The first challenge came to my use of Family Cloth: my monthly cycle. Darn.
I had a decision to make, and I needed to make it fast.
I decided to continue with the experiment.
It is icky, but it doesn't feel as icky cleaning that bloody mess with a damp cloth as opposed to a bunch of dry tissue. I've got a bottle filled with water, a drop of olive oil, a drop of tea tree oil and a drop of soap (it's a really small bottle) that I squirt on the cloth before wiping. I feel much fresher cleaning this way than I did using the bathroom tissue.
I am concerned about the cloths staining. I keep them in a bleach solution until wash day, but I am still paranoid. I read on some menstrual cloth forums that blood stains generally wash clean especially if they are soaked and the water changed frequently. This morning to be sure I changed the water and swished the cloths around some and inspected them. A couple of cloths that had stayed folded still had a bit of blood on them but most were totally free of blood. Maybe this will not be a concern after all....
After going this far to save money I am wondering if I should go whole hog and start using menstrual cloths as well. One lady just folds up her cloths and uses that instead of making anything fancy, and gives an option for using some waterproof flannel(?) as a liner between the cloth and the underwear if one is concerned. Insane as it sounds I may have to research that...