Author Topic: Paper Towels vs Real Towels  (Read 14974 times)

Cranky

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3842
Re: Paper Towels vs Real Towels
« Reply #50 on: April 03, 2016, 01:56:43 PM »
Sometimes I feel like this is a generational thing.  Both our parents are baby boomers and they generally come to visit the owls once a year (which is more than enough).  We try to avoid using paper towels as much as possible by ourselves, probably going through a roll every couple months.  We use cloth handkerchiefs and wash them every week or so.  But when the boomers come to visit....


I feel like it's the other way around! I'm a boomer, and I could live without paper towels entirely. It's my adult daughter and her dh who are heavy paper towel users - I just spent a week with them and did the cooking and the kitchen cleanup, and it drove me nuts.

I keep a roll of paper towels in the kitchen for my dh to use on the occasional big mess (usually from the cats). I have a ton of kitchen towels, though, and a rag bag, and think that newspaper works better for cleaning mirrors and windows.

I do one load a week of towels and kitchen laundry. It goes out on the line in the summer, and is one of two loads/week (the other being king sized sheets) that go into the dryer.

Yaeger

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 758
  • Age: 41
Re: Paper Towels vs Real Towels
« Reply #51 on: April 03, 2016, 02:37:00 PM »
I don't have a washer and dryer in my tiny apartment. I have to drive somewhere to do laundry, so I have to keep the dirty towel accumulation to a minimum. Small messes get a paper towel, larger messes get a towel.

I really need to upgrade!

DreamPassion

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Paper Towels vs Real Towels
« Reply #52 on: April 03, 2016, 09:06:04 PM »
Paper towels and real towels can be use both in drying and wiping the wet dishes or our hands. But, paper towels are disposable and can't last for a longer time unlike the real towels because those are washable compared to the latter.

SisterX

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3035
  • Location: 2nd Star on the Right and Straight On 'Til Morning
Re: Paper Towels vs Real Towels
« Reply #53 on: April 03, 2016, 11:27:42 PM »
We use real towels for all the "cleaner" messes and rags for all the other stuff. We have an elderly dog, a cat, and a toddler, so "other stuff" can be quite the category some days. But holey clothing can be torn up for re-use and then thrown away without regret, and without the need to purchase paper towels. As "real" towels age and get holes, they're downgraded to the rag bin.

We use the flat cloth diapers to clean up any and all pee messes. (Kiddo is mostly potty trained, but there are accidents.)

LauraLovesKiss

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Paper Towels vs Real Towels
« Reply #54 on: April 04, 2016, 10:37:10 AM »
If it were just me, I could do away with the paper towels. However....I've learned to be grateful for kids who clean up their own messes, whether they they use real towels or paper towels.

This is one of those changes I'll make when we have an empty nest, I guess.

sstants

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 128
  • Location: Boston
Re: Paper Towels vs Real Towels
« Reply #55 on: April 05, 2016, 12:28:27 PM »
I can't think of a use for paper towels that only a paper towel can do. In general, a one-time-use product is too much trouble to me.

Cloth napkins, some dish towels, and cut up old white t-shirts and flannel sheets are all I need. The flannel sheet is the perfect substitute for throw-away swiffer cloths and dusters...try it! Old undershirts other rags are always abundant and I'll clean up just about anything with them. If it is a particularly "gross" mess then I'll give the rag a wash with some dish soap and water and hang it on the edge of the hamper to dry and then put in with my next load of wash.

And the argument that you need paper towels for bacon grease? No way. Let the grease harden on the pan, take a plastic pan scraper and pick up the grease. Throw it out or store it in a jar in the fridge and use it!

Every roll of paper towels I don't use is $3 in my pocket and another thing I don't have to put on a shopping list and go buy and cart up into my house and then carry out again with the trash. It's all about creating new habits and figuring out how to do something a different way. I know that eschewing paper towels alone won't save the planet, but I find that living a life that is less reliant on consumer goods and other crap like that is much more pleasant.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!