Want to use more cloth around the house - tips?

[AmyY]

Hi mamas! I am new to CDing and my interest in CDing has led to a new interest in all things cloth. I have spent a little time lurking here and have seen a few posts referring to using only cloth around the house - no paper towels, no sposie wipes of any kind, no toilet paper, etc etc. I'm intrigued and would like some tips on how to learn about this and how to get into it.

I do have some cloth items I use for cleaning that I got from The Clean Team - a cloth terry predecessor to The Swiffer that you can wash in the washing machine, and some nice cleaning cloths that I've used for years that will probably last several more years. I use Clean Team products with those (Sh-Clean for the floors and Red Juice for the cleaning cloths).

I've also recently taken to laundering and re-using my sposie diaper wipes (currently switching over to cloth diaper wipes) once before discarding.

Anyway, I'm particularly interested in how a house runs without paper/sposie cleaning products. Clearly this is possible as it was done for most of human history, I just don't know how to do it.

Ideas, thoughts, hints, tips, where to begin? TIA!

[bdavis337]

Here's a few hints for you:

-- Cloth napkins for the dinner table - get 3x as many as you have faces to wipe, so you aren't washing daily. Make them yourself from fabric scraps or buy them cheap at a dollar store, yard sale, etc.

-- Get rid of your paper towel rack in the kitchen. Replace it with a drawer full of large single and/or double-ply flannel squares. You can make these yourself from an old sheet, flannel shirt, or even just use wahm-made flannel baby wipes.

-- Stock your empty Kleenex boxes with yet more flannel square for runny noses.

-- Keep a small wastecan in necessary areas to collect the dirty cloth you use (bathroom, kitchen, etc.) and dump it all in with the regular laundry on laundry day.

The only disposable issue we have at our house now is the toilet paper. DH just isn't amenable to the idea, and I'm not completely sure I want to embark on it either. So we stay with regular flushable tp.

[annettemarie]

- In your diaper bag, fill a squirty bottle with whatever you use for wipes solution, and pack some flannel squares

_ If you use diaper liners, you can usually wash the non-poopy ones once or twice..

The only paper we use is tp

[hubris]

I have always used rags (old washcloths) for many cleaning tasks, but CDing got me more into cloth as well. I started with CDs. Cloth diaper wipes just made sense with that. Then I bought some cloth napkins. Then I stopped buying paper towels and just beefed up my kitchen towel stash. I bought mama cloth and a Diva cup. Now I'm in the process of switching to toilet cloth for me (just me, I told DH that I was switching but that he was not obligated to do so, and he still wants to use paper).

I think the only paper products I use are occasional paper TP (I need more cloth wipes) and a Kleenex now and then (I need to remember to use wipes or hankies!).

My tips would be:
- target one item (or household purpose) at a time if you feel overwhelmed going totally paperless all at once
- cotton is the best for washing well, wearing well, and absorbing well
- lint-free cloths (like prefolds!) work great on windows. I use plain vinegar on one cloth to wash and another cloth to buff dry.
- make your cloth easily accessible: I keep tons of towels and face wipes for Griffin in a kitchen drawer, I have a basket of napkins right on the kitchen table, and I stash some cleaning rags under the kitchen sink.
- I wash most cloth with the family laundry. I throw really grungy cloths and toilet wipes in the diaper pail. Since I wash clothing frequently, I always have clean household cloth this way.
- my cloth TP/wipes are sortof color-coded - a different wipe pattern for each location. I know that the sheep go to the powder room, the yellow wizards go in the kitchen towel drawer for wiping Griff's face, the bugs go in my bathroom, etc. That way those places get replenished efficiently, I don't have to think about which bathroom/drawer *needs* stuff because I know which location the wipes go in.
- getting cloth toilet wipes just a little damp is nice. I just run a little tap water.

I have about 2 dozen napkins, so even with company, running out isn't a problem. I think we have 12-18 dish towels. We use them for many different purposes. Convincing my DH that you could use a dish towel for things other than drying dishes or hands was one stumbling block. I had to remind him that we WASH them, it's ok, it doesn't matter what it was used for before (except maybe motor oil ). If there's a mess on the floor, just take the towel, mop it up, put it in the laundry, get out a new towel for hands/dishes.

I do keep TP on hand for DH and for guests. But since I'm the one who is home the most, I was the chief consumer of TP, so we're going through it very slowly now.

I have had two "what do I do without paper?" moments:
1. Frying bacon - a rare occurrence here - how do I drain it without laying it on paper towels? I just let it drip. It wasn't a problem.
2. Greasy mess - Griff was helping me to make lunch one day and ended up dumping an entire bottle of toasted sesame oil on the floor. OMG, what do I do without paper towels to soak it up and throw it away? I used several cleaning rags and rinsed them in the kitchen sink with dish soap. Dissolved the oil just fine. No sweat. And no trash.

[Persephone]

Hm... well, I"m new at this too. I started by using cloth pads... SO much nicer! (There are many threads about that, so that"s all I'll say).

When dh and I got married, I bought a few cloth napkins to use at dinner, and put them rolled up in a basket on the table. We use those all the time, and since dh and I aren't *that* messy of an eater, we can use them several times before they have to be washed.

Most recently, one of our bedsheets got a huge hole in it. SO I cut it up into squares, and use that for cloth "paper" towels. I throw them into a bucket, and take t hem with me to the laundry when I wash. I add some peroxide to the water, and it seems to keep them pretty white. (Some of them have stains, but I don't care, that's what they're there for.)

I hope to go cloth TP at some point... likely not until we have babies in cloth diapers. I always think of cloth breast pads when I think of cloth diapers and wipes.

And the new idea is cloth hankies! That's prolly the next thing we can do!

Oh, for cleaning, I also use cloth. I just finished the last swiffer, and I want to get microfiber cloths. And for dishes, I use waffle weave cloths, because they're more abrasive than others. And for mopping the floor, I use a towel soaked with vinegar. And for the rest of the cleaning, I use towels I don't care about getting stained.

[Crunchier]

We lived in Japan, which is a less disposable society. We had lots of hankies and kitchen towels. Soon after we came back we had Ben, and at 5 months we switched to cloth diapers and wipes. Then I stopped using paper towels. We had so many kitchen towels, we didn't need them. I never liked paper napkins. Mama cloth came a little later, because I guess I didn't really get it. I have some diaper doublers that I made for Ben and he doesn't need, so I use those or a folded flannel flat. We use flannel flats for bibs when we eat out, and for towels when out. We went camping 2 weeks ago and I used diapers to wash, dry and lay out dishes. We still have tp and I use it most of the time, though I have cloth wipes (ben's baby cloths) and I never use paper on Ben. I used to use baby wipes for myself, so this wasn't a big switch.

We keep a small hand towel in the car for polishing the dash. I've ruined a few towels by draining bacon on them. We use small hand towels at the table. My towels are quite worn, so I'm thinking of getting new ones and designating certain ones for greasy messes, others for kitchen and maybe some real small ones for the table. That way I'll be able to keep better track of which ones are for what.

[hubris]

I forgot cloth nursing pads! I tried disposables and hated them, so cloth is all I used from then on.

[Wild Flowers]

I just want to add a little. We just started switching, and we don't have drawer space. So I took an old eggo box, the big one, and put it on the counter in front of where the paper towels are, to remind us to go to the box instead. When a 3 yr old spills something you automaticly go somewhere, to us, it was paper towels. And since we ec now, and don't use diapers, we have an assortment, some diapers, hand towels, dish rags. All in there easy for us to grab quickly. We do cloth tp, still working on kinks in that, mostly need to make more. I would love to go with cloth kleenex. What fabric works best for that? And another question, how to you convine a 3 yr old not to flush the cloth wipes and throw away the cloth paper towels?

[our veggie baby]

Well, we are slowly switching over, but we still are using paper products...however, I totally went off at DH today for grabbing for some paper towels when he spilled something on the floor...he looked at me like I was nutty (but put them back anyway) lol...

I have started using cloth for TP just for myself, for urinating because I found myself peeing all the time ( I am pregnant) and I was wasting so much tp....still use paper for poopies though...

We don't use dinner napkins anymore, just clean hand towels etc...I have noticed a big difference already in just doing those small things...we find changes are easier to make when they are gradual, but we are getting there!

[AmyY]

Thanks mamas! These are all great tips and I like the idea of tackling one area at a time. For the moment my big area is switching to cloth diaper wipes. After that I think it will be eliminating the sposie baby wipes from the home - I confess I'm addicted to them and I use them for darn near everything. Then napkins will be next. I've decided to use cloth or a diva cup if my period ever comes back (17 months past delivery and counting!) but so far no sign of it.

Anyway, you mamas have just convinced me I'm on the right track. I love the idea now of the cloth toilet wipes. I think this would be very doable for just me and DH could continue to use TP as several said.

[Beth-TX]

Go buy a couple of big stacks of cheap washcloths for the kitchen. If you don't have a diaper pale, keep a bucket under the sink to toss the dirty/wet ones in and wash them often. I use my washcloths for everything--washing and drying dishes, wiping counters--we even use them as casual cloth napkins.

Once you get rid of your paper towels and switch to cloth, you won't miss them. Cloth is so much nicer and more efficient.

peace, Beth

[AmyY]

Well - the girls and I spent the morning at Walmart and I bought lots of cheap cloths. They are in the dryer now, having been washed with a small amount of detergent and some baking soda (thanks to the ideas I learned here).

In related news, I have officially rid myself of the Diaper Genie! We ran two at full blast for the girls' first year, but they are both out of the house! On to cloth wipes!

Thanks again mamas for all the ideas. I'm happy to be going paperless (takes on a whole new meaning for me these days)!

[calebsmama03]

bacon....

Originally Posted by funshine

-
I have had two "what do I do without paper?" moments:
1. Frying bacon - a rare occurrence here - how do I drain it without laying it on paper towels? I just let it drip. It wasn't a problem.

I cook bacon in the oven. Use a 9x13pan with a wire rack in it- no need to drain Plus there's less mess/spatter than frying it. Had that brainstorm just a few weeks ago when I desperately was craving bacon (weird pg thing!) but didn't want to stand there frying it - worked like a charm and tasted better, I though - since it's not sitting in grease

[hubris]

Excellent tip! How hot was the oven, and how long did you cook it?

I almost never cook bacon, but suddenly NEEDED to put some in a quiche and also make a spinach salad. I'll probably go years without bacon again, but it's good to have a nifty cooking tip on hand! Thanks.

[calebsmama03]

Originally Posted by funshine

Excellent tip! How hot was the oven, and how long did you cook it?

I almost never cook bacon, but suddenly NEEDED to put some in a quiche and also make a spinach salad. I'll probably go years without bacon again, but it's good to have a nifty cooking tip on hand! Thanks.

You know, I just guessed I think it was 350 or 375 and I started with 15 min and went from there. I've done it twice now and once was a thich cut so it took longer. When it sounded done (sizzling) I peeked and decided to leave it 5 more min. I don't cook it often enough to have a "technique" perfected

Glad I could help!!!

[amybw]

for the bacon- you could also go to turkey bacon

we use dishtowels/rags at dinner too. I cant hardly stand using paper napkins/paper towels. I just dont even feel clean!



Amy

[Alkenny]

Originally Posted by AmyY

Well - the girls and I spent the morning at Walmart and I bought lots of cheap cloths.

Exactly what I was going to suggest!

The only paper products we use are toilet paper and I'm still using tampons (have been saying I was going to use the Diva Cup or Keeper for months now, just haven't gotten around to ordering one!)

I seperated colored rags for baths/dishes and the white/light colored rags for diapers. I keep the stack of diaper ones in a Rubbermaid tote right along with the cloth diapers and just wet it down quick in the sink when I need one. To go away, a cheapo squirt bottle filled with water works great to soak the dry wipes (and you don't need an extra container!)

[AllNatural]

cloth facial rounds

Well, I didn't see anyone else mention this, so I thought I would. I took a peanut butter jar lid and traced around it on a piece of light cardboard. I had an old t-shirt I was cutting 6x6 squares from to use as cloth tp and I used a disappearing sewing marking pen to trace circles from the scrap fabric. Then I put three rounds together and serged the edges. Did this with some flannel scraps, too. Works great for using with toner on my face. You could do them in squares, but I prefer rounds. Of course, it takes some practice to serge the small rounds...most of mine ended up oblong, but they worked just the same.

I love my cloth pads, napkins, tp, hankies and rags. Someday I'll use cloth diapers. Oh, I also use cloth wipes.

For cloth hankies, check out www.hankettes.com

Kate

[Ambrose]

I love reading all this stuff!! I'll eventually get the balls to switch to cloth full time in the house. Right now it's Cloth dipes, wipes for baby, and the one kitchen dish towel... :LOL


Thank you guys for the great info!!!!!!!!!

[HoneymoonBaby]

Originally Posted by calebsmama03

worked like a charm and tasted better, I though - since it's not sitting in grease

But the fact that it's dripping with grease is the reason I LIKE bacon. : : : :