Cloth Diapers

This past week Simple Mom did a series on cloth diapering.  So I thought I would share with you how and why I use cloth diapers.  My mom used cloth diapers for all her children.  If  you remember I am the oldest of seven children so I had changed many a cloth diaper before becoming a parent.  This made it a fairly easy choice for me as I already had experience with it and knew that it really wasn't that difficult.  The main reason I cloth diaper is for the money savings.  I got many cloth diapers from my mom when I had my first child so I do it old school with flat folds, diaper pins, and I use a variety of diaper covers (pull ons, velcro on, whatever I can find for cheap). 

Here is a picture of a diaper folded and ready to go.  This one actually was a receiving blanket.  (They make great diapers and are pretty cheap.)  I believe this is called a kite or triangular fold.  If  you search on YouTube you can find lot's of videos showing various ways to fold cloth diapers.

Here it is pinned on LK.

And here he is with the water proof diaper cover on.  This one velcros on.

Now I don't exclusively cloth diaper.  I use cloth diapers when I am at home and disposables when I travel or am going to be away from home for a while.  There is a great post at Simple Organic about how cloth diapering doesn't have to be all or nothing. 

I don't find it to be any more difficult dealing with a poopy cloth diaper than a disposable one.  I just dump the poop in the toilet and throw the diaper in the diaper pail.  I wash diapers about every three days and I don't launder them any special way.  I just throw them in the washing machine like any other load of laundry.  I do line dry them in the summer like I do all my laundry.  (The sun does a good job of removing any stains there may be.)  In the winter I either hang them in the basement to dry or use the dryer.  The nice thing about flat diapers is they don't take much time to dry.

My diapers drying on the line.

So that's my cloth diapering story.  Like I said my decision to cloth diaper was mainly a financial one but I am glad to be also doing some good for the environment.  If you are interested in cloth diaper check out all the great info at Simple Mom and just give it a try.  It isn't as hard as one might think.



Planting Garden

Well this past week I finally got a little bit of garden planted.  I planted this 4 ft x 8 ft box using the square foot garden method. I have a large garden area but the soil is very heavy clay so last year I built a couple of boxes and added some purchased soil.  It seemed to work pretty well although shortly after planting the cows got out and had to investigate it.  They caused quite a bit of damage.  Hopefully that doesn't happen this year.  In this box I planted 8 squares of peas, 8 squares of carrots, 4 squares of beets, 2 squares of spinach, 2 squares of lettuce, 2 squares of beans, 2 squares of radishes, and 4 squares of onions.  So that is a lot of garden in a little space.  We will see how it grows this year.  I have a lot more I want to plant but it is supposed to rain most of this weekend.  So when the weather gets nice again I will be busy.

Earth Day

Today in honour of Earth Day I am going to list some of the things I do that are green and what I would like to improve on.  Most of the things that I do that are green I do because they are also frugal.  I definately want to help our environment, but it does help that these things also help us financially.

What I Do:
1.  I use cloth diapers all the time when I am at home.
2.  I use cloth rags for the majority of my cleaning, rarely paper towels.
3.  I use CFL's in the majority of my light fixtures.
4.  I donate to and shop at thrift stores.
5.  I line dry my laundry.
6.  I only wash clothes when they are actually dirty (we wear a lot of our clothes more than once).
7.  I do try to recycle most things.
8.  I have a garden and grow some of my own vegetables, as well as apples and raspberries.

Things I Want To Do Better:
1.  Turning off electronics and lights when not in use and teaching my children to do the same.
2.  Remembering to bring my cloth bags when I go shopping.
3.  Choosing products with less packaging.
4.  Buying organic and/or locally grown fruits and vegetables. (I struggle with the decision to buy organic because while green it is not frugal but I do think it is a good thing to do so I will try when I am able to buy organic this year).
5.  Being more conscious of the energy I use and try to reduce it.
6.  Use as much of the produce from the garden as I can.  Also try not to waste food.