Comments on: Life with a Baby . . . and No Paper Towels

By: Dorothy Hall

Dorothy Hall — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:20:59 +0000

When my husband and I got married 5 years ago, we decided paper towels were something that we would do without. Since we were both full-time students, the savings really helped us, although the environmental benefits of forgoing disposables was our main motivation. We keep a basket of clean, folded rags (cut-up bath towels and old dish towels past their prime). Honestly, I never miss having the paper towels I grew up using. Having a 4-month old baby has not changed our resolve. How wonderful to raise a child who doesn’t think everything should be disposable!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:43:19 +0000

We are on our second month w/o paper towels and paper napkins. Now, I keep a cloth towel, with snaps, on my old fashioned paper towel holder. We have repurposed some thrifted, linen dresses and shirts and flannel nightgowns into cloth napkins. It has been a little bit of stretching for the hubby - but, he will come around, especially since it saves us $ and the environment.

By: Julia

Julia — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:58:15 +0000

I recently switched to using wash cloths I bought at Target for my kitchen cleaning and mop ups after my boys- they were 2.99 for ten of them and they are easy to wash, so I do not miss paper towels…

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:51:05 +0000

Rebecca, I remember being shocked when a few years ago I was at my sister’s house and they had no paper towels. Instead there was a neat stack of shop towels in a convenient location. Imagine that. Well, it took me a few years, but I now have my own little stack of shop towels, etc. It’s a great way to use up holey towels too - just cut them into squares and use them instead of paper towels. They actually work BETTER for cleaning up messes. I also recommend keeping a bucket in the kitchen somewhere to throw the soiled ones. My skeptic father insisted that I would just end up doing more laundry and the overall environmental impact would be a wash, but I don’t think I do more laundry. Those little towels don’t take up much space in the washer and I just throw them in with bath towels and things. I haven’t bought paper towels in about a year and I haven’t missed them.

By: Kellie

Kellie — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:01:01 +0000

Couldn’t agree more Rebecca! I’ve used those baby washclothes until I can’t tell their original color anymore. They’re a perfect replacement for the ol’ paper towel. Kudos!

By: rebecca

rebecca — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:44:27 +0000

Mrs. Green, Sara, and Peggy, perhaps you need to cut paper towels out cold turkey rather than weaning gradually? I find not having them around at all makes it quite easy to avoid them!

Rachel, I am sure your Clorox wipes are going to kill 99.9% of all bacteria and germs, BUT is that really necessary? Personally I would worry more about the toxic chemicals (chlorine bleach) that the wipes were spreading around more than the germs they’d be killing. Switching from something like Clorox wipes to a rag and some water does require a whole change in your mindset about cleanliness and germs. Maybe you could consider something like a steam cleaner . . . it uses only steam and kills just as many germs as bleach.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:06:49 +0000

This is a great idea. How do paper towels compare with Clorox wipes? Because the germaphobe in me will always win over the environmentally-conscious person in me when germs and bacteria are involved.

By: Peggy

Peggy — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:22:33 +0000

Hey. Thanks for the mention.

I’m still using fewer paper towels, but they do come in handy for cleaning cat vomit! I can’t speak for the baby stuff though. And I agree — I hate those paper towel commercials. I think the commercials for disposable dishes might bother me even more though.

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:50:15 +0000

I’m with Mrs Green, convenience wins me over much too often. I recently bought some microfiber towels intending to use them instead of the paper towels. I do, some of the time. The next trick is convincing my husband that really we don’t need the paper towels!

By: Mrs Green

Mrs Green — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:40:49 +0000

Ooo, this one really tests me. I DO have a roll of paper towel and I use quite a lot of it. Much less than I used to, but still way too much. It’s that C word again - convenience.
You’ve made me think though, and perhaps this is the next thing to wean myself off.

Thanks!