Reusable loo paper!

Magentasue

I used terry nappies for my first two children. I had two buckets out by the back door and stored them there. Didn't use Napisan or anything, just stored them in bucket and boil washed every other day. Third baby, used some disposables as I was at college term times and neighbour used to do some childminding on the days when I was at uni and OH was working. Fourth baby was almost all disposables because I did my PGCE and, OH was refusing to use terry nappies. Both 'systems' worked fine. No more babies but if I had to make the decision now, it would be made solely on whether I'd be home or at work. As for the toilet cloths, er, not for me. But, can't see a problem if that's what other people want to do. Not sure about the eco-cost though - I can see a few cloths won't make a big impact on laundry loads but I havr four children and we go through a loo roll a day.

savvy

RIGHT! May I remind some people of Martin's view > "Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps."

Now MY view > The above may also be applied to moneysaving/green/ethical suggestions too! If it's not for you, how about just politely saying so and then moving on to another thread

And I'll tell you what is disgusting, people leaving their dog's mess all over the place for others to tread or little kids to fall in, or putting it in bags and flinging it into trees so it hangs for all to see, gobbing great greenies all over over the place, urine enhanced public toilets, drug paraphenalia strewn about in our countryside, used tampons, sanitary towels, condoms, shopping trollys, stolen cars and dead bodies floating about in our waterways, chewing gum stuck all over the place, fag butts thrown about, people flinging their cr*p out of car windows, and junk food rubbish thrown around the place including on top of mountain in Wales in the middle of nowhere!!! :mad::mad::mad: Just some of the stuff I've seen whilst out enjoying the country!!!!

At least this lady is trying to keep her impact on the environment low unlike some people in this country!

s_baker_2

For what it's worth: - I don't condone being offensive to people, but I do have issues with using re-usable wipes.

1)The difference between a terry nappy' and this, is the different diets we have to babies. Therefore, we have a greater amount of bacteria in our faeces than babies do. Hence why you should never compost human or cat/dog waste along with conventional compost - our different diets and coupled with different digestion systems - hence why you can quite legitimately put horse poo on your vegetable patch, but not your own. (unless of course it has been properly decomposed).

2)There is a difference between using a handful of leaves, and storing up old rags in a bucket and washing them. A handful of leaves or a sponge which is washed immediately is very different to saving something to deal with later.

3)Those who mentioned putting the used paper in the bin to put onto the compost heap well point 1) deals with this, but also bear in mind that toilet paper is designed to quickly break down, in the sewage system and is actually probably beneficial to the breakdown of other organic matter. (a bit like putting hay/straw in your compost heap).

Of course, I cannot 100% verify every single thing I have said, but what I have said I believe to be true, if you do know differently though, do let us know.

perfectlypoor

I think it ok for number one's but as for "no 2's" that IMO is gross.

[Deleted User]

Please save paper; use both sides.
:rotfl:

belfastgirl23

wow I can't believe the strong opinions on this thread.

For my penny's worth (no pun intended) it makes total sense to use reusable wipes for no 1s - urine is sterile anyway and mostly made up of water. I don't do this personally I have to admit but more for reasons of laziness than anything else. I also wouldn't have a big problem in putting wipes into a 30 degree wash - after all i wash all underwear at 30 and it will also presumably have traces of urine.

For no 2s though it only makes sense in the situation the OP has described where you are dealing with nappies anyway - environmentally it would be much harder to justify if you were having to have special soaking buckets and put the machine on solely for this. And I must admit on a personal basis I would find this a bit ickier....I don't think I could ever manage it.

I can't believe people are grossed out by a little bit of pee though! Personally I have great admiration for the OP for taking the extra step to be green that many of us lazier greenies don't manage.

shirlgirl2004

s_baker wrote: »

For what it's worth: - I don't condone being offensive to people, but I do have issues with using re-usable wipes.

1)The difference between a terry nappy' and this, is the different diets we have to babies. Therefore, we have a greater amount of bacteria in our faeces than babies do. Hence why you should never compost human or cat/dog waste along with conventional compost - our different diets and coupled with different digestion systems - hence why you can quite legitimately put horse poo on your vegetable patch, but not your own. (unless of course it has been properly decomposed).

There was no difference in diet between my 18 month old child's diet and mine except for the occassional curry. We don't stop using cloth nappies at 6 months you know!


EDIT and just for info I washed both my children's nappies at 40 degrees once they were past 3 months (except for if they were mega mucky when they were washed at 60) and apart from the occassional cold they have never been ill. Mind you I never let them try to eat them, that would be gross, they just wore them on their bottoms which is where the bacteria originates from!

A_fiend_for_life

If in doubt ask mum.

Mum's nappy drill was to flush the nappy liner and offending contents. Rinse any excess off the nappy if there was any (presumably in the water as it was flushing as would then need to sterilize the sink) and soak the nappies in Napisan overnight before washing on a boil wash.
I'm not sure what Napisan contains so I don't know how strong it is.

Back on track...if you did the same with wipes would it be any worse than leaving pants in the laundry basket for three or four days or does everyone have spotless skids?

Bare in mind I think OP also mentioned reusing old cloth for wipes so the carbon footprint there is already 'spent'.

Regarding the water usage: the water for soaking could come from grey water from the shower so no extra water is used. The old water form the Napisan bucket could be used to flush the last brown before washing the bucket load, so to speak. You'd still need to rinse the bucket so that is an extra 'flush' at least.

Let the mud slinging begin.:cool:

s_baker_2

I still think though, that it is not really worth it.

Listeners to Jeremy Vine, may remember when Martin was on a few weeks ago, getting listeners to send in their own energy saving suggestions. There was one who said that their grandmother used to save the washing up water to boil for her hot water bottle. Now I am sure if we all did this, we would save a considerable amount of energy, but is it really worth it?

In my (humble) Opinion, for something to be worthwhile it has to cover the following points:

- Does it save you money?

- Is it more environmentally friendly?

- Is it actually worth it?

Personally, and if you want to use them, than that is your choice, but I see this a bit like sticking your hand down a drain to retrieve 1p, is it really worth it? There is a difference between being a bit thrifty with your money, and going beyond the boundaries. I also think you need a strong stomach to deal with it, I don't think I could do it, and I think I have a fairly strong stomach.

And fair point about your 18 month old having the same diet as you - I won't argue it, because I don't really have a clue what babies eat. (although I always assumed that at least until toddler age - there were things, proteins, and fats etc that they wouldn't have in the same proportions to us, but I don't know). However - we do eat a lot more food than babies do!

shirlgirl2004

I think the OP posted what she considers to be a worthwhile thing to do. It is then up to each of us to make our own minds up if this is worth it for us. For me the answer is no but each to their own.

RE babies eating different food. No I chose to wean my baby straight onto the food off my plate. We eat healthily without adding salt and cooking from scratch so those things aside there is no difference except to add that children under 2 should not be given low fat products because they need the extra energy to make their puppy fat :rotfl: . I don't like low fat so that's not a problem