Reduce Reuse Recycle

Reusable Toilet Paper and Reusable Tampons and Pads--Because I do not like to throw my money away or flush it down the potty!

Yes, I did just go there! Ok, Ok, I know the Family Cloth can be a little far from some people's reach. We thought the same thing. Then, like most things on this journey,  before we knew it we were all for giving it a try. For those of you who are new to reusable TP it really isn't one cloth that the whole family shares--at lest not in our household. We bought some cloth especially made for this use--perfect size and things--from http://www.moocowmomma.etsy.com/ Barb is great and her products help to make the transition to a greener life easy! We have started with around 50 pieces varying in sizes and absorbencies and a wet bag trash can liner. The plan is to no longer use Toilet Paper, although we will still have it for our visitors, instead we have cloth pieces next to the toilet and a special trash can for our used pieces. On wash day or when we get low on cloth I am going to empty the wet bag in the washer, throw the wet bag in as well and wash! Since I do not like to use my drier I will hang these out to dry as well! We have used these for a few days now and it isn't as big of a step as I thought.

Now on to Reusable Tampons and Pads. I did my research as usual and came up with a few options, two of which Duste and I decided to try. Duste is using the Diva Cup--a reusable cup that collects the menstral flow that you empty and reuse. She has used it for two cycles and loves it. You only have to empty it every 12 hours and she said it is super easy to inset and remove. I (Talisa) decided to use reusable tampons and panty liners. So back to http://www.moocowmomma.etsy.com/  I went! She offers tampons in all absorbancies. I bought 10, five in two sizes, to start off with. After talking about it sounds like I need double that but this will do for now. I am excited to give these a try but sadly I will have to wait till next month. The plan is to never buy tampons and panty liners again. I am going to use my reusables and when I need to change at work I have a small wet bag and piece of cloth. When I am at home I have a wet bucket--also used for cloth diapers--that sits next to the toilet. I will drop the used ones in there and empty the water a few times a day till I need to wash and reuse. We bought an old mino bucket from http://www.dalescuriosityshop.com/ (local) put some water in the bucket and can lift up the middle part to access the tampons. Also, when we change the water we don't have to worry about tampons going everywhere! The perfect solution thought up by Duste!

I love saving money! And can you think of a bigger waste of money than Toilet Paper and Tampons--something you can use only once, sometimes with barely anything on it and your just throwing it a way? Nope, that will not work for me! Not to mention all the terrible things they are doing to our environment to create that Toilet Paper and ask yourself what is in those tampons you are putting inside yourself--trust me if you knew you would run away screaming! Plus, for our dear old house having no toilet paper in the septic tank is best. After all we are not sure where the access is or when the last time it was emptied!