One easy change for you (and big change for the environment!) is replacing your paper towels with fabric ones. Not only is it better for the environment, it's better for your wallet and cleaning. Cloth cleans so much better.
However, if you're like me, you can't afford to outfit your kitchen with spendy paperless towels. Not that I wouldn't love some. It's just not something needed right now.
So what did I do? Well, one day while at the store I spotted a huge rack of 18-count washcloths (Mainstays from Wal-Mart). They were a measly $4 a pack. For $8 I have 36 perfectly usable and scrubby cloths to use to tidy up my house. They work well, wash well and I couldn't be happier with them. Especially since they were so affordable. I store mine under my kitchen sink for easy grabbing.And look, even my kids like them ;)
Regardless of what you choose to get, you'll love the switch from paper towels.
Have you made the switch? I'd love to hear what you think and if you purchased unpaper towels, what brand you recommend. It might help someone else choose.
7 comments:
I guess we have been doing this for a while without thinking about it! We cut up old towels and cotton T-shirts and use them for cleaning. Works great!
I totally switched! I even stopped using napkins and my favorite swiffer wet pad thingies (which I admit was very hard for me). But I'm super glad I did. Now I just have to wait for the paper towels that I bought in bulk to run out (hopefully over a very long period of time), so that I can stop using them all together. It's a little too tempting to have them on the counter so I keep them in my closet and use in emergency situations only.
Since I moved out of my parents house three years ago, I've gone through maybe four rolls of paper towels. When I ran out of my last roll, I didn't buy any more. Towels or dishcloths work just as well for cleaning up spills or wiping down sticky children!
Great Idea, I use recycled paper towels (7th generation products) but will be using this more, if I can get my husband to do this when he is working on the farm, it will be a huge cost savings as well as much more eco-friendly.
About 2 years ago, I cut up some flannel fabric I had and sewed quick and easy "hems" and created cloth napkins for my family. I keep them in a basket on the kitchen table. Then for cleaning, I bought a huge package of microfiber cloths that were retailed for cleaning cars. I bought them at Costco and split the pack with a friend. I use these bright yellow one for cleaning and dusting. They are fabulous getting up the dust! The only roll of paper towels we had was one made by seventh generation and rarely used. My husband recently bought 2 rolls of regular paper towels!!! At least we have yard-waste that we can put them in for composting. He got an earful from me about that purchase!
We also have been using Seventh Generation TP and I've noticed that the price has come down since we first started using it!
Thanks for a great post! I hope more people start doing this easy switch!!
Great idea...I've been wanting to buy the cute unpaper towels but these would work great!
I haven't totally given up the paper towels but we have significantly reduced our use of them. I cut up a bunch of old dish towels to use instead.
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