Nature is Calling? Answer with Pee Rags

One of my favorite parts of being in NJ is sharing a bathroom with my youngest sister Frances. Actually, that is not true at all. Over the course of sharing a bathroom I have had one of my showers straight up stolen from me (turned the water on, started getting undressed and then naked Frances came dashing out of her room and jumped in the shower), waded through days worth of dirty clothes strewn about, and feared for my life when meeting angry Frances in the bathroom in the middle of the night (which happens often) both having to pee. Frances does NOT like to be bothered in the middle of the night.

Frances pees more than anyone I have ever met. More than me, in fact, and many of my friends would say I am the most frequent pee-er they know. She pees especially much in the middle of the night, so much that there is often a line to use the bathroom. Over the past couple of weeks, whilst sharing a bathroom AND doing the household toilet paper purchasing, I calculated that she goes through 1/2 roll of toilet paper per night. Per night, folks. That's one roll of TP every two days. Frances is also the president of Green Group at her High School, and prioritizes environmental sustainability in her daily routine. So, if it's yellow she lets it mellow, accumulating 1/2 roll of yellow, mellow toilet paper in the toilet bowl over the course of the night. You can imagine the clogging.

Frankie Jane on Day 1
Also featured: pee rags and wooden box for used ones

Because 1/2 roll of TP every night is just plain excessive we are starting a pee rag challenge. I forget if there will be any reward for this challenge. I first used the pee rag at Wildside Farm with the Juliusson family. Sara is a Kalamazoo College alum and I stayed there for 10 days on an externship program. During my orientation to the farm/house I was encouraged to participate, and quite liked the system.

We have cut up some squares of old shirt and stowed them in a basket. When we pee, we will use a square and dispose of it in a wooden box with a lid. When we have used a round's worth of pee rags we will boil the used ones for reuse. The only time we will use toilet paper is in the case of a poop. Even when we poop, though, we have agreed that if we think in was a "clean sweep" (a solid poop that slid out without leaving gushies on butt hole) we will then also use a pee rag.

This is a cool environmental website for people who do little things to help save the planet. In High School I ordered shirts for a bunch of people when we started our composting system. They should make ones that say "Use a Pee Rag". "Cloth Diapers" is pretty much the same, though. If this all works out maybe we will order shirts,
wear them for a little, and then cut them up to use as more pee rags.
We would love comments of thoughts/question/encouragement/reactions. Updates to follow.

1/18/16: we never used the pee rags. In fact, I think they are still in that little box near the toilet, untouched.