At what point do you retire kitchen cloths?

[amyamanda]

I just noticed I have some very threadbare ones that are pretty laughable. Yes, they could wipe something, but they ball up into almost nothing, there is so little "oomph" left in them

At what point do you retire yours, and what do you do with them? I am thinking of cutting off the polyester serging and composting them, but maybe there is some other use they can be put to before they need to be disposed of.

I'm such a tightwad, I hate to replace them. I use terry washcloths in the kitchen because they absorb and scrub so well. Has anyone had luck cutting up old towels for washcloths, or do they fray too easily?

And speaking of towels, I have kitchen towels (non-terrycloth) that are getting holey, too. (I must have bought them at the same time as the kitchen cloths - might have been about 10 years ago). Same question - when and how best to retire them? And what to replace them with? I got some towels at Ikea for cheap when I was there (I have only been there once) and I wish I had gotten more. Maybe I will plan another trip there at some point (for cheap kitchen towels, LOL).

FWIW, we use cut-up T-shirts for handkerchiefs and old terry diaper wipes for family cloth. The diaper wipes are also starting to get quite holey, but they don't need to be as absorbent as kitchen cloths.

I also keep a stack of old toddler prefolds in a kitchen drawer for soaking up big spills. They are awesome for that.

And for terry bathroom towels, I just turn the edges and stitch them down when they start to get too frayed. That has rescued lots of our old bath towels.

I hate to retire old cloth. Seriously, I ran into a kitchen cloth today that is literally hanging together by its last threads. LOL! Tell me I'm not the only one? How to squeeze every last bit of usefulness out of them...

[honey-lilac]

I don't have a hard and fast rule; whenever they get... well, hole-y, really dingy, or just plain no-longer pretty. They then go to the laundry rag pile to wipe up various floors and messes indoors. When even worse, they get downgraded to garage rags - at which point when they're used up they're thrown out in the trash. They have a long life. Right now the rags we moved here a year ago are still laundry rags and haven't yet made it to garage rags yet. And we only have a few in all (less than a dozen) so they go through a lot of washes.

[not now]

When they are filled with holes and/or threadbare I use them one last time to wipe up something really gross (cat vomit or the time my dog pooed in the kitchen) and toss them with the mess.

I demote nasty looking napkins to rag duty. I buy old towels and sheets at thrift stores to cut up as rags.

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by amyamanda

I just noticed I have some very threadbare ones that are pretty laughable. Yes, they could wipe something, but they ball up into almost nothing, there is so little "oomph" left in them

At what point do you retire yours, and what do you do with them? I am thinking of cutting off the polyester serging and composting them, but maybe there is some other use they can be put to before they need to be disposed of.

Has anyone had luck cutting up old towels for washcloths, or do they fray too easily?

Our kitchen towels get retired when about a third of them are a giant hole or so. They then start their exciting life as a shop/garage towel. For wiping up whatever greasy mess hubby's got going on, waxing or drying the cars, cleaning the chainsaws, mopping up a gallon of spilt milk, whatever. We just have a bucket of scraps - old towels, shirts, etc. out there for more abuse because while they're not pretty, they're still useful.

I haven't cut up old bath towels for washcloths - our bath towels tend to be on the more... fluffy side, and not always as absorbent as the woven terry-type towels I use in the kitchen, so they'd just annoy me. So the holey bath towels go out to the garage, too. If they're almost in one piece, we use for drying off cars after washing them. Otherwise I may attempt to hem them into smaller scraps of towel for whatever. We do wash the ones that aren't totally dead with grease and such, so edges need to not fray and explode in the washer. We've got enough going on that dealing with a maze of strings in the washer isn't high on our to-do list.

[mags]

Originally Posted by Kaleanani

I don't have a hard and fast rule; whenever they get... well, hole-y, really dingy, or just plain no-longer pretty. They then go to the laundry rag pile to wipe up various floors and messes indoors. When even worse, they get downgraded to garage rags - at which point when they're used up they're thrown out in the trash. They have a long life. Right now the rags we moved here a year ago are still laundry rags and haven't yet made it to garage rags yet. And we only have a few in all (less than a dozen) so they go through a lot of washes.

This is basically what we do too. I just retired a bunch of ratty/stained kitchen towels for floor wipe ups.

[sunflower.mama]

I say - if someone was a guest in my home, and would be repulsed by me using a ratty cloth to "clean" my home - time to replace. I just did this w/some Trader Joes absorbent cloths that went into my disposal a few times and were getting ratty.

[yeahwhat]

Originally Posted by not now

When they are filled with holes and/or threadbare I use them one last time to wipe up something really gross (cat vomit or the time my dog pooed in the kitchen) and toss them with the mess.

This is what I do too. With 2 cats and 4 kids, there's something really gross to clean up frequently enough that I don't have a huge surplus of rags on their last legs (or threads).

[Ruthiegirl]

We have been married 11 years and I just tossed some of kitchen cloths that were wedding presents. I think I decided to toss them when I realized that I could get a pack of 12 for less than $5. I mean $5 is a nominal amount to spend for something that I use every day, every meal, every mess.

I have gone the cut-up-a-bath-towel route. It works fine after they have been washed a few times, but the first few uses are very linty/stringy. Of course, you could turn the edges, I was just too busy to bother.

[jocelyndale]

When they're so fringed on the edges that they cause huge tangled dryer knots.

I'm currently going through our drawers and making a pile of disintegrating towels and cloth wipes. I'm going to wash them harshly and then cut them into shreds and make some draft dodgers. The washcloth size wipes are this week. If I want to get rid of the smaller wipes, I have to start sewing. The kitchen towels will happen after payday (we use barmops and floursack towels in the kitchen/house--bought in bulk at supply shops).

[SleeplessMommy]

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl

.... I realized that I could get a pack of 12 for less than $5.

where?

[CeciMami]

All of my kitchen washcloths are made of cut up old towels. I basically cut out a rectangle, folded it over to make a square, sewed the edges together (except for a hole in one side so I could then turn them right side out and hand stitched them shut. They've lasted forever this way! And no frayed edges!

[alittlesandy]

Ours get really gnarly, lol. I don't care about pretty, as long as they are clean and don't smell. However, when my mom comes to visit, she is always horrified and runs out and buys us new ones.

[earthmama369]

Originally Posted by SleeplessMommy

where?

Target and Ikea both carry inexpensive packs.

Yeah, when our rags get frayed to the point of tangling, holey, or just gross, they get used one last time on something gross, like cat vomit, and tossed. If I have a bunch that need retiring and no gross clean-up to use them on, I'll shred them a little more and put them in the compost.

[Ruthiegirl]

Originally Posted by SleeplessMommy

where?

My local hardware store. I have seen them cheap at Walmart (I know ) or Target. I think the Target ones are closer to $8 for 12 though.

But the little mom and pop hardware store has nice, little cloths cheap. They are a bit undersized which I like since I have small hands. I was in the other day and noticed that that have lovely line of organic cotton kitchen towels that are beautiful -- thick cotton and warm neutral tones. But $13 per dish towel.

Sorry, off topic. Just plugging the small town, local stores.

[Ruthiegirl]

Originally Posted by CeciMami

All of my kitchen washcloths are made of cut up old towels. I basically cut out a rectangle, folded it over to make a square, sewed the edges together (except for a hole in one side so I could then turn them right side out and hand stitched them shut. They've lasted forever this way! And no frayed edges!

That is a really good idea. I have made some before, but tried to turn the edges under which is a sewing nightmare for my fumbling fingers.

Thanks for the tip.

[leavemealone]

I also don't have any set time frame for when I get rid of things like dish cloths, but I get rid of them when I know it's time. When they stop being able to serve their purpose effectively, it's time to get rid of them. I am also someone who buys the cheap set of cloths at a store and use them until they die. I bought a cheap set at Meijer about 6-7 years ago and they are still working very well.

[doubledutch]

those would be demoted from "dish cloth" to "rag". when rags get completely nasty, i don't feel bad throwing them out. i already got the original use from the item plus the reuse as a rag. although i didn't think about composting . . .

[fancyoats]

our town/county takes rags in the green recycle bin with the paper/cardboard. as long as they are clean, of course.