Saving the Planet

While waiting for Lili's adoption to become final, I told myself and Dave, that I would be using cloth diapers on Lili. I used cloth on the boys to save money and being a stay-at-home mom there really was no good reason for me not to use cloth diapers.

Lili came home in disposable diapers and has been in them ever since. Disposables are just too convenient. Go to the store, buy a box of diapers, and Velcro them on your child. Too easy! The other reason I never switched, (okay, maybe I should say "My other excuse . . . .) is that the choices in disposable diapers are easier than the choices in cloth. It truly is amazing how many different cloth diapers there are to choose from. When the boys were in diapers I had the choice between prefolded or birdseye cotton diapers. I bought cute little diaper pins and plain old rubber pants. Now there is no need for diaper pins and I'm sure rubber pants are now found in museums. My choices now are Velcro or snap diaper covers which come in a variety of colors and prints. I can still buy prefolded cotton diapers and diaper covers have replaced rubber pants. My other choice is an all-in-one diaper. There are many different diaper companies and each one advertises something a little different about their diapers. I have to admit that having so many choices made the thought of switching a bit intimidating, but earlier this week I decided to check into cloth diapers again and found a woman who has a "diaper business" in her home. Yesterday Lili and I went to talk to her about all the choices and to see exactly what the differences are between cloth diapers. Wow!!!! She had shelves and shelves of different brands and each had something that was unique about them. After about a half hour of talking diapers, I made the switch from disposable to cloth. Yes folks, Lili has been home over a year, we're just a few short months from potty training and I bought cloth diapers. But not just any cloth diapers, I bought prefolded unbleached Japanese cotton diapers with diaper covers that fit babies between 10 lbs and 40 lbs. Not only do they fit Lili now, but they will fit Naomi when she comes home. The diaper covers I bought are by a company called "Blueberry." At the suggestion of my new 'diaper expert' friend, I also purchased an all-in-one diaper made by "Bum Genius." She recommended the Bum Genius all-in-one diaper for night time. I also ordered some "gDiapers," which arrived today. These are washable diaper covers with a biodegradable insert. The gDiapers will be used primarily for travel.

I really feel good about my decision to make the switch, even if I made it much later than I had intended. Considering the fact that we go through approximately 180 diapers a month, even if she's potty trained in two months, I've kept at least 360 diapers out of our landfill. By-the-way, did you know that it takes a disposable diaper about 500 years to biodegrade? Yuck!!

There is another reason I switched. Money! Even though Lili is only going to be using diapers for a little while longer, eventually Naomi will be here and I'll have everything I need to immediately put her in cloth diapers. Just doing some quick math, we will save at least $280 per year by switching to cloth diapers. I'm guessing I'll have at least 2 more years of diapering (probably a little more), but we will save at least $560.

So, I'm trying to help save the planet and our wallets by using cloth diapers. In addition, we are now growing our own vegetables, I'm riding my bike to run errands around town, as our light bulbs burn out I'm replacing them with CFL bulbs, I use reusable cloth bags for shopping and we recycle our aluminum cans. I informed Dave that I want a clothes line in the yard to cut down on the amount of energy we're using by running the dryer and I need to start recycling our plastics and papers.

I'm looking for more ways to 'save the planet,' so please share what you are doing.