We are a "throwaway" society which is frightening, especially the thousands of pieces of electronics - cell phones, computers, etc., that are discarded daily.  Even as some of these go to re-cycling, what toxins are they emitting?

Wonder how long it takes a sock to biodegrade?

We know that plastic bottles take forever, as do any plastic products that aren't recycled.

I'm constantly donating smaller objects to church Rummage sales, the Fireman's yard sale, etc., but what happens to all that is unsold?  Goes to the dumpster....out of sight out of mind....or not?

Sometimes I look at it all and wonder why anyone buys anything at all.

If you're at the store planning to buy something, it might be helpful to picture that dump ask yourself where it will end up. Mountains of formerly new things that people had to have -- the next big, expensive, "must have" thing -- corroding, oozing, harming animals etc.

Before the widespread reinfestation of bed bugs (makes purchasing second-hand furniture very undesirable), I realized that apart from "consumables", one needn't buy anything new ever again.

I might be fun to collect the world's biggest holey sock mountain and enter it into the Guiness Book of World Records, then recycle them all into quilts for victims of natural disasters or something.

"Buy, Buy" says the sign in the shop window

"Why Why?" says the junk in the yard....

Paul McCartney

Yesterday I suddenly found myself thinking about disposable diapers and what a blight they are.  Likely because I had just been visited by a baby (and her parents).  This baby uses a modern form of washable diapers that looked much more comfortable than the ones my babies wore.

My mind wandered around thinking of other similar items that get used once and tossed.  What came to mind was things women use on a monthly basis.  (How about that for careful terminolgy?).  I've never heard of these being complained about as a menace at the dump.  Anyone know if there is a biodegradable version of a ladies pad?  I've heard that some people flush them - but I wonder if this is any easier on the environment. 

Kay-my sister uses a washable set  of pads.

I know some women use a cup-It holds everything and then you take it out and dump it.(every few hours? once a day? I don't know)

Haven't tried either myself.

This thread is striking home to me in the fact that yesterday I purchased a new cell phone (I just have an MTS evolve which is a prepaid phone - very simple - phoning and texting.)  The cell phone I had was second hand - it belonged to my daughter first.  For a variety of reasons it was not suitable for her, so when she got a new one, I took over the old one.

Now, as for this old one . . . I put it in its box and put it on a shelf on my cupboard.  It will probably sit there until I do fall cleaning next year and then I will have to decide what to do witht it.  I feel bad that in discarding it I am increasing the objects in the "throw away" world. I feel the same way when other items of technology break and are not feasible to fix (televisions, computers, keyboards, printers, dvd players, etc. etc.)

I recycle all I can, and for the greater part of the year compost.  I am trying to be more thoughtful about my purchases, and spend more thought in whether I really need something or it is just a want.

Used clothing, used household objects, etc. go to a second hand store.

Out here you can recycle electronics - but not at the curbside. Often charitable groups will take them and dismantle them so that they can get money for the metal parts. The organization I work for takes in donated cell phones. I know of one charity that will even take cars (they strip them of all the parts that can be reused and then sell the metal).

Back in the olden days we had a dresser drawer full of cotton rectangles, kind of like diapers but folded so they were about four inches wide and eight or ten inches long.  They were pinned front and back to an elastic strap we wore below our waists.   Terrible, bulky uncomfortable things - and not too reliable either.  Too much bulk front and back, not enough in the middle.  

Believe it or not these were soaked, rinsed, washed in a wringer washing machine, hung on a line (with frozen fingers in the winter), ironed, folded and stored until the next month. 

Thank goodness by the when I was in my teens Kotex came out.  It sold in a brown paper wrapping with a little identifying tag that you could pull off before you left the store so no one would know what you had bought.  I only bought them if the female clerk was at the counter in the store, and I put them at the bottom of my brown paper grocery bag.  The shape of the box might give them away.

I try to reduce, reuse, recycle most things.  I have a compose heap.  I try to cook several things at once when I have the oven on.   I carpool.  But please, there are some things that just shouldn't be reused.

Natracare is also great when you become allergic or at least get bad irritation from some of the other products out there.  Who knew that was even possible to be allergic when it isn't the scented crap?  By the way, who the heck buys the scented crap?  Someone must be or else it wouldn't be made.

From my understanding, reading, etc., primitive people dealt with some of these problems by marrying young and getting pregnant  soon after puberty.   No periods.  Nurse for two to three years - hopefully no periods.  Get pregnant again. 

I've heard that some societies relate periods to widow's tears.   Only a widow with no husband would not be pregnant or nursing for very long during her productive years.   

I'm not advocating this method.   

It seems to me that there are lots of scented male products - soaps, deoderants, after shave to cover any natural scent and mask it with Deep Woods, Irish Spring, Axe (what does an axe smell like).   So many men's products are so strong smelling that I had to ask a couple of my roomers to keep their soap in their rooms and not to put on their after shave until they stepped out on the deck on their way out of the house.   My husband and I both use unscented products.  In fact we often use the same brand of deoderant.  I pick up two at a time.

Beloved, I do hope that you throw stuff in your compost 12 months of the year. It just doesn't work (much, or at all) in the frozen months. I deliberately keep one of my composters near my back door so that I can reach it in the winter.

Hey! I'm listening to Loreena right now!

You can find a menstrual cup at a health food store, or other earthy type shop. It saves alot of money. I also did the washable scraps of cloth version. You can tailor them to your own liking. Use paper towel inside the fabric... stick the plastic back of a liner underneath... use lingeree elastic to hold it tight...  that is if you're really keen to try that as an experiment. One could probably stuff spagnum in there too.

But yeah, the getting pregnant idea seems to have been how things were done once, and still in some cultures. In ancient Egypt, girls were married as soon as they hit puberty.

I agree SOmegal about not being ashamed. I get a bit of a giggle out of it when the clerk is a teen age boy, and I'd rather it were a woman, but there's nothing you can do about it, so might as well be confident and mature about it. Still, it is something one doesn't want to talk about often. But man, am I a lot more comfortable with it now than I was when I was young. It was sooo shameful at first, so sad. Too bad we can't just turn the cycles off if we don't need them eh!

I read an autobiography of Rachel Welch, and it in she talked abotu her menopause, and how she hemouraged, and she thought about getting a hysterectomy, but a new treatment was available and her doctor recommended it. She had the inside of her uterus cauterized, and this prevented loss of horemones associated with hysterectomies, and she thoroughly recommends this treatment if you can get it. Good thing to know. She looks fabulous for her age too. Aging apparantly takes hold quickly when your uterus is removed.

I would be embarrased about it. I couldn't buy them in a pharmacy. I'd order online. 

I remember when my big half-sister came to visit with the new baby and she had these weird round pads... I thought they were for your underwear and would be a good shape, lol. No no, they were breast pads! SOmething I didn't learn about til much later.

My guy buys 'em if he is the one going to the store.   My married son does too.  Not sure about the son in law though - never thought to ask.  Maybe I will now this thread has been aired. 

To me its' now no more embarrassing than buying toilet paper. Besides, ordering pads or tampons online is no good if you need them right now!

I've been thinking about trying the cup, but the one thing that is holding me back is wondering how comfortable it is?

Guys who buy tampons for their wives are guys who know who they are and who are confident their masculinity will not be compromised  by something as insignificant as being seen selecting or purchasing a box of tampons ... or holding their wife's purse while she tries on something in the store ... or ... or ... (there are so many puerile hangups and so little time) .  They are the kind of guys who don't give a shit what some constipated cashier or the pimply teen standing behind him in the drug store might think  ... they just do it because ... well ... because they are men!  ... and not self conscious boys.  

So! ... All you REAL men please form a line ... lets call it a "squadron" ... and then we will all march together down the street to the drug store to buy our wives their favourite brand of feminine hygiene product (You DO know what it is don't you?! ... and if it is out of stock what a good second choice would be?!)  singing all the while a rousing rendition of  the second verse (suitably altered for the occasion) of "Stout Hearted Men" 

Ready?

Give me some men who are stout-hearted men,

Who will fight, for the one they adore,

Start me with ten who are stout-hearted men,

And I'll soon give you ten thousand more.

Shoulder to shoulder and bolder and bolder,

They grow as they go to the fore ...

Stout Hearted, qwerty. I love it!!!!!!  Give us another verse.