help me break my paper towel habit

[Anonymous]

My family uses way way way too many paper towels. But it’s a hard habit to break.

We use them to wipe dribs and drabs and real spills on the kitchen counters and floor; to dry hands after we wash at the kitchen sink; to wipe up bits of food off the counters after food prepping; to mop up around the dog’s dish after he slobbers; so on. There are days we go through half a roll.

I have lots of little microfiber cleaning cloths, but my family (including me) doesn’t like them in place of paper towels - to me the biggest issue is they can only be used to clean one mess, so I have a pile of cloths to launder at the end of each day. It also feels gross to put cloths dirty with food particles into the wash instead of throwing out a paper towel dirtied by food.

The one area I could change is the use of paper towels to dry our hands at the sink- I could leave a dishtowel there that gets used for hand drying.

I’d appreciate suggestions for how your house handles this. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Your washing machine can handle food particles just like it handles poop particles. It cannot handle chunks of food.

[Anonymous]

When I had three kids, it was paper towels and hand towels - I’d end up going thru 6 hand towels a day, and they used them like paper towels. I’d get a cheap pack of 50 hand towels from Costco or Sam’s. When too stained to look nice, I’d put them in rag drawer.
Now that they are older, I use tj washable flat sponge or Swedish dishcloth for spills (do not put in dryer) and nicer hand towels. I really like the Japanese towels or linen towels.
End result - Very few paper towels used, if any.

[Anonymous]

Swedish dishcloths.

[Anonymous]

Running the washing machine constantly is bad for the environment too.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you guys are huge slobs. Stop spilling stuff constantly. I don't know how you could accumulate a pile of cloths that needs to be washed on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

I use something like this, it’s super absorbent, and lasts a while

https://a.co/d/fOe4Vhu

We do also use paper towels, but we’d use much more of the paper towels without these.

[Anonymous]

Put a dishtowel near the sink and tell everyone to use that when drying their hands after washing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I use something like this, it’s super absorbent, and lasts a while

https://a.co/d/fOe4Vhu

We do also use paper towels, but we’d use much more of the paper towels without these.

Pp again, these are the ones I use (vileda) Sponge cloths: they are great.
https://a.co/d/achwegC

[Anonymous]

Dishtowel by the sink for drying. Another cloth for general cleaning that get replaced not after every use but when it gets too dirty to flip or refold. Paper towels for very dirty tasks only.

[Anonymous]

I also use those square sponge-material things like PP linked to for wiping up messes major messes, like spilled food or juice. They absorb a ton and you can rinse them thoroughly.

For drying hands, drying dishes, wiping up water spills, etc., I use these: https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/williams-sonoma-striped-towels/ . I have about twenty of them in constant rotation and I've had most of mine for ~20 years. They're indestructable and they wash and dry beautifully in the machine. I don't worry if they get staining-type stuff on them because the stains just come out in the wash.

If you end up with chunks of food on something you want to wash in the machine, just shake off or rinse off the chunky bits first. The remaining soil will wash out just fine.

[Anonymous]

We have a gross sponge for cleaning drips off the floor and a good sponge for dishes.

Basket of clean cloth napkins that get used for 70% of everything else. The key is having a nice little hamper to put them in. Throwing them in the wash is no big deal. I even use them for things like patting dry fish and it’s fine. One gets left out on the counter most of the day and gets reused for things like coffee drips on the counter. Nobody’s gotten sick yet.

I got a role of reusable paper towels but they’re not as absorbant as the cloth napkins so I’m still learning to live them. When I traveled recently they were in all the airbnbs I stayed in so figure someone likes them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a gross sponge for cleaning drips off the floor and a good sponge for dishes.

Basket of clean cloth napkins that get used for 70% of everything else. The key is having a nice little hamper to put them in. Throwing them in the wash is no big deal. I even use them for things like patting dry fish and it’s fine. One gets left out on the counter most of the day and gets reused for things like coffee drips on the counter. Nobody’s gotten sick yet.

I got a role of reusable paper towels but they’re not as absorbant as the cloth napkins so I’m still learning to live them. When I traveled recently they were in all the airbnbs I stayed in so figure someone likes them.

All sponges are disgusting, but so is using so many paper towels.

I use cloth and bleach or vinegar soak them when I wash a load. Just buy white. I don’t need a pile—I use a few times typically and go through 2-3 a day. It is maybe one load a week.

[Anonymous]

Thanks OP- I am the same. Trying to do better.

[Anonymous]

Do you all use those reusable cloths for drying washed produce? At breakfast, lunch and dinner I am washing and drying fruits and vegetables, and using paper towels each time.