How do you deal with your dirty kitchen laundry?

[babyjonesmama]

What do people do about dirty towels and washcloths in the kitchen? Currently, our system is to put them in a plastic target bag, which hangs in the stairway to the basement, which is where the laundry is. I don't like to put these items in with the other laundry - is this normal? But I also don't accumulate enough of it to wash very often, and I don't like to wash unless I have a fair amount of things to put in a load. I don't have anywhere else to put this stuff - tiny little house!! And lately it's been getting gross in that bag, with the towels usually being wet when they go in, and then not getting washed on time. Any ideas? Maybe this isn't even a problem for other people.

[ChristyMarie]

You could keep a tiny basket under the sink.

I toss mine into my laundry room sink (which is off the kitchen) then just throw them in with the next regular load. I'd put them in the laundry hampers but they're all the way upstairs.

[rhiOrion]

I don't mind washing them with regular laundry, but I don't want them to sit there wet with regular laundry. So I haven't figured out an answer, really. Sometimes i'll hang them somewhere until they dry, and then throw them in the laundry hamper. The only other option was to put them in with the diapers (since they're wet anyhow), but that totally grossed me out. There is no way I'm wiping my counters with washcloths washed with diaper laundry.

I like the idea of a basket under the sink.

[laohaire]

Well, it's easy peasy for us because 1) the washing machine is in the kitchen and 2) I don't have the slightest qualm about washing dish towels with anything else (heck, I wash family cloth with everything else).

But I thought a basket under the sink might work for you BUT I'd get one of those little laundry baskets, with holes in the side. The thought of having a bunch of wet dishclothes in a plastic bag mouldering and mildewing sounds pretty bad to me. (A lot worse than washing dish towels with the regular laundry, to be honest!).

[Mama2Cesca]

I keep a bucket on top of my stacked washer/dryer. Whenever I am doing a load at 60 degrees(mostly bath towels, handkerchiefs, white socks I toss them in also.

BTW the laundry room is right beside the kitchen so that makes it easy.

[IsaFrench]

I also try to wait until I do a load at 60° .... but if I don't want to let them accumulate,wet, dirty etc .... sometimes they go with a load at 40°

otherwise I have a pail in the bathroom where all that needs to have stains pre-scrubbed prior to getting in the washing machine ends up, so it might sit in there for a day or two until I run a load at 60°...

what used to upset me is bathroom floor mats .... but now I'm quite used to washing the mat with bathroom towels at 60° ....

(when I had more bathrooms I used to run a separate load for mats since I had two mats per bathroom ... we only have one mat all told now .... I felt even more uncomfortable washing one mat by itself !!!)

[cyncyn]

I usually throw it into the downstairs bathroom hamper, draping it over the edge if it is wet, then throwing it in when dry. If there is a basket in the kitchen waiting to go downstairs to the laundry room, I'll toss it in there. DH usually just throws it on the floor by the stairs (and l will put it in the hamper or downstairs). I've asked him not to, since the dog will chew on the towels if they have something tasty on them, but whatever.

My plan is to make a wet bag (like for cloth diapers) that has straps that snap onto my oven handle. I've seen similar WAHM items on etsy and hyenacart but I love to sew my own stuff. I was thinking of doing a mesh panel on the back and a cute print on the front so stuff will breathe but I won't have to look at the dirty towels.

I do wash my kitchen cloth as its own load because we have a lot of it. I like a plastic and paper free house as much as possible so we don't buy paper towels, paper napkins, plastic bags etc. I have several dozen cotton dish towels (some are wedding gifts from 18 years ago!) and I tend to go through them pretty fast, several a day. Plus the placemats and napkins get changed every couple days, then there are the food wrappers and bags, microfiber cloths for cleaning, etc. By the end of the week I have enough kitchen cloth for a load. I use Charlie's for all wash loads and for the kitchen load I will sometimes add a bit of borax or Bac-Out if there are particularly icky things. Kitchen cloth and bathroom cloth are the only loads I wash on hot.

[cyncyn]

Originally Posted by IsaFrench

I also try to wait until I do a load at 60° .... but if I don't want to let them accumulate,wet, dirty etc .... sometimes they go with a load at 40°

otherwise I have a pail in the bathroom where all that needs to have stains pre-scrubbed prior to getting in the washing machine ends up, so it might sit in there for a day or two until I run a load at 60°...

what used to upset me is bathroom floor mats .... but now I'm quite used to washing the mat with bathroom towels at 60° ....

(when I had more bathrooms I used to run a separate load for mats since I had two mats per bathroom ... we only have one mat all told now .... I felt even more uncomfortable washing one mat by itself !!!)

I have a lot of bath mats right now (2 per room) so I do wash them separately. I haven't quite been able to wash them with the towels yet, they seem dirtier to me I guess, with the dog walking on them etc. It would be nice to throw one in with the towels and not wait until at least 4 of them need washing to do them on their own. I don't have a 60° cycle anyway.

[Kyamo]

The door to the basement is in the kitchen. So I open the door and drape it over the top of the stair railing. The next time I go downstairs, I bring it with me and toss it in the washing machine, where it stays until I do the next load. If its too gross to put on the railing I just walk it to the washer immediately. But I don't care about washing them with other stuff, so maybe this doesn't help.

[quelindo]

If they're dry they get thrown down the laundry chute, since I do kitchen towels/rags/cloths with all the other towels & washcloths. If they're wet I throw them down the basement stairs and then the next time I go down there (at least once a day, to clean out the litter box) I pick them up and drape them over the laundry tub to dry out. I put the dry ones in the basket of towel-type stuff to be washed.

[Juvysen]

we have a small dollar store laundry basket we keep in the kitchen. It's maybe 18 inches in diameter or something? and maybe a foot tall?

[eclipse]

I have a canvas bag I hang on the door nob and I toss the cloths in as we use them. I wash them when I wash other laundry - sometimes as their own load, sometimes mixed with other laundry. I throw the canvas bag in for a wash when I wash the cloths. I used to use a plastic grocery store bag, but I like how the canvas bag looks better.

[Kinza]

I hang mine on the oven handle to dry, then the next time I go down to the basement I take it with me and put it in the small basket in the laundry room that I keep specifically for kitchen towels. If it's not completely dry when I take it down there I hang it on a hook in the laundry room. I only wash kitchen laundry every couple of weeks or so.

[FireWithin]

Ours is in a dishpan under the sink. When it is time to wash them, we usually have enough towels and washcloths to fill the machine. I wash these on sanitary.

[Turquesa]

I haven't found a solution but am strongly considering a wet bag--kind of like the one I use for DS's diapers, only much smaller.

[lifeguard]

I keep a small basket on a shelf in the kitchen for them. If they are wet I hang them over the edge of the basket to dry. If there is enough I run a load of them alone but often just throw them in with my whites.

[broodymama]

We have a small lidded wicker basked with a removable cotton liner in the kitchen next to the trashcan. All the kitchen linens (dishcloths, towels, napkins) go in there and when it starts to get full I toss it (including the liner) in the wash. The kids go through a ton of napkins and towels with little spills, so it gets washed probably twice a week.

[clutterwarrior]

When my children were little I used so many rags/cloths etc...I kept a bucket in the laundry sink with napisan in it....and threw anything in there to soak including kitchen sponges etc..

Currently because I don't have as many to wash, I just throw them in the laundry sink at the end of the day and wash them the following day.

I always throw them in with towels and bathmats...for one thing I rinse them before putting them in the machine, and also they are washed thoroughly as we have a top loader, so I have no problem with putting them all in together. I also always shake the bathmats outside before I put them in the wash, as they tend to have a lot of dust and hair that collects quickly on them, being on the floor!

[akwifeandmomma]

I hang mine on a basket to dry, then add them in to the next towel load.

[MsVyky]

We have a basket in the bottom compartment of our kitchen bookshelf (a small Ikea Billy for cookbooks)- we toss dirty bibs, washcloths, tea towels, dishcloths, etc. I usually wash them with diaper laundry. LOL.