I definitely prefered to use fabric pads. I young friend turned me onto them years ago. I ended upmaking my own using diapers. I just experimented with cutting them to sizes I liked. I sewed the edges on the machine with zigzag stich. Some I embroidered around the edges.
I simply put them in a bucket with water in it and let them soak until I was ready to wash them out by hand before tossing them into the washing machine. I line dry all my laundry most of the time.
I found them sooo much more comfortable. If I was going out or for work I supplemented them with disposable thin pads. One thin pad would last all day, usually. It was just for added to protection. I did not like to have the disposable pad touch my skin. I ended up with so much less skin problems down there, once I switched to cloth.
I also use fabic tp now. We had no money for tp this winter at one point, so I cut up an old t-shirt. I am the only one who uses them, but it saves a lot of tp. I also only use them for #1. I stopped putting tp in the toilet, since it creates backups in our pipes anyway. So it was an easy step for me to go to fabric wipes and not throw them into the toilet.
The only thing I find annoying with them is hanging up all those little sqares on the line
I can't see myself ever going back to using tp for #1 again.
Now when I go to someone elses house and use the facilities, I always look for a basket, before I realize that it needs to go down the toilet.
