Reusable totes are awesome. When you don’t suck, and actually bring them.
The second Monday of the month sometimes (when I pull my head out of my ass) means I’ll post a piece about the things that John and I do to help lift a little burden off of Mother Earth’s shoulders. It’s this thing I started doing after I was completely disgusted on a walk almost 2 years ago (wow, it’s been that long?). I was appalled at how much trash people just throw on the ground, basically.
Back then, I realized I was pretty disgusted with a lot of things I was (or wasn’t) doing, too. No, not the Asian Porn fetish or even the Kitten Juggling. That stuff is fun! I’m talking about the stuff that’s not so good for the environment (like the Aqua Net huffing problem I had).
So we started changing little things in our life for the better, to help the earth, its inhabitants, and ourselves. And I started a project – PSBN – and began posting about those things here, to share with and inspire you. (So consider yourself shared with. And inspired.) It was a whole Happy Happy Love Love Green Living Be Awesome To The Earth I Believe That Children Are The Future Teach Them Well And Let Them Lead The Way kind of thing.
Did you see what I did there? Ahhh, yeah. You liked it, didn’t you?
Anyway.
I’ve gotten really lazy about putting up these posts. I have to be honest with you – I know that some of you have been supportive about them and enjoyed them, but they generally don’t seem to draw must interest and like anyone, that kind of makes it harder for me to work up the energy to make an effort and put them together. That assholishness apathy on my part as well as being lazy as hell just not creating as much time for posts anymore overall means I’ve skipped several of these “second Mondays” without publishing anything for PSBN.
I know. I’m a shitbrain.
This, by the way, happens to be something I abhor about myself – I get really into something, but then I get lazy and I don’t maintain my momentum. I forget, or I find other things to amuse me, and I lag off. (Hahaha, you thought I was going to say jack off. Yes you did. Liar. Ok, I thought I was going to say it.)
This *might* be why Dana called me a lazy douche last year, and why I’ve run with that whole “I’m a Lazy Douche!” gag for this whole time. Because it’s really the truth! (I still haven’t answered all those questions, Dana. You were so right! Isn’t that awesome?)
LAZY DOUCHE, FTW.
And that really actually segues well into today’s PSBN topic, which is Reusable Totes for shopping.
I loved the shit out of the idea of reusable totes. In fact, I took that idea and I bought it a nice steak dinner. I bought it many, many glasses of fine wine. I told it how sexy hot it was and then? I took it home with me, full of unclean intentions. I rubbed that freaking reusable totes idea up against my trembling body until… uh. Um. *clears throat* I think I’m getting carried away. What were we talking about again?
Oh. Yeah. I was in love with the idea of using some bags over and over again.
Don’t Waste – Reuse, beeshes.
So. I totally freaking bought them and started using them every time I got groceries.
And IT.WAS.AWESOME.
I was totally single-handedly saving the world.
SUPER HEROIN IN THE HOUSE, BEESHES.
Wait. Wait. That makes it sound like I was shooting some kind of incredibly refined drugs into my veins in my domicile. And while that might be true, it wasn’t what I was trying to say.
But basically,
I AM AWESOME. You can say thank you any time. (For saving Earth, and all. You’re welcome.)
So yeah to recap: I was using the bags and it was awesome (like shooting up drugs).
But then I would forget them at home.
And (like shooting drugs) it started happening more and more. (It’s either premature aging, excessive alcohol consumption, or all those times I’ve slammed my head into the wall.)
(On purpose.)
So yeah. I would forget them constantly… and I would berate myself.
Me in the parking lot of the grocery store:
“You stupid, stupid bitch! You forgot the fucking bags AGAIN!”
“Well you could just drive home and get them before you shop.”
(Yes, I talk back to myself. DON’T ACT LIKE YOU DON’T. Also, if you don’t… just, you know, pretend like you do and lets move on so I can protect the fragile shell of my imagined sanity.)
“DRIVE HOME AND GET THEM? ARE YOU A MORON?”
“Uh. Uh. No?”
“Well, see… CLEARLY YOU ARE. If we drive home and get them we’ll be POLLUTING MORE and, also? WASTING GAS. Do you even have two brain cells left to rub up against one other? I swear I hate that I’m you.” *spits in own face*
(That is a talent of amazing proportions. I can sense your jealousy.)
“But, but…” *sobbing*
“You make me SICK. Pathetic. Why don’t you just grab a broom handle and stick it up Mother Earth’s ass and call it a day, okay?”
*continued sobbing*
“I am going to strangle you with the plastic grocery bags when we get home.”
It’s really embarrassing, by the way, to have this kind of argument with yourself in a public place. I mean, usually this kind of thing happens only at home…
“You stupid whore, did you forget to take meat out to thaw for dinner AGAIN!??? Come here so I can SLAP YOU WITH THE HAND OF RIGHTEOUS FURY.”
…and at least there’s no one to gasp or scurry away blatantly. And no parents telling their kids, “Honey, don’t look, just keep walking. Hurry. She might hurt us.”
I guess what I’m saying is that employing the use of those Reusable Grocery Totes is REALLY REALLY AWESOME and can help us SAVE OUR PLANET if we actually remember to bring them with us to the store.
And what I’m asking, no, *begging* you to tell me is, What the hell do you awesome people who use them every time do to REMEMBER TO ACTUALLY BRING THOSE SHITS WITH YOU?
Please help me. Please.
Omg, I was going to end the post there, but then I just totally had an idea for making them into underwear so you’d always have one with you. No, wait. That would be gross, wouldn’t it?
Darn.
Oh, and while you’re sitting there trying to figure out exactly how to make me start taking meds, please link up any posts you’ve written recently that discuss “green” topics. Thanks!
PSBN – Water Conservation
It’s that time of the month again! Why yes, I AM ovulating quite painfully, but what I meant, rather, was that it’s time for Project Support Beauty in Nature. Remember, if you have a “green” post you can link to it on the Mr. Linky Widget at the very bottom of this post any time this week.
I’ve posted about water conservation before, but I thought it would be a good article to run at this time of the year when people tend to use more water than ever.
John and I have been much more careful with our water use, and it has made a serious difference in our water consumption.
It’s worth it just to save the water… but if you take these steps you can also save a considerable amount of $$$.
- NEVER wash a load of laundry until you have a full machine’s worth of clothes. I even experimented to see if I could get away with “medium” water on a load I normally would have called “large.” It actually works most of the time.
- If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down. A lot of people are squeamish about this, but it made a rather large difference in our water bill. We now pee 3 or 4 times (sometimes more) before we flush. Think of how many tanks of water that saves in a month’s time!
- Reduce the number/size of baths. Braden takes a bath every night as part of his bedtime routine. We fill the tub only half as much as we used to. He never even noticed when we made that change. All he cares is it’s wet, there are bubbles, and he has toys.
We also stopped waiting for the right water temp before dropping the plug. The plug drops, water starts. It all mixes in and evens out.
- Take shorter/less showers. Less showers is hard if you go to work every day and have to shower to get ready, but you can try shortening by using a timer with an alarm, the kind that counts down and then goes off. Start by figuring out how long your average shower is, then try to shave off 5 minutes at a time. It’s just a habit thing. With practice, you can knock off some time (if you shower longer than 15-20, especially).
- Collect the cold water at the beginning of a shower in a bucket for use elsewhere. I got this awesome tip from Sandy @ Momisodes back when I first started doing PSBN and it is a GREAT thing to do. We have saved SO MUCH water doing this! During gardening months, you can use it to water plants, but there are plenty of other uses, such as:
- add to bathwater for baths
- use in clothes washing
- mop floors
- dog’s water bowl
- aquarium refill
- vases for picked flowers
- rinse water for dishes
- wash car in driveway
- wading pool during summer (idea courtesy of Alison)
- water for live Christmas tree
- ETC
- Don’t run water when you’re not actively using it. Whenever you wash your hands, put soap in your hand, then wet them, and turn the water off while you lather. Turn it back on to rinse. Do the same when brushing teeth. If you handwash dishes, don’t leave water running while you’re soaping them.
This is just a short list of the things that have made the largest difference for us so far. In fact, our monthly water bill is as low as $16 most months, and never more than $34. I don’t know about you, but to me that is amazing!
Other tips:
- Make sure you inspect all pipes and areas where leaks can occur (water heaters, outside hoses and spigots) because a slow leak can add up to a huge amount of wasted water over a long period of time.
- If your toilet is high flow, you can place a brick in the tank so that it takes less water to fill it. Make sure there is still enough power to flush in one try – if you end up flushing twice to “get it down” it’s not doing you any good.
- Don’t put any extra bulk in the toilet (like tissue you blow your nose with, for exampe). Reduce the amount of TP you use to wipe if possible. We did!
- Wash your dishes by hand. Buy sink tubs and run one with soapy water, one with clean. Wash in one tub, rinse in the other. This reduces water use DRASTICALLY over using a dishwasher IF YOU RINSE DISHES FIRST. You can also re-use the water from the tubs for mop water, and even garden water if you purchase posphate free dish soap. Energy Star rated dishwashers use as little as 4 gallons of water, however. So if you scrape instead of rinsing, this type of dishwasher will save you more. You cannot re-use the water, however.
- Rain collection barrells gather a large amount of free water for you. You can use that water for gardening, mopping, car washing, etc. I really want one, but we rent, and you have to make modifications to the downspouts on your gutters. If you own your home, you should REALLY consider it. The cheapest I’ve found pre-made are $150, and they can get really pricey, up to 3 times as much as that for the “really nice” ones. But you can also make them yourself with a little effort, and that costs WAY less.
Click HERE for helpful links about rain collection barrells, as well as other water saving tips.
It’s worth saving this stuff and making sure there’s always plenty left over.
There are plenty more ways to save water – do you do some things I didn’t mention here?
Potty training can be green, too.
John and I switched Braden to cloth diapers way back in February (Bum Genius 3.0) and our only regret was that we didn’t do it from day one. We are already planning on bringing up our next child in them from the very start. If you click the above link and read, you’ll see that cloth diapering is good for the earth and your wallet. The initial cost is nothing compared to the huge amount you’ll save in the long run.
But does the good stuff have to end during potty training? Must you run out a buy disposable potty training pants to get by?
Heck no. There are cloth training pants out there, people! And I can give you a personal recommendation because we’ve already tried some of them. Braden played around with potty training earlier this year and was doing very well for some time. He has since regressed and decided he’s not interested in full time potty-training anymore, so he’s back in diapers to take the stress off of all of us. We check in with him from time to time, and we know he’ll be ready eventually.
HOWEVER! We ordered “Dri Days Training Pants” from OneStepAhead.com. I was a bit nervous, not sure of what was going to show up or how I’d feel about them, but they are excellent. I was never worried that Braden would be standing in a puddle at any time while he was wearing these – they are incredibly absorbent for little underpants! At the same time, the absorbent pad is directly in contact with the child’s body, so the child can feel the wetness and learn to respond. Braden always seemed very comfortable while wearing them.
I was so pleased to find something that we could wash and use over and over again, rather than adding disposable training pants to the landfills out there. They are $9.95 a piece, so not cheap, but if you buy a handful and use them over and over again, you’ll end up spending less than on package after package of the disposable training pants (and use them over with more than one child!) and you can feel good that you’re doing the right thing, which is invaluable, truly.
The linky below is open to anyone who wants to link in any type of “green” post they have written within the past month, or in the next couple of weeks. Please link in anything you’ve written that’s applicable, and thank you in advance!
The “Ooops” Edition of PSBN
Because technically, it was supposed to be published yesterday, but I forget. (Also, I’m a lazy douche, don’t forget that one.) Thanks to Stephanie for reminding me!
I’ve been meaning to talk about water conservation for some time now – John and I have been much more careful with our water use for the past 7 months or so, and it has made a serious difference in our water consumption.
It’s worth it just to save the water… but if you take these steps you can also save a considerable amount of $$$.
- NEVER wash a load of laundry until you have a full machine’s worth of clothes. I even experimented to see if I could get away with “medium” water on a load I normally would have called “large.” It actually works a lot of the time.
- If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down. A lot of people are squeamish about this, but it made a rather large difference in our water bill. We now pee 3 or 4 times (sometimes more) before we flush. Think of how many tanks of water that saves in a month’s time!
- Reduce the number/size of baths. Braden used to take a bath every night as part of his bedtime routine. We’ve started giving him a bath every other night, and we fill the tub only half as much as we used to. He never even noticed. All he cares is it’s wet, there are bubbles, and he has toys. We also stopped waiting for the right water temp before dropping the plug. The plug drops, water starts. It all mixes in and evens out.
- Take shorter/less showers. Less showers is hard if you go to work every day and have to shower to get ready, but you can try shortening by using a timer with an alarm, the kind that counts down and then goes off. Start by figuring out how long your average shower is, then try to shave off 5 minutes at a time. It’s just a habit thing. With practice, you can knock off some time (if you shower longer than 15-20, especially).
- Collect the cold water at the beginning of a shower in a bucket for use elsewhere. I got this awesome tip from Sandy @ Momisodes back when I first started doing PSBN and it is a GREAT thing to do. We have saved SO MUCH water doing this! During gardening months, you can use it to water plants, but there are plenty of other uses, such as:
- add to bathwater for baths
- use in clothes washing
- mop floors
- dog’s water bowl
- aquarium refill
- vases for picked flowers
- rinse water for dishes
- wash car in driveway
- wading pool during summer (idea courtesy of Alison)
- water for live Christmas tree
- ETC
- Don’t run water when you’re not actively using it. Whenever you wash your hands, put soap in your hand, then wet them, and turn the water off while you lather. Turn it back on to rinse. Do the same when brushing teeth. If you handwash dishes, don’t leave water running while you’re soaping them.
This is just a short list of the things that have made the largest difference for us so far. In fact, our monthly water bill is always right around $34. I don’t know about you, but to me that is amazing – and we wash cloth diapers regularly!
Other tips:
- Make sure you inspect all pipes and areas where leaks can occur (water heaters, outside hoses and spigots) because a slow leak can add up to a huge amount of wasted water over a long period of time.
- If your toilet is high flow, you can place a brick in the tank so that it takes less water to fill it. Make sure there is still enough power to flush in one try – if you end up flushing twice to “get it down” it’s not doing you any good.
- Don’t put any extra bulk in the toilet (like tissue you blow your nose with, for exampe). Reduce the amount of TP you use to wipe if possible. We did!
- Wash your dishes by hand. Buy sink tubs and run one with soapy water, one with clean. Wash in one tub, rinse in the other. This reduces water use DRASTICALLY over using a dishwasher. You can also re-use the water from the tubs for mop water, and even garden water if you purchase posphate free dish soap. (I am super wuss and still use the dishwasher. *i suck*)
- Rain collection barrells gather a large amount of free water for you. You can use that water for gardening, mopping, car washing, etc. I really want one, but we rent, and you have to make modifications to the downspouts on your gutters. If you own your home, you should REALLY consider it. The cheapest I’ve found pre-made are $150, and they can get really pricey, up to 3 times as much as that for the “really nice” ones. But you can also make them yourself with a little effort, and that costs WAY less.
Click HERE for helpful links about rain collection barrells, as well as other water saving tips.
It’s worth saving this stuff and making sure there’s always plenty left over.
There are plenty more ways to save water – do you do some things I didn’t mention here?
If you have a “green” post, please feel free to add it to the Mr. Linky! Thanks.
ALL-ONE-OR-NONE!!! Just use the soap. Don’t drink the Koolaid.
I do a little thing around here where I post about ways that John and I try to become more environmentally friendly (and I invite people to link in with any of their recent “green posts”). I call it Project Support Beauty in Nature (PSBN) and I kind of declared that I would do that every month, on the second Monday of the month.
But I didn’t take into account the fact that:
a) At some point, the second Monday of the month would be when The Blood Curtain Dropped,
b) That when The Blood Curtain Drops, I can’t think of anything but yelling at my Uterus, angrily,
and
c) I’m a lazy douche, so obviously, at some point, I won’t remember to post the PSBN piece on the right day.
All this is to say that yesterday I was supposed to publish a PSBN post, but instead, I got all wrapped up in my menstruational emotions and berated my uterus for all to see, instead.
Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to save the earth. But sticking a funnel up there next month, instead of a tampon, just might. So I’m going to order a Diva Cup this month, and next month, when I’m feeling pretty angry at my girly parts again, I’ll test-drive it and let you all know how things went.
For now, I’ll mention that we’ve started using a different shower soap around here that’s “earth kind.” It’s called Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap/18-in-1 Hemp Pure-Castille Liquid Soap.
From the website:
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You can see the different fragrances here.
We’ve used 2 scents. The Lavender… um, it smells… interesting. But not in a bad way. It’s just that, well, it doesn’t particularly smell like lavender to me. ???
The peppermint one will kind of make your believe you’re a candy-cane. Compared to how I smell between my monthly showers, that’s not at all unpleasant, though.
You can use this stuff not only for body cleaning but also as shampoo – it’s an amazing all-in-one. If you have long hair, you’ll want to buy their conditioning product, b/c the soap will leave your hair a bit tangly. Other than that, it’s amazing. Cleans well, and leaves you feeling really fresh.
But I can’t talk about this stuff without mentioning the INSANE LABELS on the bottles.
Talk about some nutball-type mind control propaganda. Whew! They sure as hell want to make sure that when you buy their product you also buy into their entire philosophy on… well… everything batshit crazy under the sun, man.
(They probably have Internet Spies and will now send operatives to kill me, making the whole thing look like an accident. I am telling you all now, if I am found with a bottle of Pure Castille Soap crammed up my butt, it was NOT an accident, I did NOT fall on it! Lies! Lies!)
But on the serious, reading the labels of these soaps started making me feel that at any moment, I could be insanely driven to join a cult living in some remote place, perhaps the jungles of South America?
Random sampling of weirdness from the bottle:
“7th – Each swallow works hard to be perfect pilot – provider – builder – trainer – teacher – lover – mate, no half-true hate! So, each day like a bird, perfect thyself first! Have courage and smile my friend. Think and act 10 years ahead! And the man without fault? He’s dead! Do one thing at a time, work hard! Get done! Then teach friends & enemy the Moral ABC that unites all mankind free! Uniting One! All-One! Face the world with a smile, life is always worthwhile! To the fearless are given crowns, keep out the past, disappointments won’t last! Help unite mankind, or we’re wandering clowns! Diligent preparation, precede… spectacular restoration! So, help teach the whole human race, the Moral ABC’s All-One-God-Faith, lightning-like, for we’re All-One or None! All-One!!”
Uhhhhh, okay?
The whole bottle is covered with stuff like that, top to bottom, in tiny print.
Whenever I look at it for too long, I start wanting grape koolaid, for some reason.
Gotta go wash my hair and body with Pure Castille Soap now. If I start referring to my home as “The Compound” sometime soon, send help, okay?
Wee for me now means five minus three.
When I posted my Project Support Beauty in Nature piece for June, I outlined a Toilet Paper Challenge that John and I were going to take in our household. In short, we counted our TP Consumption for one month. The next month we made a conscious effort to reduce the amount we used to wipe with and see what kind of a difference we could make.
The first month was an eye-opener. I coudn’t believe how much TP I was grabbing. Just for pee, I was grabbing 5 Squares. And for The Dook? It was 5… several times, and then a wet wipe for final touch-ups.
WAS I ON CRACK OR WHAT!?
Oh, wait, yes. I was on crack. My buttcrack though, not the good kind.
Long story short, we used 10 rolls of toilet paper the first month, during “observation phase.”
When the second month started, we started reducing our TP Consumption. I started at bare minimum: 1 Square.
Let me be the first to say, “HELL NO.”
One square was not enough. So I quickly moved to 2 squares. And this I could handle. That’s right. I went from 5 to 2. And that’s for pee. For The Dook? Are you ready?
One wet wipe (used several times, via folding). One TP Square (for drying, b/c I can’t do the ‘walk away wet’ thing, sorry.)
For the first week, even though “The Job” was being done, it was a little weird. But over time, the “new way” became habit.
Now, this was not scientific, because many other variables affected how much TP was being used (number of times going potty, anyone?), and in fact, I drastically upped my water consumption during the second month as part of my dieting and such. Waaaay more peeing.
And yet…
We only used 5 rolls of TP the second month.
We reduced our TP Consumption by HALF. People, this is a big deal to me! Half as much money spent, half as much waste.
I swear, there are trees out there masturbating to my picture right now. (Yes, I totally went there.)
Remember, even small changes can have big outcomes. What will you do to make a difference today?
Did you take the TP Challenge? Do you have other green tips?
Link any green posts from the past month (or the next few days) right below on Mr. Linky. Direct links to relevant posts only, please.
If you don’t have a post, but you have a green tip, thought, or suggestion, please leave it in comments! That’s what these monthly posts are for.
Thanks!
PSBN Update
When I started this whole PSBN thing, I was really revved up about making changes in my family’s lifestyle that would result in a better outcome for the earth we live on. We made the decision to “Go Green(er)” in small steps, consistently, over time.
Some changes require no more than a re-ordering of the way you do things and a little conscious effort.
Other changes require a bit of financial investment.
We’ve done some of each of those kinds of things. I have, in fact, planned quite a lot of changes for us over the months to come. The only reason why we have to spread them out instead of doing them all at once is the cost factor of many of them.
I thought I’d give a running list of some of the changes we’ve made so far.
So far we:
- Went on a Trash Cleanup Walk in our old neighborhood. I plan on doing this again in our new neighborhood. Probably in the Fall, when we won’t die of a heatstroke.
- Started recycling our garbage at the curb again. (This was easy for us. Just one call and a Recycle Dumpster was delivered to us free of charge. Check with your local trash association to see what you can do. It never hurts to look into it!)
- Separate out all glass, since they won’t accept it at the curb, and save it to take to the Recycling Center ourselves. We’ll be making our first trip with a glass load this week.
- Switched from disposable to cloth diapers. Our only regret has been that we didn’t do cloth from the very beginning. (We’ve also started hanging these out to dry in the back yard instead of using the machine to dry them. Woot!)
- Conserve previously wasted shower water (cold water at the start goes in a bucket).
- Have gotten back to using more eco-friendly cleaners in our home.
- Started using rechargeable batteries. (haven’t posted about it yet, stayed tuned for future posts!)
- Bring reusable bags with us to the grocery store. (haven’t posted about it yet, stayed tuned for future posts!)
- Have become Energy Misers. Thermostat, lights, appliance, plugs, you name it!
- Switched over almost 100% of our incandescents for CFLs. Ongoing project since before PSBN, actually.
- Eat organic when we can… cost influences this greatly. We mind the list of things that are most important to buy organic. (haven’t posted about it yet, stayed tuned for future posts!)
- Plan all our errands in groups whenever we can, since we have to drive and burn fuel. With the price of gas lately, this is a huge money saver now, as well. I have always really wanted to get a bike with a kiddo seat, but it is really not safe to ride that way around here.
Future endeavors:
- Install a clothesline and procure a clothes wringer.
- Purchase and install rain collection barrells. (I want this so badly RIGHT NOW, it makes me twitch, but they’re expensive.)
- Finally purchase one-string produce bags (see where I mentioned them here) to take along with the reusable grocery bags.
- Start composting
There’s always more, of course, but those are the big ones I have in mind. John and I have agreed, it’s like a game now, almost. It’s fun to think up what we can do next and then meet the challenge.
Currently, we’re working on reducing the amount of toilet paper we use. We’re in Phase Two of the TP Challenge. By next month’s PSBN Scheduled Posting on August 11th, I’ll have some results for you and let you know how the whole thing went around here. I hope some of you are still taking this challenge with us! It really is a challenge. Who knew how mindless TP Grabbing on the crapper was?
As always, please link to your green articles here today. (Click through to see Mr. Linky.) And remember, there’s always more you can do, and it’s always worth it.
His Butt is Toxic, and Yet, Eco-Friendly!
We did a handful of things differently this month to be kind to Mother Earth, but this month’s big “Green” effort was really exciting for us: we decided to take the Cloth Diapering Plunge!
Braden’s gone “Clean And Green.” 
Disposable are NASTY.
One child produces large amounts of them, daily – It is estimated that children using disposables create almost 6,000 during their diaper-wearing years. And those will sit in a landfill for an estimated 250-500 years. That is DISGUSTING. And have you seen the icky, jelly crap inside them? I’ve had them bust open on us (not often, but it happens) and it’s really pukish when I think about how that Yuckification in there was always up against my kiddo’s little, soft hiney. I’m sure it contributed to his rashiness.
Ever since last month’s PSBN post and all the excellent advice from you guys, I dove in and did some hard-core research online about cloth diapers. This site is a great resourse (but you can find lots out there). I didn’t really want to spend the big bucks, but I knew I HAD to find something that John and I would stick with. Let’s be realistic here: If you can’t hack it, you’ll give up on it. We didn’t want to give up on it! I tried really hard to want to use the cheapest option: prefolds. But. Just. No. (Forgive me, I know so many of you have done/do this, but it just isn’t for us.)
All the “fitted” diapers seemed so great, but buying new sizes constantly would really get expensive! Yeah, Braden is on the last leg of his “Diaper Journey” but we wanted to invest in something that we can use again with additional kiddos we have (imagine that, we want this to be an Earth Saving AND Money Saving venture!)…
Enter the 3.0 Bum Genius One Size Cloth Diaper.
*big sigh*
Yes. They are expensive. You look at the price of a single diaper and you go OHHOLYCRAPANDCRACKERSTHAT’SWHATIPAYFORAWHOLEBOXOFDISPOSABLESEEEEEK!
BUT.
Work out how much you spend on them for your child’s entire “Diaper Journey,” and you’ll see that you’re just hemorrhaging the cash slowly instead of all at once, and the disposables will end up costing you WAY more in the long run than even the expensive cloth diapers, yo!
UPDATED:
Maybe this will help you see why you’re NOT spending more when you use even the “expensive” cloth diapers:
If your kid wears disposables until age 2 (and most wear them longer, FYI) that will produce an estimated 5800-6000 diapers. This is going to cost you approximately $1000 – $1600 (depending on brand). Yup. And I didn’t even include the price of wipes or butt rash cream – that’s extra, my friends! And if the kiddo goes past age 2, you can just keep adding to that price. For about $400 you can purchase 24 (more than enough at any age!) of the “expensive” Bum Genius 3.0 One Size (the newest one available) and you can use them on an endless number of children.
So, this means:
Have 3 kids? Disposables until 2: $3000 – $4800 (depending on brand). BG One Size: $400 (plus laundry costs).
And don’t forget to add wipes, creams, and anything past age 2 to that disposables price.
Do you still think it costs too much?
So I did a little of my own math. I figured out how much we’d spend from now until Braden turns 2 on the disposables we were currently using (Walmart brand, so they are cheap). And I decided that if I can spend that much or less, it would be economically logical as well as YAY for Mother Earth.
And guess what? I spent exactly that much on 9 Bum Genius One Size diapers/inserts (will fit from newborn up to a 37 pounder),
2 Hemp Babies inserts (extra absorbency for nights)
and a Mini-Shower (if you cloth diaper, you want this, seriously – thanks for the tip, Heather!) to spray out The Dook.
Which means that in the $ department, IF Braden would be Potty Trained by 2 (which I think is a nice, hopeful assumption) then we break even. If it takes him longer, we save! Hurrah!
Now, if you consider the fact that we can use these with the next child(ren), that’s where we REALLY save $$. We’ll need to purchase extras to handle the excessive Poopification during the beginning of life, but we’ll still save boatloads over using disposables. And we’ll never contribute another 500 Year JellyPissShitSack Diaper to the landfills!
*Does an insanely happy dance of JOY!*
“But Lotus, you are totally spending more in laundry!” Yes, yes, I am, My Kind, Loving Reader. But check it: We’re cutting water usage elsewhere to help with that a bit.
Here’s how:
We took Sandy’s really great tip, and we bought a bucket to collect the cold water that we used to waste at the beginning of the shower. (You know, when you’re waiting for it to warm up?)
Now we use that water for other things like refilling our aquariums and putting into Braden’s humidifier when he’s got a cold. It can also be used to water plants and the garden, mop floors, clean appliances, etc. How cool!
Next:
“If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.”
Yup. We’ve severely reduced the number of flushes in our home.
I’ll spare you the photo evidence on this one. And that’s really unlike me, you know, to pass up the chance to flash something excretory at you. (If that’s not a word, it is now.)
Things we’ve already done in the past that help: no water running while teeth brushing or hand washing, use hand sanitizier in place of washing if your hands aren’t grimy, but just need disinfecting, and restrict the length of showers and the size of baths.
A few “technical” notes about using Bum Genius One Size:
Care Instructions (click it) You will want to follow these to make sure the diaper never leaks. The material is really great – the fleece lining truly wicks the moisture away and into the absorbent liner inside.
It’s freakin’ amazing. But you have to treat it nice so it keeps performing! We already used Purex Free and Clear for laundry, and that’s approved. You should read all the care instructions before you buy – if you’re not willing to follow them, you should probably go with something else.
They’ll “Grow With Kiddo.” They come with newborn size diaper doubler and regular insert, and have cool snaps to change the size as your lil’ one grows. I am so excited to use them exclusively on our next baby.
There will be a learning curve when changing from disposables, but it really hasn’t been bad! You have to get used to how to insert the liners without bunching them, but you’ll get into the groove of it after some practice.
We got the Hemp Babies inserts for nighttime because Braden needs extra absorbency overnight.
I did my research and they were highly recommended. They did not disappoint. We just add one in at night on top of the regular insert. He has only leaked out at night once so far, which is excellent!
And, did you notice… They are freakin’ adorable!
It has been a really exciting month for us with this change! And we have lots of other things up our sleeves – some that we’ve already started doing, and some that we are planning for the future. But this is it for this month’s installment. Stay tuned for next month, my pretties! We have so much more in store. 
Next post is scheduled for Monday, April 14, 2008.
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