Paper-free (mostly)

I've often forgotten to talk about this topic since it's just been a part of my regular life for so long. But my bestie decided to write on this topic, so I decided I'd get on board and link up with her!

We first took the paper free plunge...oh, gosh, I can hardly remember. I think it's maybe been five years ago or so? We were living in our one bedroom apartment in the Chicago suburbs. I ran out of paper-towels and napkins. And I decided, that's it! No more! It was really an easy transition. I got some cloth napkins and just used rags and towels for spills that in the past would have been cleaned up by paper-towels.

Moving onto a more paper-free lifestyle came with having a baby. Since we were using cloth diapers, I knew it made sense to use cloth wipes as well. Why buy something disposable when you could use reusable? It made sense to me. Plus, if I wasn't throwing the dipes in the trash, why would I want to take a stinky wipe to the trash all by its lonesome? So, that was easy.

Then we started EC and I realized it would seem confusing/odd to use toilet paper on my little guy's bum when he went on the toilet, but soft cloth when he went in his dipe. And I thought about how that would translate when he was potty-independent and I knew I'd want him to use something soft of his little tush. So, I put a pile of wipes on the toilet to use for him for EC. Then I realized, gee, why don't I wipe with those too!? My husband wasn't quite interested in that, so for now, I use those wipes (mainly just for going number #1, admittedly). I just toss them in my son's diaper pail when I'm done and call it a day. Or, a go. Or whatever.

Wipe stash on the back of the toilet

In addition to napkins, paper towels, and wipes, we recently added tissues to our paper-free list. This didn't happen entirely on purpose, but I received some adorable cloth wipes from Dionna over at Code Name: Mama in exchange for something and I thought they were just so cute. I already had a good wipe stash and these were smaller and thinner than what we use (though normal for what many people use, so I hear!) so I thought they were perfect for my son's little boogies. Though he's had a few bouts of runny nose and colds, he's never gotten a chapped nose from his drippies because of these soft flannel wipes!

I confess that I haven't quite gotten used to the idea of reusable tissues for myself, but at least we're not going through very many these days. 

The last part of my cloth-conversion was mama cloth. I put off deciding what to do about feminine products for a really long time because I didn't get a period back after having Burkley until fifteen months postpartum (woo-hoo!). Finally though, the time came and I had to decide. I invested in some mama-cloth and thought I'd give it a try. I have to admit that I didn't love it. It rode up a lot and didn't stay in place very well. But, mentally, I at least knew I was avoiding putting as many bleached disposable products down where it counts, ya know? I'm not going to get into detail here as far as all that I use and do, and plus, it doesn't matter anymore anyway because I am done with that part of womanhood for the time being again. :)  I do plan to use more mama cloth postpartum, however. 

All of these changes have saved us lots of money and have saved our environment from waste; both results that make me happy.

Do you use cloth instead of paper in your home? Is there another area I could consider switching? We've never used paper products for eating from (plates, cups, plastic-ware, etc.) so that's not something I really included in this post. Any other thoughts?

Check out Sarah's post on what her family uses as various alternates to paper!