A Moment of Honesty

I use cloth diapers.  I also use disposable diapers.  Not a lot, on average, one a day, but I still use them.  I had grand intentions when I was pregnant to never use disposables, but then E was born 3 weeks early and didn't fit in to our cloth diapers, so we used disposables.  And then when we started using cloth, I tried to use them at night, and no matter what insert/doubler we used the diaper lasted about 3 hours before E was soaked.  So we started using disposables at night.  We also used disposables when we went grocery shopping or visited with friends, in order to save having to change Little E's diaper while we were out...and when I had to return to work after maternity leave and my husband stayed home with Emerson....and when traveling for a month at a time seeing family.

I say all of this to let you know that I too have to rely on disposable diapers.  Though I have written of my love of cloth diapers and cloth wipes and all that is green, I have come to accept that disposable diapers are sometimes a necessary evil in life.  When it comes to environmentalism I try to do all that I can, where I can, WITHIN the parameters of my budget.  This is a big key for me.  I would love, love, love to use only chlorine free, non bleached diapers.  Unfortunately, that is not a fiscal possibility for me.  Instead, I have cut down out how frequently we use disposable diapers.  We no longer use them when going grocery shopping.  We just bring along another cloth diaper, a just-in-case-we-have-a-leak-outfit, and hope for the best.  Now I bring our cloth diapers on our trips to see my family in Texas and in Indiana, as they don't mind if I wash E's dirty diapers during our stay.  For our month long trip in December to India, Missouri, Iowa, and Indiana, the only part where it will be feasible for me to use cloth is while we're in Indiana; however, I am toting all of my gear along, so we don't use disposables for that week. 

I often think that when it comes to saving money, or saving the environment, people tend to believe they need to have an all or nothing approach.  And while I truly admire people who are able to commit 100% to their cause, I often find that even doing a little bit makes a difference.  For me, though I do use disposable diapers, I try to limit my use.  As a result, I am greatly reducing the amount of garbage my otherwise average American diaper changing family could produce and, consequently, we save a HUGE amount of money.  Yes, we are still creating waste, and yes, diapers are still costly, but I am making a difference for my family, our pocketbook, and our landfill. 

It is not totally green, or totally frugal, but it works for us, and it's the little saves that I'm going to focus on for now.