I found this site called WallyPop that sells Resuable Family Toilet Wipes.
Yes.
Wipes.
For the family.
Now these wipes are simply cloths that you use instead of toilet paper, sort of like baby wipes. The main difference is that unlike baby wipes, these wipes are made of a washable material….sort of like cloth diapers.
You use the wipe and then toss it into some container and wash in the machine when you have a load (pardon the pun).
Now I am all about finding ways to save money but this one strikes me as a little bit too frugal. I really cannot fathom using a cloth wipe and then having it sit somewhere until I can wash it and then reusing that cloth…even if it is washed in bleach and hot water.
I guess they could make the analogy that your underwear does get some er ‘stuff’ on it sometimes and yet you still wash and wear it…but this is different.
Would you use reusable toilet wipes?
Talk it up and let me know what you think.
Ummm.. ewww… I think this is a little over the top as well. Even if I lived alone and washed them in boiling water than bleached several times I think I would still be a little grossed out. Throw in having a girlfriend with two kids and knowing that they probably would not be cleaned super extensively and there is no way I would consider it. I also would not buy previously worn underwear at a thrift shop or take hand me downs from family… That kind of stuff (along with other people’s socks and shoes) creeps me out.
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I am with you on that one Matt. But I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. If there was a drought for months or something I guess it would not seem so bad. 🙂
I’ve been searching for cloth baby wipe patterns lately and so I’ve come across these adult cloth wipes several times. I read a great article last night – it says that they are not so much used for poopies, but just for urine. THAT I could do – but the poops – no. It’s hard enough for me to wash the cloth diapers and I’m still debating whether I am going to attempt to cloth diaper my middle son who puts out icky icky poops – for that exact reason 🙂
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Thanks for the link! A lot of our customers use washable wipes as a personal luxury item… even Sid the Science Kid on PBS had a segment on how much cleaner things get when washed with a damp cloth than with dry paper.
Anyway, for the record, it is Wallypop, not WallyPops.
Thanks!!
Thanks for the correction. I fixed the word.
Now, I’m pretty frugal and environmentally friendly, but I’ve gotta pass on this one. Thanks for the giggles though. I think I’ll announce to my kids that we’re switching the house to cloth wipes though if they can’t tame their paper use–it’s putting a strain on the plumbing. I’ll bet that puts them in gear ASAP. 🙂
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I would love to be around to see the look on their faces!!!
Save money and the Earth and be clean at the same time! Get serious and add Bathroom Bidet Sprayers to all your bathrooms. I think Dr. Oz on Oprah said it best: “if you had pee or poop on your hand, you wouldn’t wipe it off with paper, would you? You’d wash it off” Available at (edited My site) with these you won’t even need toilet paper any more, just a towel to dry off! Don’t worry, you can still leave some out for guests and can even make it the soft stuff without felling guilty. It’s cheap and can be installed without a plumber; and runs off the same water line to your toilet.
You’ll probably pay for it in a few months of toilet paper savings. And after using one of these you won’t know how you lasted all those years with wadded up handfuls of toilet paper. As for water use a drought is always a concern and must be dealt with prudently but please remember that in the big picture the industrial water users always far exceed the water use of household users and in the case of toilet paper manufacture it is huge.
The pollution and significant power use from that manufacturing process also contributes to global warming so switching to a hand bidet sprayer and lowering your toilet paper use is very green in multiple ways.
Well, I don’t think I’d go cloth, but I think there’s got to be something better than toilet paper. It’s got to be one of the worst American inventions ever.
A bidet would be much cleaner – better hygiene.
Lately I’ve seen ads for wet wipes (kind of like baby wipes) for adults. That strikes me as WAY better than toilet paper, albeit more expensive.
Ryan
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I use toilet paper and then use baby wipes also. Combine baby wipes with coupons and CVS and you get them for pretty cheap or FREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Bathroom Sprayers has hand bidet sprayers that almost eliminate the need for toilet paper. They are wonderful!
Hmm – I don’t think that’s something we’d use! We do use something similar for our daughter, though, together with reusable nappies. But there are limits!
Interesting…
I use baby wipes as well. It definitely helps and reduces the amount of paper being used to clean up, because a moist wipe does better than a dry one.
I think these are great for people who are gung-ho about the environment, but I know I don’t want a load of laundry like that. I have two small children, and I have enough of those kinds of messes as it is.
If anyone is considering doing this, though, the best way to store the yucky wipes is to use a diaper pale or covered trash can filled with a bleach – water solution. This is how most folks store their babies’ cloth diapers before they wash them in the laundry.
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Reusable wipes will help your bottom line. Really. Well, if you are female, you can go half way, at least, and do the reusables after number one. That way you’ll use the same amount of TP as a guy. Just put some borax or baking soda in a bucket of water with a lid and put your used cloths there until washday. No bidet? Find a squeeze bottle and fill with water.
SayBlade is right. I am a maternity nurse and we send patients home with peribottles for spraying while peeing (tears in that area can burn for the first few weeks). However, they are good for cleaning anytime. I have my own at home that I use. It is like having a really cheap bidet. Childbirth supply shops sell them for less than a dollar. http://www.1cascade.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=0135
Well, considering that our toilet tissue goes to the waste water treatment plant…hmm. For #1 considerable, #2…not a chance. They are economical and seem like a good idea but, somehow not very hygienic.
Not going for the spray bottle bidet either…just buy one.
Well, I am getting ready to start doing it some time soon. I have decided that there are worse things that could happen to me then to have to become perhaps slightly more acquainted with the color and texture of my own poo.
This is my plan. A trash can that has a foot pedal you can use to pop the lid up. Inside the can is a plastic cylinder with a handle. On the back of the stool is yer clean used cut-up t-shirts and cut-up old towels. Ya wipe yer rear on an appropriately sized piece of cloth and then hit the pedal with yer foot and pop the cloth into the can. The inner plastic cylinder is filled up about a fourth of the way with a sanitizing solution (organic or otherwise). Then you are going to put the entire contents of that cylinder directly into the washer and add your detergent (remembering to be careful about not mixing chemicals like bleach and ammonia). This way you will not have to handle the soiled clothes once they are placed in the cylinder by said poo-er.
Now, obviously there are going to be those times when, well, you are really going to have to do a few extra steps before putting the cloth into the cylinder. But you can work that part out yerself. Humans are actually really creative. People existed on this planet for eons without toilet paper factories. And I am really starting to feel a deep furious desire to have my life amount to something more than just consumerist dronehood. Trust me. You can handle this.
I agree totally.
As Sara says she created a really cheap bidet, but you can get them for under $50.00 and install them without a plumber. Why Buy a Bathroom Bidet Sprayer? Because you win. With a Bathroom Bidet Sprayer you win in so many ways if it was a woman I’d marry it. First off you win by saving money, and what in these times is better than that, well ok a bailout may be better but get in line. By almost eliminating the need for toilet paper the savings are immediate and long lasting. Not saying you have to give it up, you can even buy the soft stuff and not feel guilty because you will be using so little. Next you win by giving yourself some healthy side benefits namely a lessening of hemorrhoids, should you have them, and the virtual elimination of rectal itch. Now we move onto the fact that you are helping the environment by lowering the amount of toilet paper used and therefore manufactured which saves water, electricity, and pollution. Now there is the hygiene factor and unless you think wiping your hands off with a dry paper towel is cleaner than washing them then you get the point. I think Dr. Oz on Oprah said it best: “if you had pee or poop on your hand, you wouldn’t wipe it off with paper, would you? You’d wash it off” There is the convenience of having such a handy means of washing up with after which at times, say after that big burrito you had at lunch, can get a might messy. That is the main reason why stand alone conventional bidets were invented but they are too expensive and don’t even work as well as the Hand Bidet Sprayer. Lastly there is the least practical but potentially the most influential reason of all……it just feels good. Cleaner, fresher, rejuvenating even. Can you imagine not brushing you teeth after a big meal? I can’t, and I can’t imagine just wiping with dry toilet paper and leaving it at that…..shudder. This is the best thing since the toilet was invented, give it a try.
At last….a blog about washable pee wipes!!! I’ve been using my own handmade ones for over 20 yrs including my menstrual pads. I always loved washing them by hand [or wringer washer], rinsing with essential oil and hanging them in the sun…or over the woodstove. I have a beautiful fabric on one side [not used to dab] and the other is cotton terry cloth. Over the years I’ve given them away only to learn they were hardly ever used and then discarded. One friend [who claims to be a staunch environmentalist] still buys her TP at Cosco where it says in plain english on the package “from virgin wood”. Have you seen a map of how many trees we have lost to logging in the US alone? It’s staggering!! [google deforestation]. And have you researched the chemicals put in TP? Think of it as dabbing your labia with Dioxins several times a day! [sorry guys….didn’t mean to leave you out….but you’re dabbing another area as well!] This word “grossed” is only a thought…..so really think about it. Urine has a lot of healing properties for the body…especially the skin[google urine therapy]. I know several people who have cleared up a chronic fungal growth…or ringworm by soaking the affected area in their urine [apparently young male pee is best]. Humans tend to be resistant to change.
Just try using cloth wipes for a week….and see what arises. Inquire within and you might be surprised that it makes so much sense.
By its name alone my reaction was eeewwwwwwwww… but anyway this could also another means to save money isn’t it?
I believe i will draw a line between saving and personal hygiene.
I have been using washable wipes for 20 years now, and have gotten other folks hooked. Why? The environment was the initial reason, but the hygiene has now caught up. Let me be blunt: guys, if you want MORE BLOW JOBS, you gotta wipe off that last little drop!!! Gals, you too. Paper just smears stuff around.
The key that nobody here is mentioning is that if you poop (or if you get hooked on the clean feeling and want to do this with urine too), you use a CUP OF WATER and your hand to clean up! That’s right, you have to — gasp! — TOUCH your own perineal area. Come on, do you think twice about getting “dirty” when you masturbate?! You just wash up, right? (Oh, you don’t masturbate? Well, then go directly to Google and find a site to teach you how.) Urine is a sterile substance, it won’t hurt you and you wash it off. Poop is nasty, for sure, but the stream of water is what actually touches it, not your hand (unless you don’t eat enough veggies and you get dry, hard stools) and again, you wash it right off.
The rest of the world has been practicing this sort of thing for all of human evolution. People talk big about how America “needs to change” regarding our resource consumption, but if you can’t even stand the thought of washing off your own ass, how are we as a nation really going to change big paradigms such as oil dependency?!
I feel so strongly about this that I have started a company making these washable wipes, called Woo Woo Wipes, from 100% recycled cotton towels. You should be able to purchase them online from my company, Bricolage Earth-Friendly Crafts, by the end of summer. And I promise you, you’ll feel so fresh that you’ll never go back to paper!
Happy wiping! : )
Wow you seem to be VERY passionate about the subject…However it is for some people and not for everyone. I do wish you success and encourage people to visit your site.
The idea to google search reusable toilet wipes came to me while cutting up cloth pads to use for our new baby. I came across this thread and started reading replies.. just wanted to say thanks for a very well-written and hilarious post! Got a laugh out of me, for sure. This is a great concept and something we’ll certainly be looking into.
Thanks for coming over and I am glad you enjoyed the post. Let us know how your wipes work out.
It can be a good idea to try using reusable toilet wipes. It’s not as if these materials are not hygienic. My family is big on being green and adopting new ways to care for our environment and promote sustainability is worth a try. I am currently teaching my kids how to recycle. We use shredders for destroying our documents and delivering our paper waste to recycling centers.
When the dollar becomes useless, what are you people going to use if you can’t buy TP? Sure you could stock up on TP while you can, but reusable cloth strips would really be the way to go. Preferrably damp as it cleans better than dry. Currently I use TP myself along with some witch hazel solution. Lets me use only three sheets of TP and my underwear is much cleaner. If I can’t get TP or witch hazel then some cloth strips and water should work just fine.
Let’s hope the water dos’nt get shut off. LoL
I am frugal, but think this is a horrible idea for saving money’s sake. On the other hand, there are so many benefits for the person who chooses to do it and the environment.
-Save the trees.
-Save the water it takes to make toilet paper (something like 37 gallons of water per roll of toilet paper)
That’s just the start. For the person…it feels cleaner (the wipe gets dirty, but the rest of you feels very clean), you aren’t wiping a bunch of nasty chemicals down there, and it makes the chore easier and faster. I thought cleaning would be time consuming, but i have got it down. They go into a trash can with the pedal and the insert. Insert comes out…baking soda sprinkled on top, vinegar water heated to boiling, poured in, a toilet plunger is used to swish em around good, nasty water poured out, cleaner wipes put in washer and washed without me having to touch anything nasty or anything.
I do wonder…when toilet paper first came out did people think it was nasty?
Oh…one other things…I am sewing mine all up and we don’t have enough to make it for very long so we are transitioning slowly and using toilet paper when wipes aren’t available. My five year old asked me this morning, “Mom, where are the fancy wipes?” I explained that there weren’t any clean and asked why he asked to which he replied, “Cause they do a better job, are easier, and faster!”
I’ve been using these cloth wipes for a few months now and I think they are wonderful! I made 50 or 60 of these,I use them then put them in a diaper wet bag that I hook over the toilet paper roll holder.I’m sure we have saved alot of money so far,and saved a few trees too.My next project is to make reusable paper towels.Google it,they are made with flannel and terry cloth.
I work outside of the home. Any suggestions of how I could do this at work?
I think it would be very difficult to do this at work and probably will not be worth the hassle. You should stick to using the wipes at home where you have all the essential items at your convenience and do not have to think about lugging stuff around and keeping it out of sight of your coworkers.
It’s been a couple years since I last posted. Lots of interesting interaction about this subject over this time. Definitely finding women who are switching over and wondering why they had all the resistance!!!! Check out my blog: wisewombonwipes
Using cloth instead of Toilet Paper in the bathroom is wasteful too and truthfully rather nasty. Think of how much water you’ll waste rinsing and washing(multiple?!) the cloth. Why not use the water to wash yourself with a Hand Bidet Sprayer. It’s more efficient, cleaner, healthier and you never run out. See bathroomsprayers.com.