Toilet paper

I promised to elaborate on the whole not using toilet paper thing. For the last ten months, we have gone paperless in our home, and I love it! We gave up paper towels, paper napkins, toilet paper, tissues, and feminine products. Every time I talk to people about this they look shocked. They wonder if I wipe with the hand they just shook. I don't blame them. At first, I was totally into using dish towels instead of paper towels. Cloth napkins instead of paper. Handkerchiefs instead of tissues. But toilet paper?! That just seemed gross. After doing a lot of reading about how much water is polluted in the process of making toilet paper, and how many acres of old growth forest are cut down, not to mention how much money we spend on toilet paper for a family of five, I decided it was worth a try. After all, how do I know something won't work, or that I won't like it if I don't at least try. I cut up some old washcloths and used a couple of old baby wipe containers. I put the clean wipes in one container with a solution of water and a teaspoon or two of Dr. bronners soap. I labeled the other container "used wipes" and sat it on the floor beside the toilet. To my surprise, most everyone liked it. Now this might be TMI, but if that's the case you have come to the wrong blog! The wipes washed up easily, and were much nicer to use than tp. I mean think about it, if you got poop on your hand, would you want to wash it, or just wipe it off with a piece of paper? Um, yeah, I thought so. I like having a clean butt all the time :) I ended up ordering several sets of thin baby washcloths off of Amazon. Probably spent about $30 in all, and we have about sixty wipes. I also bought a couple of squeeze bottle bidet things. That way you can wash with water before you wipe! Even cleaner butts! Since then, we haven't gone back. It's cheap, easy, and better for the planet. I do keep a couple of rolls of recycled tp around for company, but we would never choose to use it again.
    As for the feminine products, I bought reusable organic cotton panty liners, and something called a moon cup (also known as a diva or menstrual cup) from a company called Glad rags. I won't get into all the reasons that shoving a piece of chemical soaked cotton into your vagina for a week every month is probably not a good idea, but tampons are expensive, and eliminating another cost made me really happy. I also really like these products, and think that they are far more comfortable, healthier, cheaper, and better for the planet! Hooray for clean butts and happy vaginas!