...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 2 comments    

Okay, so these days we are living more frugally.  One income, two kids, the desire to be debt free... you have to.

Also, I have been reading a great blog about a family that is slow living.  It is inspiring me.

Plus, we got a water leak in our pipe connecting from the meter in the front yard to the basement.  We know this because our water usage went from our normal 3000 gallons a month to 7000.  We can shut off the main valve in the basement, and the meter will still turn.  I am currently working on a barter deal with someone on craigslist with a backhoe to dig up our pipe so we can locate the leak.  But I digress...

So, we have a leak and this has almost doubled our water bill.

Now, I thought I was pretty thrifty in getting double duty out of my shower water.  But now I've discovered triple duty.  Woo-hoo!

Water use #1:  Either I or hubby takes a shower with the drain closed.  This way, the tub fills up as we shower.  (This also enables me to take a longer shower without feeling guilty about wasting water and propane.)

Water use #2:  When the tub is half full, it's time for the girls to get in.  Bath time!

and here is the latest, really thrifty part...

Water use #3:  When the girls get out of the tub, I do not drain the tub.  (I like to do this anyway in the winter to allow the ambient heat released from the water to warm the house)  I turn off the water at the toilet and for the rest of the day, we refill the toilet tank with the bath water.  I keep an empty gallon jug handy for scooping up the water and pouring into the tank. (editor's note: I have found that our small plastic trash can works much more efficiently at the task of scooping the water)

I got this idea because I am getting ready to switch over to family wipes instead of toilet paper.  I was researching what to make them out of on the internet.  One link took me to a forum where there was a great conversation going on the topic.  The comment that caught my attention was a person talking about how awesome the toilets are in Japan and how they are so much more efficient over there.  They have a model with a sink that is above the toilet so the water you use to wash your hands drains down and fills the toilet tank.

Awesome!

That is when I got to thinking about all that lovely bath water... and the light bulb above my head glowed. :)

( I know, some of you are still wondering about the whole family wipes thing.  I'll post more on that later.)

Posted in: Slow Lane, thrifty living on Monday, November 30, 2009 at at 9:00 AM 0 comments    

Busy, busy, busy......

Posted in: black walnuts, pears, Slow Lane, thrifty living on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at at 9:26 AM 0 comments    

Okay, this post is entirely to say how much I love Freecycle. Last week we went to a FREE yard sale, thanks to a post on freecycle letting us know about it. I got so much great stuff - mostly a ton of clothes for Trinity to grow into.

Then I saw this idea for repurposing an old papasan chair base on BHG.com. It reminded me of the fun play tents that Tia Karin hung from the trees in her yard when the family last gathered in Santa Cruz. The same day I posted a Wanted ad on our local freecycle group, another freecycler had posted one as an Offer. Perfect timing!


Of course, I had visions of piles of pillows and the girls and I lounging, reading books together. The girls prefer to go running through the sheets and wrap themselves up in them. They did have a stuffed animal convention one afternoon inside the tent. All in all, a great play place for no cost.
(editors note: we did end up having lovely lazy days reading in the tent)



I often longingly look at the beautiful playsets that it seems everyone I know has in their backyards these days. But those suckers are expensive and definitely not in our budget. But the girls love climbing all over the old pickup truck down by the barn. I started thinking, heck, it is a perfect base to add to and turn into a playset. So this week I was able to acquire a 10ft slide off Freecycle. A perfect fit! We have the start of our Redneck Playset. :)


My future plans are to use scrap wood and build a platform floor with railings to go on top of the cab. Also, I want to add a climbing wall and rope for climbing up into the bed of the pickup, and of course I have to figure out a way to rig up a tarp for shade. I posted a picture on Facebook and one of my friends suggested filling the bed with sand. A giant sand box to play in - excellent idea! I often see listings under the free section of craigslist for sand so I will be keeping an eye out for more.

Posted in: Slow Lane, thrifty living on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at at 3:16 PM 1 comments    

I had the sweetest conversation with Trinity this evening. We were out in the garden collecting lettuce. Trinity held the colander for me while I clipped the leaves. Here was the conversation:

Trinity: "Mom, is this heaven?"
Me, smiling and chuckling: "You know, someone else asked that same question once, in a movie. No, honey. This is Iowa."
Trinity: "No, I think this is heaven."
Me: "You're probably right."
:) How cute is that!?

Just some miscellaneous shots taken today.
Angelina out in the front yard.
We discovered we have a mulberry tree. David is inspecting the fruit and Trinity is eating down below.
A series of pictures of the girls and Maximus on the front porch. (btw...those nifty planters were scored off the free section of craigslist!)

Posted in: Chickens, Is this heaven?, Maximus, mulberries, Slow Lane, thrifty living on Friday, July 4, 2008 at at 7:21 PM 0 comments