This month’s resolution is to look at how I spend my money (and my time and resources) and see how I’m being wasteful. I’m not necessarily trying to make my life harder; I’m trying to consider if the little (or big) luxuries are worth it.
I’m also trying to be extra thankful for those luxuries. We all take our standard of living (whatever level that may be) for granted. I use disposable diapers. I consider their usage to be a significant benefit to me by sparing me loads of laundry and hours of labor (washing, drying, folding). I’m not going to give up disposable diapers, but I will recognize that they are a luxury. If I were truly poor (third-world country poor), I would not use disposable diapers.
Now, I need to consider brand. I buy Luvs. They are cheaper than Huggies and Pampers, but not as cheap as generic. I used to buy generic at one grocery store chain, because they were just like Huggies. I don’t live near that chain anymore and haven’t tried the commissary’s cheaper brand yet. Mental note: buy cheap diapers the next time I’m at the store. I have to at least try them and see if they’ll suffice.
Another luxury I use often is paper towels. Paper towels are one of the many alternatives I reach for in dealing with the multiple spills that occur hourly around here. Honestly, I reach for paper towels first more often than not. I’m going to try to rewire my brain to automatically reach for a cloth towel first. I do laundry every day anyway. I don’t see a few extra towels in the load as significantly affecting my day.
Reit This Way 
We’ve got a huge stack of cheap washcloths from Walmart in a drawer in the kitchen. For wiping sticky children or dirty counters or spilled juice, that’s what we use. I really only use paper towels for greasing the pancake griddle or a cake pan, and even then, when I’ve run out, a pastry brush does the job just as well. A roll of paper towels lasts roughly six months around here.
Really great reminders and ideas. I look forward to reading more of your thoughts on this journey.
I love my cloth diapers because they do double duty. They ususally just go from the dryer to a stack on the kitchen counter…and then serve as either diaper or mess cleaning towels. I’ve also used them as bibs from time to time too. Before I cloth diped though I used to hunt for this brand called drypers (from the commissary). They were the cheapest, and actually I thought they worked the best too. Then they got discontinued by my local commissary (or the size I needed went out of stock) and I couldn’t stand the unreliability of it…and drove into cloth. Anyhow, nice to meet you. Saw the link from Jennie C’s page.
Jennie – I knew people like you existed, in theory! Now I’m inspired to see how long my roll will last.MTAF – thanks for visiting!!Angoraknitter – thanks for visitng too. I use my cloth diapers for spills and snotty noses, too. These are the same cloths that swaddled my bottom as a baby. But the commissary here has Drypers and that’s exactly the brand I was thinking about trying. What’s up with the commissaries? My sister is at Fort Rucker, and she can’t find certain brand favorites either. I thought the whole POINT of a commissary was to give us a consistant shopping experience from one post to another.
Buy yourself a big bag of “bar towels” or “bar wipes.” Like a big white washcloth, only bigger–a little smaller than a dish towel. I use these for everything. My paper-towel consumption has gone way down since I got these–except when Mom visits. She can go through a roll a day.