Cloth Diapering and Water Restrictions

Re: Cloth Diapering and Water Restrictions

• Danie007 member

  January 2014

  I would do what PPs said, and cut water usage other ways. How often do you was diapers? Are you EOD? What types of diapers do you use? Could you possibly stretch it out to every 2 days?

  
  

   

  
  

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• zaraceligon member

  January 2014

  Wait, I also live in CA, and I'm totally lost about news. When this news about the water restriction came out?

  
  

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• cedenton member

  January 2014

  I think it's "if it's yellow, let it mellow." LOL
  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  my blog

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• zaraceligon member

  January 2014

  OMG, I just google it. Anyway that only think that I can think off is to do one wash and after that boil everything in order to have them very clean. But since I'm using flat, I wash them every 4 days.im using flats with the gdiapers cover, they absorb better than using the gd inserts.

  
  

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• iranwithscissors member

  January 2014

  I would also cut it out in other ways, less/shorter showers, adding an extra day to my CD laundry, etc.

  
  

  

    
  

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• sarenu1 member

  January 2014

  Maybe see if you can minimize laundry?
  
  I'd make sure every cloth diaper load was filled to the max (wait an extra day to add more diapers). You can even do a warm rinse with a hot/cold wash. You're not using more water with this.
  
  Combine laundry loads if you can (I wash my infants clothes with ours or throw towels in with othe laundry if I don't have a full load).
  
  If you have indoor plants water them with water you toss. I always empty my daughters cups into them.
  
  Plan meals around the number of dishes they make. Also avoid using water (boiling pasta or potatoes). Grill if you can (less cleanup).

  
  

  
  

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• Danie007 member

  January 2014

  Chickypoo2468 said:

  Hey!! If you have a large toilet tank you can fill a jug with rocks and put it in there so it doesn't take as much water to fill.

  I do this in Nebraska year round to save water.
  

  
  

   

  
  

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• Aurora_Borealis member

  January 2014

  I'm in the same situation. We will not be giving up cloth diapers. We will, however, try to wash every third day instead of every other day, which will eliminate 1-2 loads per week.
  
  
  

  

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• MAdams728 member

  January 2014

  I live in a severely drought stricken area of Texas, to the point that our water supply is so low that wells are having to be lowered all over, and many have run dry. I still CD, it's really not a huge water waster. I wash EOD with an HE washer.
  
  No outdoor watering. I pack the dishwasher full. We were using a ton of water handwashing things, especially bottles and pump parts. I only wash really full loads of laundry. We dont let the water run when brushing our teeth. I think the biggest saver has been our showers. 10 minute showers, tops, and I gave up tub baths. We were both guilty of loving long, hot showers and soaking in the jacuzzi tub. We also put a bucket in our shower to catch the cold water while it's warming up, and use that for potted plants when we need to water them. Definitely get low flow toilets, and make sure they dont run.

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• freezorburn member

  January 2014 edited January 2014

  Just want to chime in that the low flow toilets can make a huge difference. When I was visiting home last month and scraping out poopy diapers, I was really struck by how little water ran through a single flush with our Totos, versus the torrent of water that gets released when we flush a toilet here in our rental.

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• CurlieWhirlie member

  January 2014

  I'm in California, too, so I'm interested to see everyone's suggestions regarding cutting down on water. My mother cloth diapered me during the last severe drought here, and it is definitely possible. Another thing to consider if you want to cut down on water usage during CD laundry is soaking and hand-washing poopy diapers and then foregoing the pre-rinse in the washer. 

  
  

  I'm with everyone else, I will be cutting down on water usage in every other possible way before I consider cutting out CD laundry. I firmly believe that the extra water for washing them now is far better than the environmental impact of disposables. 

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• KarBear member

  January 2014

  I'm in CA, too, and considered this for about 10 seconds until I decided that our environment will be better off in the long term if I continue my CD usage vs. disposables.
  

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• Misa418 member

  January 2014

  Wow! Thanks for all of the responses! You guys have some great ideas for saving water. I definitely don't want to give up our cloth diapers. I'll consider it again if the drought gets significantly worse, but for now, I'll try other options. Thanks!
  

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• Kelly11235 member

  January 2014

  Just my 2 cents, but don't put rocks in your toilet tank.

  Put a bottle of water in there instead.  That way if the bottle breaks or something happens to it, it'll just be water that gets into your tank instead of rocks or something else.

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