Green Family Life
Family Food
Cloth Diapering
Saving money was my biggest motivation. Start-up costs seem like a lot (ours was over $200.00), but realize that over a few months the diapers pay for themselves and then finally savings can be realized. By the end of 2 years we estimated we saved about $600.00. That’s with 2 children. “Part-time” for us meant they each wore a disposable at night-time and disposable use went up on the weekends.
Another mom in the parish who uses cloth diapers full-time realizes a savings of $1000 per child (total diaper life)! You can save almost as much as you want because there are ways to cut corners in many areas from start-up costs to energy costs to frequency of use. Crunch the numbers and see.
I was surprised to learn that using cloth diapers can help protect your baby from several health problems. The chemicals in disposable diapers have been linked to increases in various skin irritations and male infertility, and genetic damage has been shown in lab animals when exposed the dioxin. These are just a few of the problems.
I knew it would take a few months to recoup my start-up costs, but the positive effect on the environment would be immediate. To date we have saved at least 5000 disposable diapers from ending up in the landfill.
My favorite cloth diaper web site is No More Bummers (nomorebummers.com). I buy all my supplies from them because they are a local business here in Green Bay and if I go pick up my own purchases I save on shipping. My favorite brand is Bum Genius pocket diapers. The size adjustment feature on these is wonderful.
More cool web sites that will catch you up to speed on cloth diapering lingo and help with estimating costs:
www.diaperdecisions.com
www.zany-zebra.com
www.cashmoneylife.com
Fertility Awareness and Natural Family Planning
Definition:
NFP enables spouses to space births according to the naturally occurring phases of fertility and infertility in the menstrual cycle. The Church has accepted this innovation of the 20th century as a morally acceptable means of spacing and limiting births in married life.
The Church on Natural Fertility Awareness
Fertility Resources
Sympto-Thermal Method – www.ccli.org
Ovulation Method – http://www.creightonmodel.com/
Ovulation Method – http://www.familyplanning.net/
Sympto-Thermal Method – http://www.nwfs.org/couples-a-singles/natural-family-planning.html
Marquette Model – http://nfp.marquette.edu/
Kippley-Prem Method – http://www.nfpandmore.org/index.shtml
Fertility Health Concerns – http://www.popepaulvi.com/