I think my awareness of taking care of the environment started out by watching the '90's TV show
Clarissa Explains it All. The main character, Clarissa, always had awesome earrings and crazy bright colors to go with her outfit. One of the episodes was about
recycling and reusing waste and for that episode Clarissa (played by actress, Melissa Joan Heart) wore these cool globe earrings.
Sigh. Clarissa was so cool; anyways, that's really when I started taking notice of the environment and the impact I have on it. Fast forward a couple decades and insert one baby and well, you've got quite the dilemma. Now I need to think about the impact I'm making on the environment not only for myself but for my children who will (hopefully) be here longer than I will be. When my husband and I decided to use cloth diapers on our son it was purely for monetary savings. Neither one of us was thinking about the fact that we would be helping out the environment by producing less waste sitting in a landfill. Shortly after I started using cloth diapers I started to see waste, garbage if you will, differently. Suddenly I felt guilty about mindlessly throwing anything away; had using cloth diapers altered my view on waste this much? Some may argue that it didn't but let me share with you the ways that I've become greener since we made the decision to use cloth on our babies' bums: *
Switched from disposable swim diapers to cloth diapers.
*Started using environmentally friendly household cleaners like white
distilled vinegar. *Stopped using tampons and switched over to a menstrual cup that can be reused. *Started using reusable shopping bags, Ziplock bags, cleaning rags and reusable
Swiffer sweepers and dry jet. *Choosing to use safer, eco-friendly laundry detergent. I could go on and on but this isn't about me and the greener choices that I've made. This is about you! Think to yourself about the changes that you've made since you started using cloth diapers on your baby. Have you made any changes? If you have, tell me about them! I love being inspired by others. And for more information on Earth Day please visit
this website.
Oh, and I also like to use old washcloths and towels instead of paper towels. I’ve built up quite a stash of stained or grayed washcloths that I use for most of my cleaning.
My most recent step was to switch to a menstrual cup. I did it because I was tired of the discomfort of pads and tampons, as well as the cost, but after a couple of months I’ve realized it feels really good to not be producing so much waste. Now I am thinking about making my own washable pantiliners so that I can reduce the garbage produced from the disposable ones. My mom passed down to me some flat diapers made of flannel that she never used (I was cloth diapered, but my younger siblings weren’t), but since I already have tons of prefolds and don’t really like flats anyway, I’m thinking the fabric will work well for washable pantiliners for me.
Buying local. Trying to anyways…
I’ve always used a little distilled white vinegar diluted in a spray bottle. It’s amazing everything the vinegar can clean. The smell isn’t bad either.
How’s switching to cloth going for you? Any questions?
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