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Red Cardigan
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| Posted: Jan 30 2009 at 12:51pm | IP Logged
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I'm examining our grocery budget with rising consternation this year, and am trying to make some sensible cuts.
One thing we buy waaaaayyyyy too much of are various paper goods, especially paper towels. I've bought some microfiber cloths, etc., for cleaning, but it seems like the one area I still use (and go through) paper towels is the kitchen. It doesn't help that I've seen/read about how if you clean your kitchen with cloths or sponges you might just be spreading bacteria instead of removing it. 
So...if you've managed to go paper towel free, how did you do it? What do you use, esp. in the kitchen, to handle daily grime, food germs, etc.?
TIA! 
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kingvozzo
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Well, I have a ton (probably about 2 doz.) dishcloth/towels in my kitchen, so I can go through them with impunity!  I might go through 3 or 4 a day, in my usual dealing in the kitchen.
I also have a healthy stash of cut up cotton t-shirts to use for ickier things (think bathrooms  ) that I can throw out without guilt.
I don't buy any paper towels or napkins anymore. If we go through a drive-thru, I'll keep those napkins in the house, but that's it.
Hope that helps!
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SusanMc
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I think the key to kitchen hygiene is to treat the towels as if they are disposable. I have a huge stack of towels under the sink.
When we were first switching to cloth, I just stopped hanging up paper towels on the holder. Instead I hung a cloth towel over an empty cardboard papertowel tube. My husband was a bit irritated but eventually even he got tired of going across the house to the utility closet for a paper towel (I stashed a small supply there).
Used towels are temporarily placed in the corner until they can be put in the laundry basket near the washing machine in the garage.
In addition to the paper towel sized towels that we use, we also use small washcloth sized towels for wiping baby faces, dishrags, counter wiping, etc.
I think it also helps to keep in mind that your utility towels will not be able to be sparkling free from stains or have fluffy little designs like those in a Williams Sonoma catalogue. These are work towels and look like it. Clean and sanatized with each wash but well worn.
FWIW, I don't find microfiber that helpful in the kitchen. I prefer to use those for household dusting and windows.
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Maddie
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I had to cut out paper towels last year too for financial reasons. Instead of donating t-shirts and other clothes with good absorbency, I cut them up and put them in my rag basket to use in the kitchen and for other cleaning needs. If the mess is really cruddy, I throw the rag away or it gets burned when we burn trash. Otherwise, I wash them and hang them on the line for a natural bleaching.
Every once in a while I'll buy a two pack of Bounty when I can close my eyes and blow $4.
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Rachel May
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My mom had an unwritten rule about paper towels: only for draining bacon. Just having that attitude, there are these specific situations where I'll say they are necessary rather than convenient, might help. Good luck!
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guitarnan
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We did this with paper plates last year - I was going through dozens (well, not me personally  ). I just stopped buying them.
We, too, have stacks of towels - tea towels, floor cloths, dish towels, etc. in a drawer. I wash a lot of towels, but they all fit into one load!
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CrunchyMom
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Rachel May wrote:
| My mom had an unwritten rule about paper towels: only for draining bacon. Just having that attitude, there are these specific situations where I'll say they are necessary rather than convenient, might help. Good luck! |
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That's my rule--and "patting meat dry."
Go to the automotive center at Costco or Sam's Club and by a big package of terry cloth towels for washing/drying cars. They are white, but you could dye them a color if you didn't want to have to see the stains so much, but I love these cloths for wiping messes. If I recall, they cost about the same as the huge package of paper towels we had been getting, but they never had to be replaced.
Now, I actually buy the unbleached paper towels from the healthfood store since that's the only place I shop with regularity, but we only buy 3-4 rolls a year.
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JodieLyn
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yes, be sure you have LOTS of rags of whatever type on hand.. have a place for them.. even a basket on the counter if part of the reason they're not getting used is going to get them. And then stop buying the paper towels.. once you're otu of the habit of using them you can use them occationally without going overboard.. you might also find a cupboard to put them in rather than out and easy to grab.. and have the rags out and easy to grab.
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KC in TX
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I second those white towels from Sam's/Costco. We love them (not the stains though). Having a whole bunch of them makes it easy to keep fresh ones to prevent bacteria from being spread around. A load of towels gets them clean.
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Red Cardigan
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These are great ideas--thanks!
Nancy, I'm glad you mentioned paper plates--that's another one I'm phasing out. We forgot to buy them this week anyway. The one thing I'm noticing, though, is that we fill the dishwasher up more often without them.
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Caroline
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KC in TX wrote:
| I second those white towels from Sam's/Costco. We love them (not the stains though). Having a whole bunch of them makes it easy to keep fresh ones to prevent bacteria from being spread around. A load of towels gets them clean. |
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Target has them too. We've been doing this for 5 years.
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MarilynW
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Sorry - I'm keeping my addiction for a little longer!! I find that paper towel use really cuts down on germs in our house. We even use them in the bathroom instead of towels during the winter and when we have new babies.
After 3 weeks of illness - I am all for anything as sterile as possible!!!
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lilac hill
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Have cut the paper towel habit over the last year.
Old tee shirts, and socks are in the rag box.
Infortunately no one throws them away, they go through the laundry and I end up with way too many rags.
DD#3 asked for a roll of paper towels for Christmas.
I have found sale packs of 4 cloth napkins at Target and T J Maxx for $2 to cut napkin costs.
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CatholicMommy
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kingvozzo wrote:
Well, I have a ton (probably about 2 doz.) dishcloth/towels in my kitchen, so I can go through them with impunity! I might go through 3 or 4 a day, in my usual dealing in the kitchen.
I also have a healthy stash of cut up cotton t-shirts to use for ickier things (think bathrooms ) that I can throw out without guilt.
I don't buy any paper towels or napkins anymore. If we go through a drive-thru, I'll keep those napkins in the house, but that's it.
Hope that helps! |
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This sounds very similar to what we do. When my son was an infant, we had cloth diapers and I just realized the amount of disposable things we had - and if I were going to use cloth diapers to save money, why not save money elsewhere too? (some things I'd already switched to cloth, but that's another thread) In the end, the only disposable thing we use is toilet paper (which we also use for blowing noses because I just can't handle cloth handkerchiefs for this purpose - just too gross!)
ANYWAY, now that my son is done with diapers, I still use his cloth wipes for everything else - I had the Gerber brand birds-eye weave squares (I think they are 2 or 3 layers thick - we used the really large single thickness for the insertable diapers) - and my mom's fiance uses the same brand for cleaning at his house! He still gets a kick out that.
I do have one roll of paper towel that was given to me a year ago by a well-intentioned friend. I use it every once in a great while, but if I didn't have it, I'd find something else for whatever the purpose is. I have to get on a stool and reach into a high cupboard above the hanging microwave (which we don't use, but again, another thread!) to get it - so it's still there.
We just clean the kitchen at the end of every meal time, so it only comes to three cloths a day, then the dish-cloth. I don't worry about stains myself, but if I did, the sun seems to work great. The bathroom gets cleaned daily so that's another. For everything else, I still have those cloth diaper inserts!
Hot water wash does the trick and we don't have a lot of germs that go around (even when I had the family daycare and LOTS of germs came to visit along with the children).
Napkins: I was really blessed over the course of about 3 months at a local thrift store - to pick up several sets of cloth napkins, brand new (store tags still on) that we use for mealtime, with (get this!) matching cloth place mats. I love providence
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mathmama
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I haven't read the other responses, so not sure if this has been mentioned. For cleaning the house I use these nice terry rags that I got at Sam's. They were inexpensive. I have had them for a couple of years. I have a ton (at least 50) so they are used once and then thrown in the wash. For in the kitchen we use cloth napkins and I recently got about 50 very inexpensive white terry washcloths from Target. I use them in the kitchen however one would use paper towels. These are also just used once and then thrown in the wash. They have held up great. I never use any paper in the kitchen.
Beth
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juststartn
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One thing I am getting ready to do, is phase out the paper towels for mealtime napkin use. It will take some time to phase them out of DH's mindset...small steps. I think what I am going to do is get some of the flour sacking, and embroider litte designs on it. It's all cotton (I can't stand that slick polyesterish feel to so many napkins...ick), and I can do the design however I wish. Dye them if I want. Make a stack of them with initials on them so that we know whose napkin is whose, and then it will be easier to know who didn't put theirs into the washer. With some cheap napkin rings from the thrift store or on sale, they can be used for a full day, and then washed with the kitchen towels at night.
But that's just a plan for the moment...
Rachel
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happymama
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I also use napkins from occasional take-out.
Funny story, my mom uses tons of paper towels. When she comes to visit us, I get out a roll and put it on the guest bed for her. :) It drives her nuts that I don't use 'em.
I think if you hang your washrags up to dry out completely every night, they won't get stinky, and if you wash them in hot water (or a tiny bit of bleach or vinegar if you want) then germs should not be a problem.
I do wish there was a way to see germs, though. That'd be so nice.
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Tami
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Red - (gosh that sounds fresh to call you that  ) just go for it! When dh was in the thick of unemployment (~ a year and a half ago) I did just that. And included paper napkins as well! I'm so glad I did it. When a towel becomes irretrievably stained, it goes in the rag bag.
Having a large supply makes it easier to go through them so often.
And I do hang onto napkins from fast food places or pizza/Chinese delivery, but honestly I rarely reach for those, we're in such a habit of using cloth now.
I still buy paper towels (we do use them in the bathrooms for the swish & swipe a la Flylady - but that isn't a daily occurence ) but our use of them has reduced dramatically.
Rachel, in case you're interested, dh took some leftover PVC pipe that he had and cut it up for napkin rings. One of the boys painted them (a different pattern for each person) and we use them to keep track of the cloth napkins that way. There are extras for guests.
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DivineMercy
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Sorry to ask such a simple question, but what do those who do not use paper towels use for cleaning their mirrors?
Thanks!
Michelle
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folklaur
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MarilynW wrote:
Sorry - I'm keeping my addiction for a little longer!! I find that paper towel use really cuts down on germs in our house. We even use them in the bathroom instead of towels during the winter and when we have new babies.
After 3 weeks of illness - I am all for anything as sterile as possible!!! |
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Oh, I am with you! This is an "addiction" I have no plans of breaking, ever. And I am totally okay with that.
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Help me break a paper towel addiction...
