Three Years with Washable Pads

Once upon a time, I dreamed of keeping my lifestyle free from creating garbage. I remember I watched a documentary before of a lady who only produced a jar of garbage in a year of her life, I can't recall who that lady was but I got super inspired that my first step to helping mother nature was my pads.

Thinking about my daily use of panty liners and my monthly usage of napkins when I get my period, I realize that I have been generating too much garbage. I know well how these pads end up - into our landfills or worse, into the ocean but most of the time it does go there, ever took a swim in the beach and found diapers and other disposable items floating in there? I would always think that it might be the item that I had disposed of.

So, in the year 2018, I made a firm choice to switch to reusable pads and napkins. Today, three years after, I am still using them although, there were certain specific times when I had to use a disposable, either I wasn't able to bring a spare one when I am out of the house or that when I just gave birth and the amount of blood was too much I needed to use adult diapers.

Today, allow me to share some personal insights as to my experience using the washable pads.

PRO-health

Although my first reason for switching to reusable pads was the positive effect it can bring to nature, I am of course thinking as well of my health. I have read stories of the negative side effects of the usage of disposable napkins and pads. There are many cases of health issues and I won't deal with the specifics but we all know that these disposable pads have certain chemicals in them that are harmful to our health. Aside from that, there are also artificial fragrances, adhesives, and chemical gels. One or more of them as well can cause infertility.

With the use of washable pads, I know that they don't contain these harmful chemicals, it brings peace to my mind that I am taking care of my body.

Saved Me Money

I use at least two disposable panty liners every day before and at least four sanitary napkins during my monthly period. I always get a visit every month and I had started bleeding since ten years old. I switched to reusable pads when I was 30 years old.

One pack of 20 pieces of pantyliners costs around Php 30 and a pack of heavy flow night napkins would cost around Php 60-100, I use the heavy flow because I bleed heavily especially during the start of the menstruation.

I did the math and it shows I spend at least Php 1200 annually for the pads and around Php 2400 for the sanitary napkins. It might not be that huge if we look at it on a monthly basis but this is still money. For ten years, I had been spending this amount then I would just dispose of them into the trash bin.

However, after switching to the washable pads, I spent one time Php 1,220 for 12 Bamboo charcoal regular Flow Cloth Menstrual pads and 12 Bamboo charcoal regular Flow Cloth Menstrual panty liners. I bought another set during my next year and never bought it again until today.

Imagine the savings!

But of course, you would think about my expense with water and detergent but that's not a major issue because a bag of soap would only cost less and the water, I have a washing system, that I will explain later in this article.

Cute Designs

When I was still using disposables, I remember my favorite brand was Kotex due to its packaging as well as it is not too thick for a napkin. So when I switched to reusables, I had a happy time shopping for cute designs.

Every single pad and napkin has different colors and pattern prints in the outer covering and it's such a cute view whenever I hang them after washing.

I don't know if it's just me but I enjoy seeing them in my hangers, it somehow brings delight, and it kind of therapeutic if that makes any sense.

Washing, a Con?

While this could be the major reason why most ladies would shy away from using the reusables, I learned to enjoy this process of washing my pads. First, before disposables came into the picture, my mom told me they use cloth before as their pads and it's the same thing as reusable pads but as soon as they saw advertisements of disposables, they went on using that instead.

I sacrifice the comfort of simply disposing of the pads. I thought that washing them would be tiring and would discourage me to use the reusables but when then it was the opposite. I created this system of keeping the used ones in a pail covered and then after three days, I would soak them in water with soap, keep them overnight and then rinse. I will soak them again with another batch of clean water and soap and then will rinse until the water shows clear and clean. Then it's time for hanging.

It's been three years, I am so used to my washing system, I got too used to using the washable pads that when I used a disposable one I often forget to take the paper that sticks on the pad. It's funny but that happens always.

Conclusion

I highly recommend using washable pads, it's a great decision that I had made, I always thought of switching too to menstrual cups but I am still enjoying the washable pads for now.

I don't always share this with others because I don't want other ladies to feel bad about their choices, I know we all lived and are all used to the comfortable and easy way of using disposables but I can attest that we can adapt to change, we just have to endure the first few weeks because change is not always easy but it is worth it.

Now, I have also applied the same to my baby, he is using washable diapers. That will be a different article in the future!

xoxo,

mommy jean of momentswithmatti

Love harder than any pain you've ever felt.