Toxic Teas

I love me some tea. I've been in love with tea and the many opportunities for ceremony and ritual surrounding it ever since my mother asked me if I wanted to have a peppermint tea party with her when I was a little girl. Heck yeah I wanted to have a tea party! She brewed us a couples of cups of tea and we sat in my room enjoying it. Tea is simply magical.

There are secret dangers everywhere these days and unless you actually go looking for them you have a great chance on missing out on what could prove to be useful information. Looking for trouble sounds crazy and exhausting. I look at it this way - if you're reading this blog then it's likely you're interested in these hidden dangers and I'm happy to share whatever I've learned with you.

The subject of toxins in tea was just one of those thoughts I had in passing and chose to revisit. Honestly, it came to me while I sat watching The Backyardigans with my daughter. I let my mind wander and suddenly found myself wondering - are there hidden toxins in tea? It wasn't a search that took much digging to find an answer to my question, and that answer was a resounding yes.

Many tea bags are produced using a nasty chemical used in the production of plastics and insecticides. When this chemical, epichlorohydrin, comes in contact with water, it hydrolyzes into a carcinogen. In a world where we are trying so hard to rid our homes and bodies of endocrine disruptors we sit down with a nice, hot, cup of cellular metabolic process disruptors.

But wait there's more! (I'm so so sorry . . . )

Tea bags are also usually bleached (that's how most of our household items [examples: toilet paper, baby wipes] get that lovely white color. The edges of these bleached bags are also sealed using MORE CHEMICALS!

After these tea bags have been made with epichlorohyrin, bleached, and heat sealed with chemicals; the bags are "wet strengthened" using additional chemicals making sure that the bag doesn't fall apart upon impact with your hot water.

How can you avoid these pitfalls? Check labels. Some teas are made with chemical free bags. Look for "chemical free" or "bleach free" and I should think any company side-stepping a clear answer about if their products are exposed to these things or not should be side-stepped when it comes to your next cup of tea.

Tea companies I found to be free of epichlorohydrin
Twinings (uses a thin layer of polypropylene plastic to seal the tea bags)

Tea companies best to avoid on this issue
Celestial Seasonings
Stash
Bigelow (contain polyamine-epichlorohydrin resins)
Yogi (contain polyamine-epichlorohydrin resins)
Numi (provided an inconclusive response when questioned)
Lipton
Ahmad (will not respond)
Salada (will not respond)
Tazo (will not respond)
Harney & Sons Fine Teas (will not respond)
Ginar (will not respond)
Red Rose
Tetley

Alternative options
Loose tea
Bag your own tea

Related reading
The Truth: About Tea Bags
Twinings FAQ
Bleach in teabags - health risks
Bleached tea bags
Yahoo! Answers
Green Tea May Fight Cancer But The Tea Bags Might Cause It
List of Epichlorohydrin Free Tea Products
How To Tell if Epichlorohydrin Is In Your Tea

Replacing Baby Dishes

My daughter only had one dish that was all hers. A few weeks ago my husband wasn't thinking and when he went to cut her food for her used a steak knife of her thin, unsuspecting plate and it of course, broke.

She only had two bowls so I was washing them SUPER frequently.

So I needed a suitable replacement for the broken dish and maybe some additional bowls.

I love them!

Pintested - Chem-Free Cleaning - Dishwashing Detergent (part III)

You can imagine how absolutely sick of dishes I must be by now. If it weren't bad enough that I was already doing multiple loads in a day - lately I've been getting nowhere, fast.

Today's pin-test from from the info here via this pin.

Considering how terribly this has all being going for me and that I read in the comments of someone's blog about home-made, chemical-free, cleaning agents that citric acid cancels out Castile soap somehow I wasn't feeling too confident that this would work.

It didn't. Again I had a bit of a chalky residue. I'm considering packing it in and just buying some Meyer or Seventh Generation . . . .

Pintesting - Chemical-free cleaning - Dishwashing detergent (Part II)

Unhappy with the way my last attempt at home-made dish-washing detergent was going I decided to try another recipe.

Today's pin-test come from the info here via the this pin.

The biggest change between my last dish-washing detergent and the one I tried today is the addition of lemi-shine and kosher salt. Feeling a bit hopeless at this whole home-made cleaning supplies thing I made only as much as this recipe called for rather than a large batch like I previously had. I'm glad I did.

Today's results were again disheartening. Upon opening my dishwasher and hoping to be removing my sparkling clean dishes I was met with that same chalky residue. At this point this particular load of dishes had gone through at least three times. I ran it once more, on heavy duty, with just water.

Residue. Frak.

Pintesting - Chemical-free cleaning - Dishwashing detergent

I saw quite a few pins saying that a mixture of half borax and half washing soda would give you a good powdered dish washing detergent.

The first pass through the dishwasher left me really happy with the results but for whatever reason all subsequent uses of it left me with powdered residue on the dishes. Frak.

The use of white vinegar as mock Jet Dry in combination with the mixture didn't remedy the issue. Back to the drawing board I suppose.

Pintested - Chem-Free Cleaning - Bathroom Sink

My bathroom sink frequently looks . . .disgusting. With my parents coming I couldn't possibly let my mother see the sink like this.

Today's pin-test comes from the info from here via this pin.

My husband usually shaves his head over our sink and then leaves his hair there to clog it for a pretty indefinite amount of time.

• DRAIN CLEANER: Pour 1/2 cup baking soda into drain followed by 1 cup vinegar. Let it sit and fizz for 15 minutes, then rinse with hot or boiling water. May need to repeat or leave baking soda and vinegar in overnight.

I was hoping the foaming action from the drain cleaning would leave me with nothing left to scrub - but this was not the case. On to round 2.

• SCOURING POWDER: Combine 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup borax, and 1 cup kosher salt in a jar. Sprinkle on area to be cleaned, wipe with a sponge, and rinse.

With all of the cleaning I've been doing I've pretty much run out of baking soda so i used 1/4 cup of each ingredient instead of a full cup.

In fact, I figured while I was at it I may as well scrub the entire sink area.

The back of the sink had also gotten a bit grody.

I was pretty happy with the results.

Was it worth a try? It sure was and I definitely recommend it.
 

Washing In My Own Laundry Soap

There's a chance my mother was even more excited about my first use of my home-made laundry soap than I was. In fact, right before she'd called I was already getting ready to wash some clothes.

When I first drained the detergent into the little cup that comes with the container it was that same watery consistency from when I first poured it in. I put a bit more in and started the washer. Still pretty nervous about the soap I stopped the washer about half-way through and poured some in from the other end (after a good shake.) Still a bit watery but nowhere near as clear or thin as it seemed before.

After I washed it you better bet this girl gave the laundry a sniff test before I went forward. I didn't smell a thing, no chemicals, no foul odor, not even wet clothes. Into the dryer they went while I started another load of laundry. For the second load of laundry I used vinegar as my fabric softener.

The consensus: I'm happy with yet another positive change being made in our household and say this one is worth a try for all of those who are interested.

Pintesting - Chemical-free cleaning - The Toilet (Take II)

As I mentioned in my previous post, the bathroom closest to my bedroom is used with enough frequency that leaving it with borax in it all night isn't much of an option.

Today's pin-test comes from the info here via this pin.

The before

15 minutes later

After scrubbing

The consensus: I was better off letting borax sit all night in the toilet

Chemical-Free Cleaning - The Toilet

Our back toilet was in need of a cleaning and here I was without anymore of those toxic house-hold cleaners I grew up with and came to depend on. With my old pal bleach out of the picture I remembered seeing something on Pintrest about cleaning your toilet using borax. It was already nearly midnight and I didn't feel like digging through the 300+ pins on my green board so I just did a quick Google search.

Today's chemical-free cleaning test comes from the info here on Care 2 Make A Difference.

All you need to do is pour 1 cup of borax into your toilet before bed, wake up, and scrub away the yuck. Seems simple enough.

Knowing that my husband or I could not go all night without using the toilet closest to our bedroom it seemed the back toilet with all its yuck was a good candidate to go first.

Here is the toilet before I added the borax.

Once I added it (I even flicked the cup up towards the walls of the toilet where the water didn't reach) the water, not to my surprise, turned cloudy. Cloudy felt good. Cloudy, to me, meant that the borax was already dissolving and dispersing.

In the morning before scrubbing the toilet looked like this - a very slight change.

After scrubbing.

I say for those of you who are interested in cleaning your toilets this way - it's worth it.

Pinners Beware!

It's really easy to just somewhat mindlessly click and add pins and I have the sneaking suspicion that a lot of people who say "pin now and read later" may be more likely to pin now and forget later.

We're all at least occasionally guilty on mindless pinning; unless of course your my husbands grandmother. When I tried to teach her to use Pintrest she was reading each pin on the opening page with such care I think she only read four or five pins (this included visiting the source websites.)

I say all of that to say this - take at least one minute longer before pinning to your boards with titles like "natural living", "chemical free", or "green." Some pins will have the basic ingredients for a recipe listed right there without your needing to visit a website and even more have pictures of the ingredients you can expect to use. While looking for chemical-free recipes I found a disturbing amount that included Suave shampoo or conditioner, Herbal Essences shampoo or conditioner, Dawn dish soap, and even on occasion ammonia!

If you're not sure why all of these ingredients (sans the ammonia) don't count as chemical-free I've looked up the ingredients of these products so I can show you a few of the most commonly used toxic chemicals you will find in these products.

Suave

Fragrance (Parfum), propylene glycol, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, dmdm hydantoin

     According to LIVESTRONG:
              "All shampoos in the Suave lines include ammoninum lauryl sulfate, a surfactant that reduces surface tension in water so that it can lift dirt from your hair, and sound-alike ammonium laureth sulfate, another surfactant and a skin conditioner."

Herbal Essences

Fragrance (Parfum), PEGs, 


Dawn

Fragrance, sodium laureth sulfate

Although the overall health rating for these may not be off the charts terrible, the fact that these items contain these chemicals is enough for me to feel that using them in your "home-made" products isn't the greenest choice possible and not very chemical-free.

Learning at least a few of the more hazardous chemicals will make checking labels simpler than you may think. I can tell you from my own personal experience that there you will learn where in the list of ingredients to find some of these offenders while others jump off the label and you spot them almost immediately.

Just remember that DIY isn't interchangeable with "green" or "eco-friendly."

Pintesting - Chem-Free Cleaning - Laundry Detergent

The Christmas before my daughter was born my mother gave me a bottle of Dreft telling me that it was gold. Dreft, as it was explained to me was the laundry detergent I should be using to wash my little ones clothing. I was left with the impression that it was gentler and perhaps contained less of the harsh chemicals I was using on my husband and my own's clothing. Since that time I have been dutifully using Dreft to wash my little girls clothes.

But wait a minute! Why didn't I ever stop to think that if it wasn't so great for my little lamb to snuggle up in sheets washed in the same detergent I was using on my own, maybe the detergent I was using simply wasn't so great.

If you're using a chemical free laundry detergent there's should be no reason to have to do your childs' laundry in separate loads with and entirely different detergent. You're already saving money by only using one type of detergent rather than two.

Today's pin-test comes from the information I got here via this pin.

Grating Fel Naptha proved simpler than I expected. The soap is really soft so it grates quickly and easily. I was able to do it despite having a sprained wrist (on the side that would be holding the grater).

I opted to use empty containers from my husbands juice. He wasn't happy about this. Because the juices are so sweet he usually saves an old container and splits the juice equally between the containers and then adds water. When he realized there was really no talking me out of using his containers for a short while to make the new laundry detergent he told me what I already knew: to clean them very, very, very well because if I didn't and he mixed juice in a contaminated container he could get very, very, very sick. His faith in what I do and don't know is just amazing.

While I was constantly stirring the soap and water mixture there were more suds than I expected. I was pretty worried I'd already done it wrong. I soldiered on . . you know . . . for science (and because I can be a bit hard-headed and had nothing else to do anyway.)

The resulting pudding-like mixture left me feeling pretty satisfied and amused. I used a measuring cup to put the soap into the bottles. One cup in one bottle, One cup in the following, one cup in the last, one cup in the last, one cup in the center, and one cup in the first - then repeat until you run out of soap.

The tops of the bottles ended up getting a little messy.

I did my best to eyeball where the half-way point for the bottles was when I added the hot water.

Shaking up the mix was again, something that left me feeling more satisfied than I expected. It was a little bit fun.

Come morning I was hoping to find a gelatinous blob that would slide when I moved the bottle. My blob did not slide when you moved the bottle. I stuck a wooden spoon in and began breaking up the blob. Then I filled the bottles the rest of the way with hot water. You will need to do a lot of shaking to get your detergent to mix well. I thought my husband would have done well enough but when I began transferring the mix to an empty detergent container it was downright watery. The reason for this was that there was still quite a huge blob left untouched by the shaking. So really go to town on the shaking.

I actually ended up rendering two of the jugs (in my opinion) useless. My husband was cleaning out one of our very messy rooms and throwing things away. Wanting to see what he was throwing away with reckless abandon I headed out to our trash can to look through the boxes. Aside from a $300+ pair of jeans I found some shirts that would make perfect baby rompers and some rose scented laundry water.

Without checking the label I added the laundry water to two of my jugs. When I checked the label I saw that it contained "fragrance", which I now know is a synthetic, toxic, ingredient. I was still able to completely fill our emptied laundry detergent container. I'll need to make more to replace the Dreft but next I plan to replace our fabric softener.

Pintested - Chem-Free Cleaning - Pans

Even after my last two cleanings and a trip through the dish washer my husbands pan was still just not clean enough for me.

Today's pin-test comes from this pin, all the info you need is actually right there on the pin.

I filled the pan with 2 cups of cold water and then added 3 tablespoons of kosher salt. Knowing that if I just left the pan sitting in the sink I moved it into the laundry room to sit overnight (actually I filled the pan that afternoon instead of that evening but this pan needed help!) I also made sure to spread the salt over the problem areas.

Here's what the pan looked like the next morning.

Not a whole lot of change if any. Not feeling too confident this would actually work I put the pan on the stove and heated it on medium - or as close to that as I can assume it is since I have a gas stove.

The only thing this experiment accomplished was creating a hot, salty crust around the edge of my pan. The treatment did nothing for the pan. The pin says that this can take a few tries but I feel unconvinced that multiple tries would result in a nice, clean pan.

Would I say this is worth trying? No, save yourself the time and effort.

Pintested - Chemical-Free Cleaning - Microwave

I'm thankful to be able to tell you that my microwave is not regularly a hang-my-head-in-shame mess. But I do periodically find myself with a larger share of splattered food than I'd like in there.

Somehow it seems there's a lot of people who aren't aware of the problem this mess poses in relation to how well your microwave cooks food. The short and sweet explanation of what I mean by this is: when you have a microwave coated with food splatters, each time you use it, your microwave will expend a portion of its energy to once again cook those food splatters. More splatters - less even or concentrated cooking.

Today's pin-test comes from the info I found here as a result of following this pin.

My microwave was already "acceptably" clean but it had once again been a while since it's last cleaning.

I assembled the things I would need to begin cleaning. Once they were I jumped right in.

I really want to be able to tell  you that I walked down the hallway and smelled the magnificent aroma of vanilla wafting towards me but no such thing happened.

Did the dirt/grime/grease/food residue just wipe right off as websites with similar solutions boast? Not really. However, this one did at least tell you how long to microwave the water. I've seen some that just tell you to microwave whatever the mixture is and not tell you mixture amounts of microwave times.

Here is what the microwave looked like after merely wiping it down after doing as instructed.

Although some things did seem to wipe away with ease, I didn't get the end result I was hoping for. What's a pinner to do? Dip your UnPaper towel into the warm vanilla water mixture and scrub the microwave with it.

Although I saw more positive results there's definitely still some residue left that will need to be removed.

Trade Tuesday - The Green Haven

Today's trade comes to me via Megan of The Green Haven and continues along with my UnPaper towel obsession.

20 year-old Megan is a student at Frostburg State University in Maryland, yet another state I have a soft spot for because I've spent a significant amount of time in my life in Maryland. This green Etsyian is majoring in early childhood education and minoring in marketing, which I think really shows through with the uncommon distance she goes in the name of customer service. With your order comes something I have yet to experience from any other seller. After placing my order Megan created a Facebook album with my basic order info, sent me the link to the album, and told me that I would be able to track the progress of my towels there. That's service!

Below is the same information you will find on any of Megans listings for her reusable UnPaper towels:

Reusable paper towels, also known as unpaper towels, are ideal for leaving traditional paper towels behind. Reusable Paper Towels are convenient and ready to use right out of the package like paper towels, but unlike paper towels you can use them again and again. Reusable paper towels fit on an old paper towel roll and can be placed on a paper towel holder.

~ This listing is for 1 set of reusable paper towels in (insert proper name of fabric here) fabric. Each set contains 12 individual towels, that snap together to form a roll of towels. Each towel measures 10" wide by 11" tall, making them about the same size as a paper towel. Towels are backed with 100% cotton terry cloth. Terry cloth is super soft and very absorbent.

~ Each towel is equipped with three sets of snaps, one more than is needed. This extra snap, the middle snap, is to provided extra support for the roll of towels. The middle snap prevents your roll of towels from sagging or drooping by helping support the extra weight of the towels.

~ Each set of towels is made with professional grade equipment, and is sewn with close attention to detail. The edges are surged with a professional surger, and the snaps are professional grade set using an industrial press. The snaps are made to hold up to much snapping and unsnapping as well as the washing machine, yet are gentle enough not to scratch when cleaning.

~ Reusable "paper" towels are machine washable, they may also be put in the dryer. I do not recommend using fabric softener on any of my products. Fabric softener can lessen the towels absorbency over time, making your "paper" towels less effective. Don't feel right not using a softener? Try using vinegar instead, its also a great way to eliminate odors, you can even place it in a downy ball!

Etsy Eco-Tip: Worldwide, 13 billion paper towels are used every day.The average person uses 3-4 paper towels each time you reach for the roll, using about a roll every day to day and a half. Switching your family to reusable "paper" towels can save countless paper towels, eliminating paper towels saves 4-6 rolls a week!

My UnPaper towels showed up much faster than I anticipated given Megans guestimation on how long it could take to get them out to me. Despite the fact that her paper towels are shown in a roll they are shipped flat 

and come with a quick explanation of how to attach your towels to an empty paper towel roll.

Because I drastically cut our use of paper towels I still have some on the roll on my kitchen.

Etsyians come in all shapes, sizes, races, and ages and it just tickles me green to see any of the younger generations making an effort to help reduce waste. In fact, I was so happy about it that I just felt I had to ask her about what influenced her to begin making changes in her own life and what some of them may be.

"Going green is a slow and steady process in our house. My fiance isn't quite hooked on it yet! I use almost all of the items I sell in my shop. I carry a coffee cozy in my purse, have a set of reusable paper towels in my craft room, I have a lunch bag for road trips and a few sandwich and snack bags, and I have a plastic bag holder in the kitchen. We try to recycle everything we can, currently I'm looking into getting a rain barrel!

Over the summer we can't drink the water in our "summer home", the house we have when we aren't at school. So we have to buy water, which means water bottles. I like to re-purpose them here at the house when I can, I have one for water for my paint brushes, the top of another is used as a funnel for the rice in my boo boo bags, and various others around the house. And what I can't re-purpose I recycle.

My newest "green effort" was making my own ribbon spools. I have TONS of ribbon and most of them aren't on spools, so I need to find a way to make them. I had my fiance's mom save paper towel rolls for me, and I had an old poster from a school project. So I used the towel roll for the middle and the poster board for the sides. while they aren't the prettiest they certainly work well!

I never really decided to go green per-say. Back before going green was popular, I thought I would try my hand at making reusable sandwich and snack bags. Most people had no idea what they were! So I started making other products, more recognizable ones, that people didn't even realize were small steps in going green. And I found out the best way to get people to recognize you and see your products was to use them yourself. And that's how it all started."

As she mentioned she doesn't only sell UnPaper towels; she also sells Boo Boo Bags

Drink Cozies

Plastic Bag Holders

Sandwich Bags

Snack Bags

Lunch Bag Sets

At this point I want to point out that her bags are not lined with PUL fabric. Many well-meaning sellers line their "green" products with PUL, and while reusable is good, PUL is not. PUL is not food safe - please check to make sure you know what your products are being made with before purchase. The same efforts we're applying at the grocery stores and farmers markets apply in other areas of our lives.

Paper towel info/links:
Buzzle - paper towel facts
Buzzle - facts about paper towels
LIVESTRONG - INFORMATION AND FACTS ABOUT PAPER TOWELS

Information about going paper towel-less:
Going paper towel-less

Pintesting - Chemical-Free Cleaning - Pans

I'm involved in a constant struggle to keep scorch marks off of three of our pans.

One of these, I've just come to think of as my husbands own personal pan. I insisted he begin using that particular pan years ago when I couldn't stop him from using metal utensils in my expensive, Tupperware, non-stick pans. My desire to die from some sort of heavy metal poisoning as a result of his scraping at burning food isn't what perhaps he thought it was. Since then he's been content to cook using almost exclusively "his pan."

I've posted about this struggled once before on my most recent blog - but this war wages on. No longer feeling the scrubby pads that had been sitting in the sink for months, usually under dirty dishes were still good - I threw them out. My first plan of attack involved elbow grease, baking soda, and one of my UnPaper towels. I made a small amount of progress but nowhere near the amount I needed.

What are you to do these days in your time of need? I turned to Pintrest.

My "Green" board on Pintrest has been quickly been filling up. For this task I chose to use the info provided by this pin.

It wasn't until I'd already begun cleaning the pans that I realized I should make a post about this and have before and after pictures. However, if you follow the hypertext link to my first post about these pans you will see what his pan regularly looks like.

Here is what the pans looked like after one round of following the directions of that pin to the letter.


Each of the pans had 1 cup of water which was boiled with 1 cup of vinegar. It's at this point that the original poster notes that should already be seeing a positive difference in your pan. This was not the case for me. Perhaps having scorched her pan from leaving it on a hot plate too long left a mess easier to clean the burnt on food residue my husband so dutifully leaves on these pans.

Once the water boiled 2 tablespoons of baking soda was added. The massive fizzing that resulted was incredibly satisfying.

I didn't really like a second round of cleaning left me with anywhere near the result I expected from the first. Would I call this a fail? No, I did make some much needed headway. It's worth a try - everyone's scorched pan story will vary and I should think so would their results.

Paper Towels Of My Un

Stan Smith: I'll give you $48 to assimilate.
Ma Ma: Shoes off in house.
Stan: What are you...? You don't have to wash paper towels. I'll buy more.
Ma Ma: Wasteful! You waste. Every penny counts.

                                                                           - American Dad, "Big Trouble in Little Langley" husbands

UnPaper towels, or as my husbands grandma  said (successfully taking some wind out of my sails) dish towels - another simple solution when it comes to needless waste.

I found out about UnPaper towels one day while wandering around on Pintrest and was pretty much immediately obsessed.

The idea of using shop towels, wash cloths, or other similar items reoccurred to me while I was reading Green Mama: the guilt free guide to helping you and your kids save the planet. Realizing the possible savings I told my husband that from then on, before he reached for a paper towel to think if this was a job that really needed a paper towel or if it could be just as easily taken care of by using a regular towel. Although he's not against using a towel to clean a mess rather than a paper towel, the walk down the hallway to the linen closet trumped ditching paper towels.

This was just the excuse I needed to begin making my own UnPaper towels. Having them in the kitchen and by the sink should be the incentive he needs to help us save pennies. Maybe having the last of the commercial paper towels under the sink will result in the same reaction of doing what's easiest.

Right now they aren't ready to go on a roll yet so I'll just have to make a space next to the sink for now. Hopefully I'll have these finished up very soon.

Lessons learned from this experience:
1) If you're not sure why your rotary cutter isn't getting anywhere - check to make sure the blade is out
2) Terry cloth isn't as easy to cut as you'd think
3) Using a cutting mat that is only 35 x 35 to cut yards and yards of fabric is kind of the suck

Reusable. Period.

Hayley: Oh, hey, Reggie.  
Reggie: What a beautiful vase.
Hayley: It's a menses pot.
Reggie: Okay, that's cool.
                                                                                        -American Dad, "Bully For Steve"

American Dad is one of those shows I watch when I just need my mind to go as blank as it will allow. This excerpt from the episode, "Bully For Steve", is something I never thought too much about until recently. I never asked, "What is a menses pot?"

A menses pot seems to be a piece of stoneware pottery used to soak soiled re-usable menstrual pads.

Reusable menstrual products don't seem to be common knowledge and the idea, for many, seems disgusting. Like many reusable products these are both wallet and earth friendly. If you're no stranger to cloth diapering adding a few more items to your wet bag, or even a separate one, may not be a big deal for you. One of the most popular reasons a lot of people tend to choose disposable products is for convenience.

One form of menstrual reusable is the cloth pad, which depending on where you get it from will sometimes come with it's own miniature, portable, wet bag. For those that don't, have no fear, with a little creative folding it can be folded into a neat little envelope.

"Now do you roll your own tampons or do you pay someone to roll em' for you?"
                                                                                                     - The Cleveland Show  

Francine Smith: Well, I'm doing my part to save this family some money. Look! I'm rolling my own tampons. I just saved 21 cents!
Stan Smith: That's my girl-- soaking up the savings!
Francine: I'll just shove this in my box.
Steve Smith: Mom, just put your box on the table.
Francine: While we're eating? Oh, okay.
Roger:(Italian accent): A-good a-morning, everybody. Eh... eh...eh...eh... eh...
Francine: Roger, only one scoop of chocolate mix. Everyone has to cut back.
Roger:(grunts) Why should I have to?! Stan spends $400 a week in gas for his SUV!  
Francine: Stan, I can't believe this! I'm shoving recycled couch stuffing up my Jack Johnson while you're burning through cash! You need to get rid of that SUV and get a hybrid right away!
                                                             - American Dad, "Don't Look A Smith Horse In The Mouth"

Another example of episodes I've seen at least three times and never thought much of what was said. Reusable tampons and inter-labial pads aren't made from recycled couch cushions, they're most commonly made using cotton. Disposable tampons pass for appropriate to wear while swimming but it's strongly recommended that you do not wear it's reusable option while swimming.

Still interested in a reusable product but looking for something that might be teetering on the border of a product like a tampon or a pad? Other options include sea sponges (hard to get much more natural than that) and menstrual cups. Sea sponges require moistening before insertion and work similar to a tampon and a menstrual cup is a soft, bell-shaped, cup that is inserted much like a diaphragm.

For more detailed information about the subject check out the incredibly informative site, ecomenses.