Crunchy Habit to Try- May 2010

Coming up with a change to make for May was actually a bit of a challenge. I don't like to brag, but I feel like as a family, we already do quite a bit around the house to help the environment. I've used cloth diapers since Noah was about 1 month old, we rarely use anything disposable (no paper towels, no paper napkins, no paper plates...), I already hang my laundry (mostly my diapers) on the line to dry, I garden, I use natural cleaning solutions, natural bath & body products, etc. Finally though, I decided on a change. It's one of those things that I know some friends of mine probably do, but no one really talks about...
I've thought about doing it for awhile. Replacing pretty much the only disposable/single use paper item we still buy with a washable, reusable alternative. I wondered what Dave would say, if he'd do it, etc... then I decided it really didn't matter, because even if only I stopped using this one single use item, it would make a pretty big difference. Yep, I'm talking about toilet paper.

How, exactly, do you stop using toilet paper? Simple- I have about a zillion cloth wipes, little washcloths, scraps of fabric, etc. that I use on Faith's but in place of disposable baby wipes. I have at least 3-4 times as many as I need just for her. In fact, I have so many, that I had a bag of them that we'd used when she was still at the hospital (over a year ago now) that was just taking up space in the cupboard in our bathroom.
So, as I was cleaning out that cupboard and reorganizing it, I decided to just do it, and start using them in place of TP. I had a basket that sat on the back of the toilet and held a couple of washcloths and some little soaps, as a decoration. I took those things out, put the wipes in, and set it down next to the toilet under the TP holder. Then, I took the plastic wipes container that I used to keep Faith's wipes in, and set it next to the basket, to hold used wipes.
When the container is full, I will dump them in with a load of diapers to wash. It's that easy! And, as the only potty-using female in the house, I am naturally the largest consumer of TP in our home, so by replacing my TP use with washable, reusable wipes instead, I hope to make a big dent in our TP consumption! Replace TP with wipes for Noah, even more of a dent! And if I could eventually coax Dave into using the wipes instead, that would mean we would only be using toilet paper for guests!

How's it working so far? I actually prefer the wipes to toilet paper. They work MUCH better for Noah, too... and the roll is definitely lasting longer!