I've been meaning to write this blog for a while. And with the 'carnival of cloth' blog carnival going on (even though I'm not a part of it), this seemed like the perfect oppertunity.
When I was pregnant with bubby I was about 50% sure that I wanted to do cloth. And hubby was 100% adamant that he would in no way shape or form cloth diaper because that might mean touching poo. he's still a little skittish about that. But I bought a batch of all in ones and we did a 50/50 split of cloth and 'sposies. As long as I did all the laundry. Which I'm totally OK with, but still hate folding. Anyway. And we still do a split with cloth and disposable, but now its more of a 75/25 split. Oh, and we've switched to prefolds and snappies over all in ones. So much easier!
I connected in a big way with local cloth mommas thanks to friends like Andi from Confessions of a Judgmental Hippy who was one of my besties from even before children. They pointed me in the right directions as far as books and websites on natural parenting and AP topics. something about this just clicked with me, though im by no means an expert. its not 'parent led', or 'child led' parenting, but its what works best for your family. And I love that. Its what works for us. Not nessissarily what works for someone else. But that's another blog post (no, really, it is, July 12) This natural parenting research led me to think about things in a totally different way. Especially in the products that I use for and ON my family.
Looking at all the toxins that are in the average cleaning product my head exploded into little flying bits of gray matter. After thinking it over and deciding that I didn't want to give my son athsma/infertility/cancer/bleeding death, I switched to using vinegar and baking soda or borax for almost everything. I made my own laundry soap for a while, but the recipe I used got the clothes clean, but there was a stale smell that settled into the clothes after a month or so, but I'm going to give it another shot with a tweaked recipe and adding a downey ball of vinegar for the rinse cycle. I've made my own soap for years as a hobby, so that was not a big switch.
Next was momma cloth, which I love. I won't go too far into it (as I'm planing a whole post about momma cloth soon), but cramps have gone down, and pms is waaaaaay down since I've started using my momma cloth. Coincidence? I don't think so. Any who. We stopped buying paper towels and have relied on 'flour sack' towels for months now, and I'm not sure hubby even noticed. And I'm headed out on my lunch break to buy fat quarters to make napkins. Walmart has their pe cut fat quaers on sale for just. 75 each, so ill be getting a BUNCH of them. The next step is to switch from regular hair dye to henna. And before you ask, no, I'm not ever going to stop dying my hair. Ever. So put that thought out of your mind. I'm in my 30's, not my 90's.
So, yeah, cloth diapering is responsible for me being a hippy.
Henna gives an awesome color but it is nasty and takes foreeeevvvveeerrrrr to do, but I have never found an in the box dye that comes close to the vibrant red of henna. Trick to wash it out ( which is really hard, it turns to mud ) is go buy a cheap dollar bottle of conditioner and wash the henna out with it. When my hair was long it took a whole bottle but now just half now that it is much shorter!
ReplyDeleteI wish this had been part of the carnival. It's so inspiring (but I'm glad you're taking the carnival plunge anyway :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that cloth diapers are often the gateway to paperless households. They certainly were for me, too. I'm looking forward to your mama cloth post!