[mamaduck]

I never used to buy paper napkins or paper towels. We always kept a clean dish towel hanging in the kitchen for drying clean hands on. We never used it for anything other than drying hands, and I swapped it out for a clean towel once or twice a day. Occassionally, one of the kids would splash wather on their face and then dry their face with it as well -- kind of hard to stay on top of that sort of thing, and I didn't really see it as a big deal. If I saw it happen, I switched the towel out. Otherwise, I didn't sweat it.

WELL, I have this one friend who was telling me how badly it grossed her out *everytime* she visited me. And I started getting paranoid (not about germs, but about the possibility that we were grossing people out.) This woman keeps paper towels available in her kitchen and both her bathrooms at all times for hand and face drying.

So, I started buying paper napkins for the kitchen and it made her happy when she visited. But we're out of them today, and I didn't get to the store before she visited, and so when she had occassion to wash her hands she walked around "shaking" them dry, and commenting about how badly it disgusts her to even think of drying her hands on the dishtowel.

What do you think? Am I grossly inhospitible? Is there some other way I can acheive heigyne and hospitableness without buying paper products for my kitchen?

 

[Arduinna]

Honestly I think she is being totally rude. I'd probably have made a comment about all the paper she is adding to landfills and the trees she is wasting for her paper everything.

If she is that anal she should bring her own.

JMO.

 

[Gale Force]

She is rude. If you had an old, moldy towel for her to dry her hands on, a polite response would be to avoid using it in such a way that you wouldn't realize what she was doing. At a later opportunity she could educate you about moldy towels. A clean towel is another situation entirely. Since she brought the subject up, why don't you ask her why she objects to a clean towel? When she comes over, get a folded towel from your drawer or cupboard for her to use and then use it to replace your current one on the rack. She could bring her own paper if she really must have it.

Amanda

 

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Yep, she's rude, not you.

 

[mamaduck]

LOL! I didn't mean would her behavior bother you! I meant, would using a towel to dry your hands in my kitchen bother you!!!??

She is not anal, actually. Not really. My house is always cleaner than hers, actually. She's just got a handful of pet peeves, and this is one of them I guess.

So, what all do you use by your kitchen sink for hand drying?

 

[BeeandOwlsMum]

We use a hand towel as well. Though it depends on what I have been doing. If I have been cleaning out the fish tank, or the cat's water dish, I will use a paper towel to dry my hands. But most of the time we use the cloth dish towel that hangs on the fridge door.

Nothing gross about that.

 

[CortLong]

I think she is rude! We use dish towels as well!

 

[Arduinna]

We use cloth dish towels to dry our hands.

If she is freaking and going on anbout how gross it is then she sounds anal to me. It's one thing to possibly be surprised and casually comment about thinking paper is "more sanitary" IHO. It's another to carry on every time she comes over.

I wonder if she uses paper to dry off after showers?? Bath towels dry off all over, woops don;'t mention it, she'd probably freak, lol.

 

[mamaduck]

Quote:

I wonder if she uses paper to dry off after showers?? Bath towels dry off all over, woops don;'t

Oh my goodness. We use the same towels in to dry off after a shower that we use for drying our hands after washing them in the bathroom.

Oh no. This is getting worse. I *am* a filthy pig of a hostess!

 

[Arduinna]

LMAO, presumably we are all using the cloth towels (be they bathroom or kitchen) to dry water off of clean body parts (hands or other parts) so I'm sure what the freak is in either case.

But hey, ya never know

 

[Ravin]

I try to keep a clean hand towel around the kitchen for drying hands, but sometimes I find myself going for a fresh one because DH, after years of working in professional kitchens (he's a chef) sees a towel as a towel as a rag as a towel, and refuses to distinguish between a dish towel, a hand towel, and a dish rag. he just uses whatever's handy to clean up whatever, and when it's sufficiently soiled tosses it in the laundry. So HE thinks I'm nuts because I insist on laying out one of each: hand towel (for drying wet hands), dish towel (for drying clean dishes and counters) and rag (for wiping up messes.)

Really, you shouldn't have to introduce paper into your kitchen because of one friend's pet peeve. I always look for a cloth option when going to someone's house, rather than wasting paper towels.

 

[Round Belly]

Occasionally there are reasons for the sanitary paper towells. My sister had a kidney trasnplant and is on immuniosuppursents for the rest of her life. This means she doesn't have an immune system adn get sick by even thinking about germs. So when she comes to my house I will happily get out the paper towells for her (because we are real lucky if we can find a truely clean rag left in the drawer after a day of my kids cleaning up thier own spills).

However, my sister is far from rude adn will politely request what she needs and would be happy to tell you why.

 

[SoHappy]

I color code. I always have a dark solid color towel for hand drying and a white towel for dishes. (Like at the gas station, where they have blue rags for oil and white for windows.)

We have a paper towel dispenser, too, but I hate when people use them. I'd rather have a giant drawer full of towels and use as many as I'd like. I get 3-packs at the dollar store.

So, no, I wouldn't mind using your towel, mamaduck, as long as it was fresh.

 

[jeca]

I think she was rude. I would not alter my beliefs or something I do because it grosses her out. On a compromising note if you want to have the PT there for her to use then that's fine but don't stop what your doing for your family cause I think your way is great.

 

[Wendi]

I think she's rude, but I also would have offered her a freshly washed cloth towel...

 

[Gemini]

We use cloth in our kitchen and bathroom (different than the ones we use to dry our bodies with, but I didn't think that was gross

) and don't think you need to change your values to conform to others.

I think it would be fine to get a new clean towel out for her each time she comes, just hand it to her from the drawer so she sees it's clean.

 

[mamaduck]

Okay -- official "hand towels" have now been instituted in my bathroom!

 

[MelMel]

I use all cloth in my home, the only paper product is a roll of tp for guests. I would remind her what nasty stuff is in a paper towel, and tell her her odds are better with your cloth towel.

 

[grisandole]

We use all cloth too. I have a few dish towels and I pull a new one out when the old one is gross, ususally once a day. And I have a stack of infant prefolds that ds outgrew and we use those for everything that you would use paper towels for- cleaning up spills, wiping stuff off, cleaning up puppy pee, lol!

So I don't think you're gross at all; or harboring lots of germs.

Kristi

 

[Island Mommy]

We must be very germy here. We use the same dish towel for dishes, hands and counters in the kitchen. Only if it gets grabbed to wipe something on the floor do I throw it in the hamper. Dish cloths sometimes get used on the floor for a quick wipe up then put back to be used on the dishes later.

If the dish cloth smells bad or feels icky I put it in the wash. DH does the dishes and has an annoying habit of leaving the dish cloth in the dirty water. Yuck.

But overall, we're not very sanitary. I like to think I'm building up DD's immune system.