| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| rabbithorns |
Posted - Jan 28 2009 : 08:50:58 AM
I made a list once and one by one stopped buying disposables. I sewed all the reusables I needed to replace them if I didn't already have something to replace them
I made new handkerchiefs out of 2 very fine linen shirts I thrifted (one sky blue and one pink).
I use cloth TP made from birdseye. And of course, elasticized bowl covers instead of plastic wrap (handmade from old embroidered dresser scarves.)
What do you use to replace disposables?
http://www.rabbithorns.etsy.com & www.wayofthewife.blogspot.com |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| urban chickie |
Posted - May 09 2010 : 9:13:12 PM
Recently I have seen the PUL laminated fabric in a thin knit fabric rather than the usual, stiffer cotton woven. This fabric is thin and waterproof, and would be very easy to sew. I think I am going to make a set of elastic edged circles to use as container tops. That would keep food stuffs without drying them out I think. I don't use plastic wrap very often - I have bought a roll once every few years - but this would eliminate the need completely. I haven't bought paper towels in years, use fabric for most cleaning and recycled newspapers for glass. But sorry, I am not ready to give up tp or tampons!!
Catherine
Farmgirl #1370
City Girl By Birth,
Suburbanite By Location,
Farmgirl at Heart
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| IrishHarp |
Posted - May 08 2010 : 07:12:05 AM
Well, I tried to use cloth diapers with my son. Had a diaper service and everything. It lasted a couple of weeks. Despite my almost obsessive changing every time he even thought about being wet, his poor little tushie was red and irritated. I was breastfeeding, and did everything I could think of. Creams and barrier ointments, etc. The Pediatrician, who was a cloth diaper advocate, said that some babies, especially very fair skinned ones, just react strongly to exposure to urine and stool. He said in the old days these babies simply had to go bare-bottomed most of the time! that wasn't really practical for people who spend a lot of time indoors. He comforted me with the thought that diapers are only temporary anyway. Darn! I really wanted to use cloth. I didn't find it difficult at all, 'course I did have that service. We're still using the cloth diapers that we bought extra. He's 24 now! hah.
Farmgirl #1230
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. -Oscar Wilde
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| Faransgirl |
Posted - Jan 10 2010 : 6:43:49 PM
I just finished crocheting my first sponge. Geez it was easy and took under an hour for the first one. Others will be faster now that I know what I am doing. We are doing more with dishtowels and less with paper towels. I never liked kitchen sponges now I am glad I know how to make my own. Thanks. Oh, I used cloth diapers for all three of my girls. Two in diapers at once kept my machine pretty busy but it was way better than disposable. I only used disposable when I traveled.
Farmgirl Sister 572
May the force of the horse be with you. |
| Fiddlehead Farm |
Posted - Jan 10 2010 : 06:51:25 AM
Wow, sounds like we are all saving the earth a little at a time. I just wish more people would do the same. I see so many just tossing stuff in the trash without even thinking about it. Especially the plastic bottles. I have gotten my trash down to just one small bag a week. I shred paper and use it in my composte. That is where all my kitchen scraps go also. I never use paper or plastic plates or utensils. I save the plastic bowls that so many things come in and use them for left-overs and as paint containers etc. I did recently find biodegradable garbage bags! I recycle and then recylce some more!
Why not go out on a limb, that's where all the fruit is! "Mark Twain"
http://studiodiphotosite.shutterfly.com/ |
| Perennial |
Posted - Jan 10 2010 : 06:07:27 AM
I do my best with not using disposables, I still have a ways to go though. I can say that when i had my kids 16 months apart, we did cloth diapers by Motherease (they are made in canada). It saved me thousands and i then passed them onto a friend who used them for 2 or 3 of her kids. These diapers had snaps at thigh and hip so they were almost like a disposable diaper, then as the kids got a bit older, i bought a liner pad. The whole process was quite easy once I figured out what to buy and how to clean them, etc. |
| electricdunce |
Posted - Oct 26 2009 : 3:14:11 PM
I used cloth diapers on both my children, I broke the washing machine with the second child. It is definitely more work than disposable, but better for the babies and the universe....
If you wrap cheese in aluminum foil that really helps cut down on the mold. I only learned this recently, I can't remember where.
Karin
Farmgirl Sister #153
"Give me shelter from the storm" - Bob Dylan
http://moodranch.blogspot.com
http://domesticnonsense.etsy.com |
| emsmommy5 |
Posted - Oct 25 2009 : 10:23:40 AM
Rebekka Mae... I am glad to hear the scrubbies are still holding up after a year!! I was sitting down with the family just chatting last night and whipped up 5 more in less than an hour or so!
I love this topic and want to do more... it's tough battling the family. But I am working on it!
I reuse all kind of things. Make rugs out of fabric and yarn. grocery sacks. turn used jars into shakers and storage containers. Re-purpose all kinds of things around the house.
Do what you love, love what you do. |
| MotherLodeBeth |
Posted - Oct 24 2009 : 6:53:58 PM
I always have used cloth towels and mop heads, and use (ok you may laugh) the dollar store shower caps as bowl covers. And I use washable pads for my menses. Always used cloth diapers. Made my own zero weight mesh bags for when I do get fruits we dont grow, at the farmers market. Use canvas shopping bads. When I cannot make my own butter I buy butter in one or five pound chunks. Organi milk comes in glass jugs that are returned to the store.Use a stainless steel reusable water container rather than buy water in bottles. Also make my own ice. Old cotton t shirts get reused as dust clothes and for washing the car etc. ~Beth~
~MotherLodebeth- I was born in the wrong era~ |
| FreedomAcresFarmGirl |
Posted - Oct 22 2009 : 8:22:57 PM
We are completely disposable free at our house. We use rags rather than paper towels, hamemade cotton napkins, homemade pocket diapers (kinda like the Happy Heiny's ones), cloth sanitary napkins, family cloth wipes made out of scrap flannel (even have my 4 year old trained!! and hubby is a huge supporter), we even got rid of all of our plastic tupperware. Hubby hated it and we have gone to completely using glass pyrex bowls with lids and LOTS and LOTS of glass canning jars quart, half gallon, gallon, pint, etc... for food storage both in the fridge and in the pantry. I absolutely LOVE not having to touch the paper isle at the grocery store!!!! - - I love this discussion too! - People can not beleive that we actually are disposable free but when you change your lifestyle to one of radical frugality and complete thinking outside the box so as to not waste resources you tend to well, get radical!!! - - Brenda
Do what you can with what you have where you are. ~T. Roosevelt |
| CathyM |
Posted - Sep 22 2009 : 1:59:40 PM
I use cotton cloth napkins I make,
just started to use dishclothes,
I make and use my own shopping bags (I keep 3 rolled up in my purse),
I only use pyrex bowls with lids for leftovers and lunches, they are less expensive at Walmart,
Tennis balls (3) in my dryer (I live in and apartment  ) instead of dryer sheets,
I do hang all my t-shirts and jeans in the bathroom,
I use about 1 - 2 tables spoons of laundry detergent in every wash (it's not the soap/detergent that gets your clothes clean it's the mix or water and the agitation of the washer, LOL)
When this box of laundry detergent runs out I am either going to try to make my own or find one of you ladies to barter with for some  ,
I am I use vinegar in my rinse cycle to soften the clothes and towels,
downsizing from all these pans I have and only keeping the ones I use all the time, again mostly the pyrex that has a lid so I can store it in the same pan.
I make and can my own apple sauce and cranberry sauce, and am going to try my hand at jams.
I dehydrate everything,
I buy in bulk when possible,
I re-purpose clothes all the time,
Um that's all I can think of right now lol.
Farmgirl Sister #710
"Not all who wander are lost"
JRR Tolkien |
| mommatracy |
Posted - Sep 21 2009 : 6:49:06 PM
I have all but stopped buying paper towels. My husband gets a little grumpy about it. I bought the Food Lion 360o(degree) brand of paper towels yesterday,one roll. It was the cheapest priced. I used one square and smoothed it out. Came back later,it was dry. I used it several times and it never ripped! I never buy the multiple packs of paper towels anymore. I have never used sponges anyway, always thought they harbored bacteria. I made my crocheted dishclothes. I store food in containers with lids in the fridge. I also save takeout containers and re-use them. I use hankies. I wipe out the skillet with old towel clothes I save. I used cloth diapers when our girls were babies. Used pampers for church or visiting out of town. I wrap sandwiches in cloth napkins. I use cloth napkins that I mostly made.
www.cottagebythebay.blogspot.com |
| Rebekka Mae |
Posted - May 14 2009 : 10:26:22 AM
Angie Buckley on the forums crocheted me some fabulous scrubbies with cotton yarn and netting that are a year old and work great- I love having both textures when I am washing dishes and when they get old I toss them in my bathtub cleaning basket..they are great for that as well.
As an aside do any of you make your own cleaning spray with basil or parsley oil (can I even get those scents?)- I just bought some Mrs. Meyers on clearance and it smells divine!
We are still using toilet paper and have pretty much phased out paper towels (we have one roll for drying the cast iron skillet- I lost too many good tea towels before I gave into the one roll- we use one roll per month for this purpose). Now I have a good collection of hankies, cleaning cloths, napkins, diapers (I do use disposables at night because washing the sheets each morning was a huge time suck and my little ones wet through), I also make reusable menstrual pads.
www.bebebella.etsy.com
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| AlyssaMarie |
Posted - May 14 2009 : 09:55:26 AM
Ooops I just saw the post for the pattern. Thanks!
AlyssaMarie @ Link'd Hearts Ranch
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| AlyssaMarie |
Posted - May 14 2009 : 09:52:42 AM
I would love to see a pattern too. We have sponges now that get so yucky and they don't wash well. Having something I could wash and reuse would be great! We are having our third child in the fall. We decided to go with cloth diapers for this baby after using disposable with the first two. I was in college and working with the first two so I wasn't given a choice by our daycare. Now that I'm home with kids and have the time for washing, it just made sense and cloth even made sense financially. And after two boys, nothing in a dirty diaper phases me anymore. A friend of mine lent me some of her cloth diaper wraps to make my own patterns and stuff. I've been trying to decide if it would be cheaper to sew the cloth diapers as well as the wraps.
AlyssaMarie @ Link'd Hearts Ranch
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| Peg Graham |
Posted - May 14 2009 : 06:45:55 AM
not completely...yet. however, we are redusing, reusing and recycling quite a bit.
-laptop lunches: http://www.laptoplunches.com/ (wash daily, nothing to throw away)
-reuse empty soda bottle as hot houses in the garden
-using paper towel and toilet paper rolls for arts & crafts
-using paper grocery sacks for dirty cat box changes
-bring your own st. steel bottle or travel mug to refill
-donate magazines to schools for art or make paper beads, gift wrap, collages from them.
-shred all junk mail and unwanted papers and use for easter baskets, gifts, mulch for garden.
-crochet market bags for fruits and veggies
-buy packaging that can be recycled
-make homemade cleaners and save on extra boxes, bottles, etc...
(vinegar/borax/baking soda/essential oils...not as much waste as the Name brand items and better for you too).
-buy glass jars and reuse as: vases, pencil holders, Fairy Jars, button keepers, gifts-in-a-jar, etc...
-use linen napkins
-Summertime idea: make your own popsicles and build bird houses from leftover wooden sticks (so cute)!
miles of smiles~
Peg
http://thelavenderfairy.blogspot.com/ |
| idsweetie72 |
Posted - Apr 10 2009 : 4:57:05 PM
Sometime ago- over a year I believe- I stopped buying paper towels- sponges-paper napkins- and a host of other things- this drove my family CRAZY for a time- but when they saw I was serious they stopped whining and pitched in- I have cloth napkins that I make from old sheets/pillow cases I thrift- the same with dish clothes- I thrift the flannel sheets.cases- and make dish clothes out of them- I don't bring my own bag to get groceries with though- I use paper, save it up- and decorate it for wrapping presents-
Mazy Day Farm |
| bohemiangel |
Posted - Apr 10 2009 : 10:09:25 AM
my mum used cloth diapers with PINS on me! :) This was 1982 mind you :-p We still have the diapers and use them as rags. I too want to do the cloth diaper thing and try my hand at homemade baby food! :)
**~~Farmgirl Sister #60~~**
"... to thine ownself be true."
http://liggybitsandpieces.blogspot.com/
http://ligonierliving.blogspot.com/
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| StitchinWitch |
Posted - Feb 10 2009 : 5:25:50 PM
My sister gave me a "Sanitary Cheese Preserver" she found in a thrift shop. It is a lidded heavy glass container with 1/2 inch cleats on the inside bottom. On the lid it states" Place one third pint vinegar and one tablespoonful salt in bottom slightly diluted with water" and "Remove lid daily" The cheese is placed on top of the cleats. If you can't find one (I've never seen another one), something could be improvised that would work as well.
Judith
Happiness is Homemade |
| cinnamongirl |
Posted - Feb 03 2009 : 6:24:51 PM
http://www.tulle.net/project.asp There you are Becky |
| MissDana |
Posted - Feb 03 2009 : 5:41:32 PM
Becky, I have a pattern for one of those. I'll check on it and post it.
Proud Farmgirl Sister # 267
www.schultztroupe.wordpress.com
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| jumpingjuliet |
Posted - Feb 03 2009 : 4:38:18 PM
Has anyone ever crocheted the round tule scrubbies? An older neighbor of my mom's gave me some for a wedding present but I have worn them out and she has passed away. So I don't know where to get a pattern and I can't figure those things out.
Toodles,
Becky
WOOOOHOOO!
Farmgirl #429
Gonna get cracking on those badges:D |
| jumpingjuliet |
Posted - Feb 03 2009 : 4:35:56 PM
I love the crocheted sponge... I think I can even tackle one of these and my crocheting attention span is very short. Thanks for the inspiration.
Toodles,
Becky
WOOOOHOOO!
Farmgirl #429
Gonna get cracking on those badges:D |
| MissDana |
Posted - Feb 02 2009 : 07:06:43 AM
Ladies, my mother gave me 6 months of a diaper service with each of my babies! It was brilliant! They dropped off clean cloth diapers and picked up the dirty ones!!! After 6 months, I just did them myself. I am a BIG fan of cloth diapers!
Proud Farmgirl Sister # 267
www.schultztroupe.wordpress.com
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| Alee |
Posted - Feb 01 2009 : 10:16:34 PM
Allison- I would have LOVED to have had 6 dozen diapers! lol
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our blog: www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
| rabbithorns |
Posted - Feb 01 2009 : 10:11:40 PM
Alee, you crack me up. My mother bought me 6 dozen cloth diapers the day after I knew I was pregnant with my first. I think it was from the old "wash on Monday" habit of only doing the wash once a week.
http://www.rabbithorns.etsy.com & www.wayofthewife.blogspot.com |
