I’m participating in Dirty Diaper Laundry’s 5th Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge for the second time. On day one of this challenge, we are to tell you a little bit more about why we are choosing to take on the challenge. Well, here’s a little bit about why I’m choosing to participate! While I already have a full plate with three littles under three and homeschooling my two pre-teens, living in South Texas has proved many things to me:
- Weather can be unpredictable (but mostly horridly hot.) You never know when that next hurricane will hit and knock out power (or wind, or hail.) Look at the heat index, and it’s not even summer yet! 😱
- Power bills are so high when you house a family of 7 in this area. Saving a few $$$ is always a plus, right?
- The economy may be fantastic for some families here and really rough for others battling poverty every day in our neighborhoods, known as “colonias.” Why not reach out and show everyone in every bracket of income that cloth diapers ARE attainable? I grew up not having a whole lot and watching my mom cloth diaper most of us 7 kids! (IT CAN BE DONE, FOLKS!)
- More education needs to happen when it comes to cloth diapering! Our online cloth community has almost tripled in the past 2-3 years! I feel it’s important to show this growing community that even with multiple children, you CAN save money.
- Finally, for our environment. I’m taking this challenge to help our local community take a few more disposable diapers out of our landfills (and our local store parking lots— if you live here, you know what I’m talking about. Man, that irks me!) Even if a local family chooses to use cloth part-time, it would make a BIG impact on the amount of waste we put out daily. I would love to feel that I am a part of that change! I want to improve the community that I’m leaving behind for my children.
I know my main reason to take on this challenge today is to prove that having multiple littles should not scare anyone when they think cloth diapers. Most folks feel “it’s too hard” or “it’s too much extra work.” While I can say that YES, you will have more laundry to do, it isn’t too hard and you CAN do this. Give yourself the opportunity to try, if you feel it’s too much at any point, sell your stash and go back to disposables. At least you will know you gave yourself that shot at trying and that you helped keep some disposable diapers out of your local landfills. 😉
If you’d like to peek in on my first attempt at this challenge, go here.
~Norm
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