Try this with me. Instead of plowing through roll after roll of paper towels, I bought several kitchen hand towels and a basket. I placed the basket underneath the paper towel dispenser. I’m in the process of retraining my family to use the washable hand towels instead of the disposable paper towels.
There are some occasions where cloth hand towels just don’t cut it. You know, like when you’re pulling the skin off of chicken legs. The only useful tool to finally pull the skin off is a paper towel. There’s also the time when you clean the yucky stuff out of the kitchen sink drain. For some reason, that requires a paper towel too.
Most of the other times, the cloth kitchen towels work just fine. Because I bought so many of them, we use them as every day napkins too.
The reason for this paper to cloth towel switch is 3-fold:
- The cost of paper towels is going up and we go through so many in a week’s time.
- Throwing them away is a waste (very unblulow like), unless you engage in composting.
- Lastly, because I’m saving so much money making my own Homemade Laundry Detergent, what are a few extra hand towels to wash? With a family of four I wash often enough so as to not run out of hand towels.
Give it a try. Not only will you save money, you’ll be doing your part for the environment.
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Cutting the roll in half, that’s an interesting idea.
Thanks for the tip!
To make your paper towels go further cut the roll in half – it will look like a toilet paper roll.
I still use a dish cloth for mopping up spills. I wash my dishes in the sink by hand. After I’m done the dishcloth gets disinfected in the wash up bowl (in a mild bleach solution). When I do a machine clothes wash I always included dish cloths.
I’ve got to say, since I’ve started using cloth towels, I’ve not had to purchase a case of paper towels yet. My family seems to have jumped on the bandwagon willingly.
One small success!