For those who have gotten rid of paper towels

[Slabobbin]

I am very interested in this because of many reasons. I don't like the bleach they use to turn them white, I don't like the waste they create, I don't like the cost, I could go on.

Here is my problem, I use paper towels for the "gross" things such as wiping up dog and cat vomit (my dog vomits a lot and my cat has hair balls). How do you deal with the "gross things" that you just want to hurry up and deal with and then throw away?

I guess I could just put the papertowels up out of site and only bring them out for the "gross things". That could be a good first step.

[fek&fuzz]

I would keep some paper towels for gross things. I don't and when I had to clean up a huge gross mess left by a sick dog, I had to use some of my flannel material and then throw it away. or, if you have an old sheet or towel, you could use that for gross things and then throw it away.

[aisling]

yep, I keep Seventh Generation's natural (not bleached) paper towels around for that purpose. I don't like to touch the gross stuff either!

Those rolls have so many towels on them that we only go through a roll or two a year with that stuff.

[moondiapers]

I keep a rag bag for that. Any old clothing that's not nice enough to get donated or worn anymore goes in the rag bag.

[Ruthla]

I use my rags for that and throw them right in the washing machine, to be washed in hot water with detergent and non-chlorine bleach. But then I'm talking about human vomit, not pet vomit. Why not keep some paper around for the really icky things but use cloth for minor jobs?

[pumpkin]

I do keep paper towels around for really gross things.

But otherwise, I have a stack of about 150 white washcloths. I use them like paper towels. Over time I have gotten better about using fewer washcloths for any given job. But I never rinse and leave the wet washcloth sitting by the sink waiting to be used again. That grosses me out so much. I just throw the used, soiled, and possibly wet washcloth into a bin under my sink. When that small bin gets full I transfer to a larger bin (a plastic crate so things can breath) that I keep in the laundry room. When I am almost out of washcloths, I run a load. Its pretty common for me to do a load about every 3-4 weeks so some of the cloths get pretty nasty during the wait - but they always come clean.

[marnie]

i use cloth paper towels for the gross stuff, too. i haven't bought paper towels in ages. i have a minishower (leftover from our diapering days) and if something's really icky i'll spray off the towel like i did a diaper. i use my diaper pail for the towels. i wash them in very hot water to make sure to kill any germs.

[moon child]

Originally Posted by aisling

yep, I keep Seventh Generation's natural (not bleached) paper towels around for that purpose. I don't like to touch the gross stuff either!

Those rolls have so many towels on them that we only go through a roll or two a year with that stuff.

yep! thats what I do too

[reducereuserecycle]

I also suggest keeping a roll for gross stuff, for me it is ferret poop that ends up outside the litter box making it hard to get with the scooper. Anyhow, I like Seventh Generation. If you do to their site you can print COUPONS for alot of their products and the paper products coupon is for $1.00 off. They will allow you to print 2 of each coupon about once a month. You can save a lot that way.

[aiccerb]

We've never managed to keep any paper towels in the house without slipping back into fulltime use...Dh just cant control himself

I keep a stack of cut up, old nasty t-shirts in the cupboard in the kitchen to use for gross jobs. We toss the rags in the garbage when finished - I think of it as disposable cloth We always seem to have a bunch of shirts kicking around with holes in them, at least they are good for something at least this way.

[kamilla626]

Originally Posted by strathconamama

We've never managed to keep any paper towels in the house without slipping back into fulltime use...Dh just cant control himself

Same with us - if we have the papertowels in the house, they'll get used for everything.

I have a huge pile of white terry shop towels in a box under the sink that use for everything, and I also have a ton of 5-inch square microfiber rags that I cut out of 2 big old towels. Depending on the size of the mess, I use one of those, rinse it out with hot water, let it dry on the edge of our "yucky bucket" (hamper for gross stuff) and wash it with the other yucky stuff.

[kmama]

I second the idea that if there are no paper towels, you'll figure out a creative solution! When I finally just stopped buying them, we made do. Necessity is the mother of invention!

We use washable rags, and I also keep a stash of scrap fabric from ripped/threadbare clothes or rags for the really icky stuff that I just want to throw away. Somehow the number of things in that category keeps getting smaller and smaller!

[chel]

we use a cheap washcloths for most wiping needs and use old tshirts for throw away rags.

[Daisie125]

We keep them for gross stuff & bacon. (I've yet to find anything else that gets all the grease off like paper towles) Even doing this, we only go through MAYBE one roll every two months.

[Twocoolboys]

I get the daily newspaper, so I use a piece of newspaper for gross stuff, like dog vomit, etc. I also clean out greasy pans with newspaper. I kept a roll of paper towels for these things for a long time, but I found that our paper towel use would slowly start to snowball until we were using them all the time again. It wasn't until I got rid of them that I got creative and started using the newspaper.

[HappiLeigh]

Originally Posted by Daisie125

We keep them for gross stuff & bacon. (I've yet to find anything else that gets all the grease off like paper towles) Even doing this, we only go through MAYBE one roll every two months.

I was wondering about this. What do the rest of you use for draining grease off foods to be served or for drying off raw chicken or fish before dredging or cooking, etc? My concern would be that my clean rags wouldn't be so clean that I'd want to use them to actually touch my food. But I use too many paper towels.

[annethcz]

I use my kitchen towels for gross stuff like cat puke, and it's never been a problem for me. Throw it into the washing machine, and it's good as new...

[VBMama]

Originally Posted by Twocoolboys

I get the daily newspaper, so I use a piece of newspaper for gross stuff, like dog vomit, etc.

That's what we do, too.

Still haven't figured out a good solution that I'm happy with for draining fried foods/patting raw chicken. I use my thin kitchen towels, but always find myself wishing for paper towels instead. Haven't bought them in at least 5 years though!

[Treasuremapper]

Ugh. I would try to find out what all the vomiting is about, and then, I have to admit that if I could not find a medical cause, I would consider restricting the animals' access to most of the house. Just reducing the vomit would reduce the number of paper towels.

[Josette Marie]

Where do you all get your towels? I see sales at the store, but I noticed like a whole bag of towel/ handtowels at the thrift store for about 3 bucks.
I don't know if I should invest in more rags...towels.
I usually wipe the bathroom down with paper towels and vinegar but wouldn't it smell if I kept the dirty rags in a bin under the sink there?