So, call me crazy.
We stopped using paper towels. Now, in place of the roll of paper towels on the rack mounted under the cabinet we have large, double sided cloth napkins that snap together. Crazy? Yeah, I know. But before you go and dismiss me as a crazy, crunchy, earth mama hippy... oh, too late. Ok, so maybe I am kind of a crazy, crunchy, earth mama hippy but I have good reasons! Other than the crazy, crunchy, earth mama hippy reasons.
Our "un-paper" kitchen towels.
The 2 "wetbags" we have hanging on our stove to put the dirty towels in.
I almost took a picture of the roll of paper towels hiding in the cabinet that we use for greasing pans. But that just seemed too crazy, even for me. See, I'm not that nuts.
It started rather innocently. We had been using cloth diapers for over a year and were surprised that it really wasn't too much work. Having gotten used to the cloth thing for diapers I saw discussions online about other cloth alternatives. Doing some research, I started wondering about the possibility of switching us over. I admit, my first reasons were of the crazy, crunchy, earth mama hippy variety but then I started to wonder about money. After doing some math I realized that maybe it was worth saving money. And I like that I can do a little of that "save the earth" bit and "save the money" bit at the same time. Sometimes it doesn't exactly seem like they go hand in hand but a lot of times they do, you just have to examine it closely. Again, not that crazy!
We feel good about our choice and we just like it too. Bounty may be the thicker, quicker picker-upper but that paper's got nothin' on flannel and terry cloth in pretty prints that look good in my kitchen! Talk about absorbent, Bounty is trying to be these guys.
The wetbags I got from SweetSlings and we love them. Great size, well made, and pretty. The towels were from a co-op but you can find something similar from a few different places including Bug 'n Ed who is offering up a $15 GC right now on The Leaky Boob.
We feel good about our choice and we just like it too. Bounty may be the thicker, quicker picker-upper but that paper's got nothin' on flannel and terry cloth in pretty prints that look good in my kitchen! Talk about absorbent, Bounty is trying to be these guys.
The wetbags I got from SweetSlings and we love them. Great size, well made, and pretty. The towels were from a co-op but you can find something similar from a few different places including Bug 'n Ed who is offering up a $15 GC right now on The Leaky Boob.The beautiful mess that started it all, our diaper laundry.
O-muh-gosh. Uh, I took a picture of the dirty diapers in the washer. Three pictures, in fact, because I was messing with the lighting. For diapers.Holy crap, I am crazy!
Wait... I love those towels!! Where did you find them?
ReplyDeleteYou are so smart...
LOVE YOU,
Me
My parents never really used paper towels when I was growing up, so I don't use them either. My husband on the other hand keeps on buying them and using them for various things, even though I tell him to use a regular towel or cloth as we have a stash in our cupboard.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, when you get used to not having them you end up wondering why you ever needed them in the first place!
The towels you have are gorgeous! mine are boring, I need something like this!
Stopping by from the SITS blogfrog forum
Have a great weekend!
Kelly, I got those towels in a co-op. I love that they snap together and fit on the paper towel holder. You can find them on etsy and hyena cart usually.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny, using regular towels vs. paper ones just makes sense to us now. Paper towels just aren't as good.
We use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. We haven't switched up paper towels yet - or toilet paper ... jk about the toilet paper. :)
ReplyDeleteI know of families that do use cloth for toilet paper. We're not there yet... if ever. I've broached the subject a couple of times with The Piano Man. Let's just say he always assumes I'm joking. ha!
ReplyDeleteWe don't use paper towels. I stopped buying paper products aside from toilet paper a few years ago. You can buy cloth napkins from flea markets!
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for using cloth diapers!
I LOVE those towels. I must now go find some for myself.
ReplyDeleteHi from SITS!
Just like Satakieli mentioned above my family was the same way.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't use much of paper towels growing up since we were broke and that would just be more money. We always used cloth towels not as pretty as yours, which by the way I'm loviing those patterns. Anywho, back to what I was saying...Yeah, we weren't much of paper towel kind of people, I suppose we were greener than what we thought ;)
I've looked into this before but never made the switch. Maybe it is time to start thinking about it again.
ReplyDeleteStopping by from SITS to say hellO!
i LOVE your unpaper towels!!! gonna go check out those sites. We just use kitchen hand towels and a little paper bag with handles for the dirties (that I change out/wash every few days). I'd love to make it all professional & pretty like yours though =)
ReplyDeleteA belated but no less sincere and heartfelt 'Thank you!' for stopping by my home renovation and design blog on my SITS featured day! I appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteMy parents go CRAZY when they visit us because - like you - we don't use paper towels at Holyoke Home. They are so used to grabbing them for everything that they are completely flummoxed by their absence.