Paid to cloth diaper

I sure wish people would make up their frickin' minds. LOL!
Here is an article, also from the UK, that says cloth are really no better than disposables!
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23402726-details/The+great+re...
(sorry, can't remember how to do that html thing with the links and too lazy to find the book in the other room and look it up! LOL!)

Actually, the article I'm referring to was written a couple of months ago as opposed to last year. So I'm assuming the Nappy Campaign that it is referring to is the one your article is talking about. So, I guess to answer your question, it wasn't successful.

I've read that the ecological impact of the type of diaper you use depends upon where you live -- is it worse to use water or landfill in your region? -- and how you launder -- are you dumping tons of evil chemicals in there?

I think I read this in Consumer Reports, but I don't have a subcription anymore so I can't look it up.

I think the household cost-benefit ratio favors cloth -- often even a diaper service can be comparable to disposables!

Shaun
www.redseahomeschool.wordpress.com

Is usually they don't account for the cloth diaper existing over time; you don't have to re-create the diaper every single time you use it.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor

I was hoping it would be something viable. It seems hard to prove, yet commonsense would say that cloth is better (cotton also can break down in the environment, given you ever WANT to throw them out! They are great for cleaning). And by using biodegradable soaps, you can ensure you're not dumping tons of chemicals.

I wondered, have any of you used Charlie's Soap? It's much cheaper than most "environmentally friendly" detergents, but claims to be completely biodegradable. http://www.charliessoap.com

If anyone has used it, I'd like a rating, since I'm considering it.

Thanks!!

That's http://www.charliesoap.com

Cloth was the best option for us because

a) we lived in the country with well water and a septic system so we only paid for the electricity to wash and dry the cloth diapers

b) cloth diapers were cheap as chips compared to disposables

c) disposables gave DD a horrific rash. We'd use them only for when we were going out (had no idea how to do cloth diapers on the road) and they came to be called "travel diapers" in our house. Even if she only wore them for two hours she'd have a red rash on her tiny little bum by the time we got home. The longer she wore them, the redder the bum. I was relieved to get home and get her in cloth diapers, her skin would clear up quick as a wink with them.

d) my mother used cloth diapers with my younger brother (seven years yonger than I) so I was used to seeing mother diaper with them and it seemed normal and natural, I had no "euw" hangups.

I seem to remember it coming to two loads of laundry a week to keep the diaper stacks full. Our laundry room was very conveniently located so this was no problem. Folding and stacking the diapers took the most time for me, but it was kind of relaxing and satisfying to fold them while thinking about how much better it was for DD to have cotton next to her skin instead of chemicals and how much $$$ we were saving and how much we were keeping out of the landfill. Landfill space was an issue where we lived, the cities were running out of places to put our trash.

Anhata
www.familynaturally.com
Your Family's General Store, Naturally

I used cloth quite a bit with my 2nd and 3rd babies. I have a little with the fourth, but it gets just easier to use disposables. I'm not worried about my impact on the landfill because I have my own huge pit to dump the trash. My ranch used to be a dairy and that big pit was where they kept the insalage for feed. It's about 50-75 yards long, about 20 or so feet deep in the middle, and about 40 feet across. It's a BIG pit! It would take a LONG time to fill that thing up. We have been here 5 years and we haven't even thought about putting a dent in it. And that's with dumping a ton of old appliances when we were cleaning out the previous owners stuff, a couple of building we tore down, and our trash.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor

Pit is a ways off and to the west of us. So the house is downwind. But we don't smell a thing. It's a BIG pit.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3539+s.+roosevelt+rd.+1...

See if that gives you a picture of it. The house is on the very NE corner, the pit is on the SW corner, a big vertical line from North to South. If you zoom out, you can see the entire section (640 acres, or one square mile. From road to road square), and the section caddycorner to the NW of us, too. Imagine, 75% of that burned 19 months ago and just missed the house. Everything north of the house across the road burned, too.

Oops, way off topic, wasn't it. LOL! Now you know where I live.