...or put another way...
Are you willing to give up toilet paper?

Okay, so I'm not totally going no t.p. ... just mostly.

Here's the deal.  A lot of people have decided that filling our dumps with disposable diapers is just not cool.  So there is a growing number of women choosing to use cloth diapers.  Along with cloth diapers comes the concept of cloth baby wipes.  All of these get washed and reused.

Take that concept and apply it to the rest of the family.  Rather than using t.p. you make or buy reusable cloths.  They are called "family wipes."

A lot of families just use them for #1 and still use t.p. for #2.  I have opted for somewhere in between.  For myself and the girls, we always use the family wipes for #1, and for #2 we get an initial wipe with toilet paper, 2 whole squares, (I'm not quite as stingy as Sheryl Crow - ha!) then finish up with the family wipe.

The clean wipes are kept in a basket on the back of the throne.  I am keeping a plastic bag hanging in the bathroom for used wipes.  When it is time to wash them, first I add super hot water right in the bag with a squirt of soap.  Still holding the bag with one hand, I use the other hand to squish the bag and agitate the cloths inside.  I have also found that it is easy to twist the end shut and shake and squish the bag with both hands.  A quick rinse and they are ready to be added to the regular laundry.  This is essentially a quick and easy "hand washing" before putting them in the laundry.

So, there are lots of options for material to use - flannel and cotton being the most popular when I was searching the internet.  But I opted to use fleece.  There were two main reasons:

1. I like to take the path of least resistance.  No sewing involved.  Just cut the squares and you are good to go.

2. I still had a large fleece baby blanket hanging around, so there would be no cost involved to re-purpose it into family wipes. :)

The fleece is super soft and comfy to use as a wipe.  The downside is that fleece is actually water resistant by nature - not the most helpful property in a wipe!  This can be counteracted by washing with fabric softener and using dryer sheets.

I am very happy with our wipes and how long the toilet paper is lasting now.  The girls adjusted to the wipes without a bat of their eyelashes.  Older kids might be a harder sell.  But they love how nice and soft the fleece wipes are and none have been tossed into the toilet. (that was my secret fear of switching over to the wipes!)

I give it two thumbs up!

Posted in: family wipes, Slow Lane, thrifty living on Friday, December 4, 2009 at at 9:00 AM