I'm in a Blogging Funk, so I'm taking a few days off

I had a pretty crappy day yesterday - both online and in real life, I've fallen behind in my chores at home, and I'm having trouble sleeping for some reason. So I've decided to take a few days off from blogging. I'll see you back here on Monday with the next challenge.

A few final thoughts about cloth diapers:

Lina commented on Monday:

Hi - Just a rah-rah for anyone taking on this challenge. We've used Fuzzi Bunz for all 3 of our kids now and have gotten so used to them that we even take them on trips with us (mostly because we tend to only go visit family and friends with washing machines :). I just wanted to echo your cost savings point. We have a 4 year old, a 3 year old (both now out of diapers) and a 6 month old and we haven't bought any diapers, cloth or disposable, since 2005.

I just wanted to give a little shout out to Lina because she was actually my inspiration for giving cloth a try four years ago, and I bet she never knew it. :)

I was planning to write a post this week relating what we've tried, but I don't feel up to it. So if anyone is thinking about using cloth diapers and wants some help wading through all the options, shoot me an email - I'm happy to help.

Finally, I hope you'll check out my post today at the Green Phone Booth: Bagels and Pretzels and Breadsticks Oh My! It includes lots of the yummy snack recipes we've been trying out this month. And don't forget to check out my guest post at It's Frugal Being Green!

See you in a few days!

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Save Money with Cloth Diapers

I'm over at The Green Phone Booth today, calculating the cost of cloth vs. disposable:

When my youngest was about six month's old, my husband and I decided we were probably maybe most likely not having any more kids so there was no reason to hang on to all of our baby stuff. So as my little guy grew out of each phase of babyhood, I thrifted, Craigslisted, and Freecycled the clothes, shoes, bottles, toys, mobile, bedding, bouncy seat, and exersaucer that had gotten me through three babies, and then I stored the rest in a box in my attic.

You know what's in that box? The treasured baby possessions that I just couldn't bear to part with?

• the outfit all three of my boys were christened in
• the Moby wrap I got for my last baby that sparked a Moby wrap fad among my friends
• two sizes of Fuzzibunz diapers and Thirsties wraps

As strange as it may sound, I couldn't let go of my cloth diapers.

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Challengicious Monday: Green Your Diapers

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your next trash-related challenge:

Green Your Diapers

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

• Switch to eco-friendly diapers. Look for chlorine-free and fragrance-free, and avoid sodium polyacrylate if you can. (Sodium polyacrylate is the chemical in the super-absorbent gel-like balls found inside modern disposable diapers, and some studies indicate that it causes infertility in boys. The jury is still out on this, so make your best judgement.)
  

JOGGING STRIDE

• Use cloth diapers at home. If your daycare service won't accept cloth or if you just can't handle cloth on the go, be a part time cloth user - use cloth at home and disposables everywhere else. You'll still save money and reduce your waste line.
  

MARATHON RUNNER

• Use cloth diapers full time. Modern cloth diapers are completely different from cloth of the past. You may be surprised how easy and convenient it is to use cloth.
  

The cloth vs. disposable debate is one of those unavoidable and unanswerable green questions. Like paper vs. plastic, it depends on whom you ask. There are certainly acceptable green options for disposable diapers, and if you're absolutely opposed to cloth diapering (you don't have a washer/dryer in your home, you live in a high-drought area, you have a germophobia), I'm not going to look down on you for choosing disposables. In my opinion, the important thing is that you've made a conscious choice.

And yet...I also think cloth diapers are the best choice for a Conscious Shopper because they save so much money. Later this week, I'll break down the cloth diapering money savings for you.

I know that this challenge is targeted at a very few of you readers. For those of you who haven't had kids yet, I hope you'll at least give cloth diapers a second look. And for those of you who are beyond this stage of life, use this week to take a look back at past challenges and reassess how you've been doing.

I've been using cloth diapers since First Son was just past two and Second son was approaching a year. Unfortunately, we've never figured out the nighttime cloth situation. I know other people are able to do it, but my boys have gotten crazy bad rashes from soaking in wet cloth all night.

So with Second Son and Third Son, we've done full time cloth until they started sleeping through the night, and then we switched to cloth during the day and disposable at night. My challenge this week is to give cloth at night one more try. But even if it doesn't work, I'm hoping to be diaper free within the next six months. (Fingers crossed for an easy potty training.)

For more specific information about greening your diapers, check out I Need...Diapers.

Will you take the challenge?

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays.

Like what you see? Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook! You can also find me over at The Green Phone Booth.

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I Need...Diapers

My Cloth Decision

Supposedly, if you crunch the numbers on the environmental impact of cloth and disposables, considering what they are made of (for cloth), how they're manufactured (for disposables), how they're washed (for cloth), and how they're disposed of (for disposables), you end up with a tie. I'm not a scientist, and I don't have all the data, so I can't tell you which studies to believe. But for me, there were lots of other considerations that led me to cloth:

1. Some (if not all) of the criticisms with cloth are solvable. Pesticides in cotton fields? Buy organic cotton diapers. Lots of water used in washing? Use an Energy Star washer. Too much energy used in Drying? Line dry your diapers. The problems with disposables are not that easy to solve. Even so-called biodegradable diapers will not biodegrade in a landfill (although they are compostable in a home composting system if done properly).
   
2. Cloth diapers put human waste where it belongs, in the sewage system. It's actually illegal to put human waste in the landfill, but this is not enforced with disposable diapers. The practice of throwing dirty diapers in the landfill has the potential for massive water contamination, considering all of the diapers thrown away every year (95% of U.S. babies wear disposables). The Green Guide suggests, "If you use disposables, flush any fecal material down the toilet before throwing it away, to reduce the possibility of contaminating water supplies."
   
3. Cloth diapers are cheap and can be used over and over and over, so financially, they are definitely the better option. I've used most of the same diapers with all three of my kids, and they are still going strong. When you're finished diapering, you can use the cloth part as durable rags and pass the plastic cover on to a friend.
4. Most cloth diaper companies (both the companies making them and the companies selling them) are run by work at home parents, and I am always in favor of screwing the Man to support a small business. :)
   
5. Some studies suggest that the chemicals used in disposables could be toxic and might cause infertility in boys. I'm not sure if I believe that, but as a mother of boys, I choose to be safe rather than sorry.
6. Cloth diapers say, "I care." Maybe the scientific evidence says that cloth and disposables are equal, but the truth is that most people believe that cloth is better for the environment. And whether or not that's true, every time I take my cloth-diapered baby out into public, I'm letting people know that I'm making a conscious effort to do my part to care for the environment and be a less wasteful person. And hopefully, encouraging them to do the same.
   

Dispose Wisely

If you choose not to go with cloth, at least be a Conscious Shopper. There are many better options out there besides Pampers and Huggies. Here are a few possibilities that I've seen. (Note that I have never tried any of these diapers, so I cannot vouch for their effectiveness.)

• Seventh Generation
  
• The Good: Chlorine-free, fragrance-free, latex-free. Seventh Generation is a great company that tries to be socially and environmentally responsible and discloses all ingredients.
  
• The Not-So-Good: They use sodium polyacrylate (the gel-like superabsorbant balls inside the diaper that may or may not be bad).
• Cost: $42.99 for a pack of 176 size 1 diapers at Amazon ($0.25 each)

• Tushies
• The Good: The absorbent part of the diaper is made of a mixture of cotton and wood pulp rather than sodium polyacrylate. They are also chlorine free.
• The Not-So-Good: Because they are gel-free, they require more diaper changes than a typical disposable, which is a consideration since they're expensive.
  
• Cost: $43.63 for a pack of 160 small diapers at Amazon ($0.27 each)
  

• Gdiapers
• The Good: A cross between cloth and disposables, these diapers use a cotton outer pant with a flushable insert. If you flush the insert, you're putting waste in the sewage system, not the landfill. They are Cradle to Cradle certified. The company tries to ensure fair working conditions in their China factories that make the outer pants, and the inserts are made in Ohio. The absorbent part of the inserts are fluffed wood pulp, rather than sodium polyacrylate.
• The Not-So-Good: A lot of the reviews I've seen say that these are difficult to use, and they end up with a lot of leaks. I have not tried them, so I can't say.
  
• Cost: $16.99 for the covers, $52 for a pack of 160 inserts from gDiaper.com ($0.33 each).
  

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