I want to ditch paper towels, but how?

[milkmamamerina]

Everytime I've tried to ease off the paper...aka we run out and I purposely don't get more for a while...I use our kichen rags and hand towels to fill in for the needs, but I don't have a good way to store the dirties for the laundry and I end up with them hanging off the sink getting balled up and stinky, etc.

So how/where do you store them for washing so they don't get nasty and need bleach to kill the mildew by the time you was them?

[surrogate]

I do laundry 2-3x a week, i jut throw them in with the rest of the dirties. I used an open 18gal tote for laundry, it fits perfectly in the corner of the bathroom and everyone knows that is where dirties go. I have never had a problem with mildew or stinkies, just dont ball them up when you put them in the dirty clothes

Oh and we go through at least 2 dish towells and 4 washcloths a day. We haven't used paper towells in 2+ years

hth

[goldenwillow]

I think you just do it. We always have hand towels hanging outside to dry so they don't stink before the wash. I use old diapers for cleaning. You won't miss them after awhile, I promise!

[ParisApril]

I have many different types of cloth for different purposes.

Tea towels and wash cloths for food messes. I wash them with the regular laundry.

Baby washcloths or old flat cloth diapers for dirty messes get thrown in with the cloth TP and DS's nighttime diapers.

Our flannel cloth hankies clean up a spill in a pinch as well.

The only thing that I ever wish I had paper towels for is for the rare times when I cook bacon. This past time though I let it go. I didn't pat off the bacon. I mean if I'm that worried about the fat then what the heck am I eating bacon for, right?

[em123]

We use washcloths and just toss them in a separate small garbage bin hanging just inside the basement door. It works for us because we wash them with the clothes, and we do clothes laundry 2 times per week minimum.

We just make sure anything chunky is rinsed off (berries tend to stick for instance) otherwise they get sort of baked on there.

[jwpsgurl]

I have about 3 dozen 10x10 towels that I made out of 2ply flannel for the kitchen and a hanging wet bag by the sink. I wash them every 3-4 days and it works out great! My DH was opposed at first b/c he loved paper towels for everything, but I haven't bought any in over a year!

[tracymom1]

We have a little lidded garbage can with a wet bag in it (like you would use for cloth diapers) on the back porch. I just throw them in there and wash every few days. We go through A LOT of rags and towels - my toddler is a little messy!!

I also have a drying rack set up on the back porch and throw the really wet ones on there to dry a bit. It really is a lot easier to completely get rid of paper towels and never look back than trying to "cut back". I keep a roll in the house in case guests want one or there is something unusually gross that needs cleaning, but they stay in the basement and I think we have had the same roll for 3 years!

[scottishmommy]

I throw dirty rags in the diaper pail. You could always have a separate garbage pail for dirty rags and sprinkle it with baking soda to combate mildew. I also use tea towels for kitchen stuff and rags for the down and dirty messes. I do keep paper towels on hand for hairballs or the occasional poopy accident from dd. Other than that we use cloth pretty much exclusively.

[JamieCatheryn]

I do laundry at least every 2 days to keep up with our clothes, so I just put dirty rags directly in the washer or rinse and wring out and leave them on the dryer until the next load.

[Masel]

I have a mesh bag that hangs from the underside of the elevated counter. It is near an air vent so even if stuff is still a little damp it dries by the time I wash them.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

Yeah, I have one "emergency" roll of papertowels in case we ever need one, but I went to cloth towels only about 1.5 yrs ago.

Mine are color coded (don't laugh). I have ones that match my kitchen for general use (hand wiping), lavendar ones that clean counters, white ones for messy-messes (these get bleached with the whites - sorry, i'm a mild bleach user), and bright yellow ones to clean around the toilets.

I bought tons of them when they were on bulk sale and just never looked back.
I only do laundry once a week and haven't had any problems with them getting stinky after being balled up in the laundry baskets. If I have a particularly wet one I rinse it out (if needed) and then just drop it IN the washer.

Once you get used to it you'll feel weird when you go to someone's house that does use papertowels.

[treeoflife3]

we have a mudroom/laundry room right off our kitchen that I keep two clothes hampers in. When I use cloth towels to clean up messes, I just rinse them off and put them right in the hamper. I try to do a load of laundry every day (I don't sort anything other than cloth diapers... including by color unless I have something new that obviously will have issues for a couple washes) so they don't sit long in the hamper.

[busymama77]

We've been paper towel/napkin free in our house since last September. It felt weird at first, but we got use to after a couple of weeks. My MIL really tends to make a point to always say when she's over at our house that we're a 'green house'. Well, yes, we are and very proud of it!

We buy the washcloths that come in bundles. You can find them at Target for $2.99 (I think there's 10 in the stack). I also found some at Marshall's and TJMaxx for right around the same price. We have a small basket on our panty floor that houses the dirties. I wash them when they've all been used and that's once every week to two weeks?

[mumm]

Originally Posted by HappilyEvrAfter

Once you get used to it you'll feel weird when you go to someone's house that does use papertowels.

Yup! And paper towel users will have trouble navigating your kitchen.


I have a pull out trash barrel/hamper thingy under my sink. We hang the used bar cloths on the edges until they dry and then dump them in. I do laundry more in the summer (kids change more often, etc. Although maybe it is just this summer because one of my just turned three year olds doesn't really like to use the toilet regularly. ) so the stinkiness doesn't get too bad. If we've had a particularly messy day with lots of wipe up cloths I will hang them out in the sun so they dry before going in the laundry hamper.

My biggest problem going paper free (in 2000) was draining fatty things. I had no trouble drying tofu with cloth towels, but bacon fat didn't feel quite the same. Now I use regular towels and it works just fine.

[To-Fu]

What about using a kitchen wet bag?

http://www.etsy.com/listing/30409949...-bag-14x20-w-2

[bjorker]

I have a plastic bin on top of the dryer to throw towels in (the laundry is right off our kitchen, so this is convenient for me), and just wash with the rest of our towels (bath towels, cleaning towels & rags, cloth napkins, etc). Now that I'm doing diapers again, I wash it all together. It gets done no less than every 2-3 days, even before the diapers got added, because we have enough of everything to do a load. Never any mildew problems.

I keep a stack of small rags (washcloth size) on our kitchen counter for "whatever" use, but I also have a big stash of all different sizes in a cupboard nearby. I do have a few rolls of paper towels in storage leftover from when we had a bird (I'd use them to line the bottom of his cage) and the only time I use them is when I need to pick up something truly gross, say-- a giant dead bug, or the extremely rare occasion that we cook bacon.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

Originally Posted by mumm

Yup! And paper towel users will have trouble navigating your kitchen.

My biggest problem going paper free (in 2000) was draining fatty things. I had no trouble drying tofu with cloth towels, but bacon fat didn't feel quite the same. Now I use regular towels and it works just fine.

Bolding mine....YES! Lol. It's kind of funny. "Really? You want me to wipe on the towel?" ::snicker::

I went to the $ Store and bought some of those cheapie coffee filters to use for draining grease on the few occasions I need them. Or use a broiler pan (the one that has a drip pan underneath a slatted sheet) and cook bacon in the oven.

[htcamommy]

Originally Posted by mumm

My biggest problem going paper free (in 2000) was draining fatty things. I had no trouble drying tofu with cloth towels, but bacon fat didn't feel quite the same. Now I use regular towels and it works just fine.

Ok, here's an ole cajun trick for yall. We use newspaper for this issue. We fry seafood all the time and newspaper is pretty much the trick for that issue down here for years. I just always keep some under the counter in a BIG (like storage bag type) ziplock and then pull it out when we need it. It also makes a great table protector if anyone decides to have a crawfish boil And the low boxes like four 6 packs of soft drinks come in work well as a throw away dish for laying the newspaper in before draining the grease.
I stopped using paper when my husband was out of work for 6 months and I honestly just couldn't spare the cash. He's had a job for over a year now but until I read this job I had never even thought about it. It wasn't really a decision that I made as much as a new habit created out of brokeness.

[gmvh]

We have horrid stink issues with wet things piled up. I'm sure the house with no-AC in the midwestern humidity is not helping. Anyhoo, we have an unfinished basement so we just toss wet ones down the stairs and let them dry, separately, on the basement floor. It's a bit messy but it works!

[ladymeag]

Originally Posted by ParisApril

The only thing that I ever wish I had paper towels for is for the rare times when I cook bacon. This past time though I let it go. I didn't pat off the bacon. I mean if I'm that worried about the fat then what the heck am I eating bacon for, right?

I have a stainless steel food sieve (basket on handle style) I put over a bowl for this. You get to save the grease for other uses and have crispy drained bacon.


We have been thinking on getting some of the snap-together unpaper towels - anyone have 'em? Love? Hate?

We have a tall cracked laundry basket that lives in the garage (next to the kitchen, also where the washers/dryers are) that I just toss soiled towels into. We wash once a week in warm water with Rockin Green with no staining, no smell.