You Can Start Right Now

A few months ago, I was speaking with an acquaintance who mentioned she’d start using cloth nappies on her baby as soon as the weather improved. It was late winter when we were chatting and she figured that a warm sunny day would be a more conducive way to start their reusable journey than a damp, cold, windy day.

And she was right of course. There are few things more delightful than methodically pegging cloth nappies to the line on a warm spring morning with bub playing with the pegs at your feet.

But isn’t this often the way with life in general? We think we’ve got to wait until the next good milestone before we can make a start and create change. I’ve certainly done it in the past. We tell ourselves we’ll make that change:

After we’ve moved house…
Once the visitors have left…
When renovations have finished…
Once the baby is sleeping through…
When the toddler is toilet trained…

But I want you to know that you don’t have to do that. You can start using cloth nappies right here, right now.

Where you are. How things are. Whoever you are.

And you can just start with one.

Seriously, one cloth nappy a day. Make it the first change of the day and you’ll be amazed at how easy it is.

If you’re only using one cloth nappy a day, you can simply give it a rinse after it comes off bub and then throw it in the machine with the rest of your laundry. Here’s some more info on caring for one cloth nappy a day.

There is literally nothing simpler. However, the impact of making this change is anything but simple. Here’s the deal:

• 1 nappy a day, at 40 cents each over the course a year will save $146. That’s a week’s worth of groceries for some families. If the nappy you invested in is a good quality $36 modern cloth nappy, your savings are still significant. $110 is a family season pass to the pool, a few birthday presents or a tank of fuel.

• A 240 litre garbage bin will hold just over 300 used disposable nappies. So in a year of using just one cloth nappy a day, a household will save the equivalent of just over one full garbage bin of rubbish.

Often people start out using cloth and then find that life gets crazy and they stop using them. If that’s you, I’d like to encourage you to not ditch them completely. Give yourself a week’s break if you need to, but get back on the horse – even if only to use 1 or 2 cloth nappies a day.

Just start back small and gradually increase your usage. If you already have the nappies on hand, the investment is already made, so now it’s just a matter of creating the change slowly but surely so that it’s something you can stick with sustainably.

If you’re reading this blog post, it means you’re thinking about creating change for your family and I just want you to know: you’ve got this, and we’ve got your back. Go get ’em! #startwithonenappy