To Switch or Not To Switch | Considering Refreshing Your Cloth Pad Stash

I’ve been considering refreshing my cloth pad stash.

Do you ever feel like you could use a refresher on your cloth pad stash? I sometimes struggle with wanting more cloth menstrual pads, while also wanting to maintain a minimalist stash. Also, y’know, a big point in using cloth pads is to not have to buy menstrual products, and to not have to throw away menstrual products. It’s hard to get myself to throw away old pads because they’re reusable! And, when I talk to customers about how long they last, I love to tell them that I’ve had several of my pads since I started sewing them in 2017.

I’ve had some of my cloth menstrual pads for 4 entire years! I’m really proud of myself for maintaining a waste free period for this long. Plus, I’m proud of my pads themselves for holding up and remaining effective for as long as they have. Admittedly, I haven’t kept all my day-one pads. I think I’ve trashed 3 pads because of wear & tear from extended use and machine drying.

Another reason I consider expanding or replacing some of my pads is because I love to see a shiny new pad added to my pad variety! You know when you get a new pair of undies that make you feel so put together and ready to take on whatever the day throws at you? That’s how I feel when I’m wearing a brand new pad! It’s kinda silly, cause it’s like, we’re talking about cloth menstrual pads, right? But you know what I mean! I’m proud to be giddy about my reusable pads!!

So, basically I just wanted to talk about my inner conflicts. To toss or not to toss? To add new pads to my collection or to not do dat? I guess what I’ve come to is a happy medium. If a pad isn’t doing it’s best job anymore and it makes me roll my eyes whenever I use it, I’m okay with throwing it away. If I get an especially fabulous fabric to make pads with that I simply could not live without, I say to heck with it and keep it. Find joy where you can, right?