Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Green with envy: You are what you buy .... smartipants

I had to go to a special store to buy the Earth Save detergent that the company recommends. I could have used Tide, but if there is a detergent that works better I will make a special trip for it no big deal. I got a couple boxes of it that way I won't have to buy some for a while. You only need to use a little bit of detergent anyway so it will last me a long time. It is a very natural detergent and would probably do me some good to use it with my regular wash.

The cloth ones are much fuller than the disposable, but they aren't THAT much bigger on the baby. He does have a puffier bum (as Katy puts it), but whatever, right? I washed and dried them last night and put them together so they are ready to use. I can already tell that stuffing them is sort of a tedious job, but it has to be done and I'm sure once I get into a rhythm of doing it it won't be a big deal at all. I guess I didn't realize that I would have to "put" them together. The diaper has a long pocket that runs the length of the diaper front to back. The insert (like a long sanitary pad, but made of cloth) has to be stuffed into the pocket and laid flat to absorb and pull moisture away from the baby's skin. It took me about 10 minutes to do all 21 diapers. Sort of a pain, but it's like emptying the dishwasher or making the bed .... it just has to get done.

I hoped that I would be able to use my Diaper Genies to store the diapers until I washed them. I have two. One upstairs and one downstairs. I realized that it uses plastic bags. Drat! I was going to use one for the diapers and one for the wipes and I hoped it would help mitigate any smell. I have been using disposable wipes and figured that would be fine. But then my brain started "green wandering" as I was thinking of the implications of throwing away wipes. Here was my thought process:

One (genie) for the wipes one for the diapers.
But the genie uses plastic bags and I don't want to throw that away so I can put the diapers in a pail and throw the wipes out.
But I'm still throwing away paper wipes.
Switch to cloth wipes.
CLOTH wipes?
No! That is TOO granola. Before you know it I will be wearing crocs, driving a hybrid and not shaving my legs.
But it makes sense.
If I use cloth wipes and I get a reusable bag I can put the diapers and wipes in the same bag and wash them all at once.
I already have to wash the diapers so what's a little bit more?
Cloth wipes and water it is.
Wow .... I surprised myself with that one.

Now I am on the hunt for wipes and a bag. I hear Bum Genius has a good one.

2 comments:

Kate said...

yeah, that was my argument as well. i like having cloth wipes along with the cloth diapers. then you just put the wipe in with the diaper like you would a disposable and in the washer they go...man I wear crocs...crap! jim doesn't like to use them though we have both

ChirpChick said...

Yeah, I went with cloth wipes too. I actually like them better. I wear crocs, but I don't drive a hybrid, so I'm not THAT granola right?! I think you'll like the Smartipants. We like ours. Although my favorite are the gDiapers...we can put either disposable or cloth inserts in them and they don't freak out my husband as much. lol' ;)

Jen Kugler-Schaupp