionally frugal.

Ok. Ok. I'm cheap.

How cheap? Ted texted my dad a picture of Hannah. My dad replied, "It looks like she's storing peanuts in those cheeks!". Ted responded, "Ha. She's sneaking them into the ballpark because they're too expensive inside." To which my dad said, "Oh, so she doesn't just look like Katie...."

Ouch.

But when all three years of our marriage have been spent with at least one spouse in graduate school, cheap isn't an option-it's a necessity. In an effort to help others who may not have access to that ever elusive money tree, I'm going to lay out some of the things we do that could be considered green. A few might surprise you. And not all of them are done for the savings.....


The most obvious aspect of our so-called crunchy life would have to be cloth diapers. When money isn't readily available, we try to save as much as we can by not buying things that are just going to be thrown away. Using disposable diapers just feels like pouring cash directly into the trash can. A very poopy trash can.

We spent a few hundred dollars (about 350 I think) on our entire cloth stash. Almost all of that was money we got from baby showers. We definitely could have done it for cheaper (by buying a different kind of diaper or buying used) but I wanted to get something that would hold up should God choose to bless us with more butts to diaper.

We have 18 BumGenius 4.0 with snaps and one Fuzzi Bunz that we use for a swim diaper. All of them are adjustable-we will never need to buy another diaper for Hannah as they will grow with her until she's potty trained. We stuff them with an extra hemp insert at night and rarely have to change a diaper in the middle of the night.

We also use cloth wipes, which just make sense if you're already using cloth diapers. Our wipes are a collection of BumGenius wipes and random baby washcloths. We have a water bottle by the changing station that we use to spray the wipes before we use them.

All of it gets thrown in the wash every two to three days. Some might argue that the increased water bill offsets the savings from using cloth diapers, but I would have to disagree. Our water bill increased about four bucks a month since having Hannah. Even if all of that was cloth diapers-it would still be a dramatic savings. But we do double the laundry now even if you exclude the diapers! Just washing burp rags and onesies alone would have increased our water bill, so the expense for washing the diapers is negligible.

Regular detergents are harmful to cloth diapers, so special soap must be used. I make my own detergent, again, because I'm cheap. It's a combo of borax, washing soda, and Oxy Clean. Works great. Costs pennies per wash. Score.

Since diaper rash is rare with cloth babies, we don't have to spend money on yucky diaper creams!

The only aspect of cloth diapering that we don't do is line drying. But you better  believe that as soon as I get a clothes line these puppies will be hanging from it every other day!

Is it extra work? Yes. Is it worth it? You bet. Other benefits of cloth: it's obviously better for the environment and arguably better for baby. And while I'm glad these are benefits-they're definitely not why we chose cloth. When it's all said and done, it comes down to saving money.


Do you use cloth diapers? Do you have any questions about how to make it work?