To use cloth?

[MakeHayAndSneeze]

I already use cloth nappies, cloth wipes for dd and ds, cloth San-pro, so the next logical step is cloth toilet paper as loo paper just somehow seems wrong if I'm trying to be a bit more Eco conscious. But is this really really grim? I probably wouldn't use it for poo, and suspect that DH would not be interested so it's only me ATM, and would just chuck it into the nappy bin...

AIBU to even contemplate this?

What?
Cloth loo roll?
That YOU have to rinse and wash for other people?

NO .

And if DP even suggested this i would divorce him.

If i were married to him.

Use bio degradable paper for goodness sake.

You don't sound keen on the idea, Echo?! DH didn't suggest this, would never use it, t'would just be me (for wee) and chucked in with all the nappies anyway.

I'm sort of getting a vibe that suggests IABU here...but I'm contrary so I might still have a go. I'll sleep on it.

(I can't be the only person on MN to have ever considered this, surely?! Anyone?)

Just go Asian! My MIL thinks using paper is grim as it doesn't clean just wipes. If you go to an Asian household or country look out for watering cans next to the loos.

They pour and rub off with hands then wash hands thoroughly. Even poor dd1 gets dangled over the loo and watering canned to clean no 2s by mil so no baby wipes I'm a lover of the wipes!

That's why traditionally you don't shake or eat with your left hand in Asia.

Why not hitch a Japanese ass-cleaning loo to a wind turbine (no pun intended) and dispense with the need for cloths and/or paper? www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-most-terrifying-features-japanese-toilets/

Or dig a series of middens in your back yard and recycle your household's newspapers and magazines - hours of fun for all the family cutting the pages into manageable sheets and stringing them together so that you can still read the articles while waiting to use them to clean your nether regions?

By way of a brucie bonus, a full midden will produce a bumper crop of giant veg.

Alternatively, simply use a bidet for the purpose for which it was intended.

The advocates of family cloth I've just read about seem to be insane to be working under the assumption they will always be washing cloth nappies. It's how they've all justified the massive washing machine impact. I hope for their sakes they aren't.

Surely if you are concerned then the best thing is to use a bidet (or as mentioned bottle/hose by the loo & soap) with a towel used to dry in exactly the same way one dries after a bath. It can then still be hygienic when washed in a mixed towel load. This makes more sense economically/green reasons as no tp for poop or bum drying & limited extra washing loads vs true 'family cloth' which will need dedicated, frequent hot washes long after babes are out of nappies.
Personally, in keeping with my belief that trees are functionally useful for ozone for a certain period, and 5 kids & a bowel condition have left me with enough ring sting without wiping with an old slipper (I'd have to use a naice angora at least) I reckon I'm sufficiently carbon offset to carry on.
Do update though if you try it. I don't think yabu if you're happy with the maths.

Aw, you made my day . Mów im completely woken up too, cheers! Oh dear lord, I'm very Eco myself I'd line to think but I draw the line at pissy cloths. Recyclable paper all the way, not necessarily more expensive if you shop around. Check Approved Foods and Waiteose recyclable paper is 3.65 for 9 rolls.

Definitely get a hose ( a plumber will charge a small fee to fit one to your toilets) and a few small cloths for drying. You just wash with water, wash hands thoroughly and dry off with your personal towel. I have done this in India, Thailand, China, Malaysia etc and found it to be better than paper in that you feel so clean every time. If it's good enough for most of the world, it's good enough for us too I reckon.

Softy - I had heard that about the hand shaking, now it all makes sense.

Izzy - when I read your post my first image was of the turbine blowing water up your bum....forcible enema, if you will. Ouch! But I re-read it and now understand...

Nicnoc - insane, very probably. I sort of like the idea of a hose, for the day when i don't do a nappy wash any more and/or am brave enough to take the poo step. Not yet, definitely!

Do real people actually have bidets in their houses?

Why dont you use newspaper !!
Thats what my Dad used during the war -he would go down the garden to the outside loo and then get told off because he would sit there reading the torn up bits

Softy - I had heard that about the hand shaking, now it all makes sense.

Izzy - when I read your post my first image was of the turbine blowing water up your bum....forcible enema, if you will. Ouch! But I re-read it and now understand...

Nicnoc - insane, very probably. I sort of like the idea of a hose, for the day when i don't do a nappy wash any more and/or am brave enough to take the poo step. Not yet, definitely!

Do real people actually have bidets in their houses? I wish I had enough space

Oops - double post, MN was playing up!

I think I'd get sidetracked by newspaper, too!

Thousands of trees are chopped down for toilet roll, thousands of trees are also grown. It's a completely sustainable product, nothing wrong with growing trees for toilet rolls.

Think of all the trees that are planted and grown for years before they are chopped down and then replanted. Loo paper = growing trees.

I use a plastic handheld bidet to clean with water. And then use very little loo paper for wiping and drying.

I find this method to be cleaner, quite eco friendly and non messy.

we have a eco toilet with a built in bidet. It is conected to the hot and cold fed so you wash with warm water after using the loo without having to drip across the bathroom floor to move over to use a stand alone bidet.

My husband is sent to pee on the compost heap so even more eco friendly.

Clothes will just be uck and as they need washing i cant see any eco benefit of them.

This makes me feel ill. You use cloth sanitary protection and now want to use cloth to wipe yourself? Get a bloody grip and buy toilet roll, like everyone else.

You could get a shower type hose attached to your toilet, plumbed in, which is just like a bidet but needs no additional space. (I spent some time working in a small city in south Asia, and this was the norm. Was great.)

But please not reusable toilet paper, please!

Here www.nature4energy.co.uk/Bidetshowers.html

You're a weirdo.

Seriously, there's being eco-conscious and there's being downright daft. I have to say that from where I stand you're in the latter camp.

I agree with GrahamTribe.

My bathrooms have Bum Guns. Wunnerful things they are.

especially for the in-situ rinsing of the Mooncup

Do you know, I was on a Chat thread the other day which started off about people cleaning their loo brushes in the dishwasher and turned to a more sensible conversation about cleaning cat and dog bowls in them. I seem to have horrified a couple of people by saying that I always wash my pets' bowls in the dishwasher.

And yet no-one here has expressed a churning stomach about san-pro or cloth loo wipes being washed in the washing machine or more to the point about what it's washed with. I'm tempted to ask what goes in the machine with it but I think it may be too much to hear the answer just before my lunch!

Fit one of these, they use very little water and you save on a lot of paper,
www.biobidet.com/BB-i3000_Premium_bidet.htm

www.bidet-shower.co.uk/electronic-bidet-seats/ub-7000-elongated-style-combination-bidet-toilet-washlet/

www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Brondell-FreshSpa-Bidet-Toilet-Attachment/6523615/product.html?cid=133635
www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&ds=pr&pq=bidet+toilet+combo&cp=23&gs_id=3x&xhr=t&q=bidet+toilet+attachment&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1165&bih=599&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=14087473137960085790&sa=X&ei=8TvPT6jfKMmv0QXy1OTJCw&sqi=2&ved=0CHwQ8wIwBA#ps-sellers