Cloth pads

That's right. I said it. And if you have the same reaction I did, you're probably not too interested in reading this post but hear me out. It's not as disgusting as you think. The first time I ever considered it was at a family function when my husband's grandma was telling me why she would never ever go back to cloth diapers and she asked me "would you ever go back to using the same thing as what women used for menstrual cycles before disposables?" And my answer was a disgusted "no". 

The first time I actually considered it seriously was on a trip to Costco. We were talkin about how much we could spend and our list of things to buy was longer than we could afford, one of the items being pads and tampons and I jokingly said "we don't need to buy those, I'll just make some". Well, the next day, my mom mentioned to me that she had been trying out home made ones (because she has found she is allergic to the latex in disposable ones.) Between talking to her and researching online/Pinterest, I decided it wasn't such a crazy idea after all. I saw a few different patterns and ideas and I was completely sold when I read a blog about it (sorry I can't remember what the name of the blog was or I would share a link) but basically this lady mentioned a few different reasons to switch, one of course being money. The average American woman spends 10-20 THOUSAND dollars on feminine hygiene products in her lifetime. That's a nice car. The second reason is of course going green. I'm not a major tree hugger or anything, but the less waste we produce the better, right? Of course right. Those are my two big reasons. 

So now what? Where to start? Well, I have tried a few different patterns and while I'm not quite ready to show you my own designs, I have a list here of links to patterns and tutorials (all courtesy of Pinterest)*


glue and glitter (this is a personal favorite, she shows how to make pads using reclaimed fabrics; you all know how much I love to recycle fabric!)


natural suburbia


whistlepea


shewhorunsintheforest


sewgreen



You can also buy cloth pads on  party in my pants, ebay, or etsy. Shop around, see what you can find. 

So now, I'm sure you all have one more question about this whole thing: how would I clean these? Easy. I keep an ice cream bucket under the sink in the bathroom (just when it's time) and it is full of cold water and a little bit of vinegar. When you use your pads, put the dirty ones in the bucket and put the lid back on. When you're ready to wash them (which shouldn't ever be more than a day or two after you use them) pour the bloody water into the toilet (careful not to lose any of your pads) and throw them in the washer with any load and wash and dry like you would anything else (if you're still a little grossed out about washing then with other things, you can wash them alone or prewash them before adding the other load) now for keeping them sanitary and safe to use: your dryer will totally sanitize your pads. I take them straight from the dryer to a ziplock bag (which I reuse and reuse to hold only clean pads) and that bag goes under my sink so that they stay nice and sanitary until I am ready to use them again. As for traveling, there are some who keep a ziplock in their purse, I simply chose to take disposables with me when I'm not at home. I realize its not totally green and I do still spend money on them, but I use disposables a whole heck of a lot less than I ever did before. 

Stay tuned for my own deisgns and more on cloth tampons