Paper Items Vs. Cloth

When I was pregnant, I sewed up a bunch of cotton wipers, about 30 of them or so. They're little squares of about 5"x6" or so. The fabric was leftover diaper flannel from a pillow project and probably cost me 4-5 dollars. I used these for little wipe-ups when my son was a baby, and now use them as "wipers" at my preschool, so each child gets a fresh one each time they wash their hands. They're just as sanitary as paper towels and take up virtually no room in the laundry, so I pay very little to wash them.

I also bought some new terrycloth washcloths at the goodwill about 5 years ago or more. 2 bags of these cost us $6 total. We use these for everything, and toss them in the wash too.

We still have paper towels, but I try to limit this to truly gross stuff that I don't want to touch again. I have to admit-- I fold a lot of towels and shake out a lot of wipers from the washer to the dryer, but I don't mind. And the wipers can be used for runny noses too. If you want simple directions for this, just PM me. They're easy to make.

H.

We use quite a bit of cloth here. We use cloth diapers and I try to use cloth when doing dishes and while cleaning when possible. I also use mama cloth during that time of the month.

I also know people that use family cloth (cloth wipes instead of TP) and cloth napkins. If I could get my DH on board we would probably go completely cloth but I don't think I could convince him to give up his paper towels and TP. As far as a previous poster commenting about "all that extra wash" it's really only one extra load of laundry for me. I can wash all of my cloth diapers (and mama goes in with those when necessary) in one partial load so if we were using family cloth as well I'm sure that would just round out the load of diapers so it would end up being 1 load of laundry a week more than our regular clothing wash.

I rarely use or buy paper towels. I collect any used paper napkins and wipe grease off pans. I use sponges and washcloths for washing dishes, counters, appliances. I run the sponges through the dishwasher or the microwave daily (30 secs on high = sterilizes them). I mark the sponges with permanent marker as they get older, no mark = dishes and counters, F = floor, A for animal cages, T for toilet. We used to use cloth napkins but got out of the habit for some reason. We rarely get sick. When my allergies kick up I use a Sinus Rinse Bottle (NeilMed- almost any pharmacy), my sister uses a Neti Pot. Not getting sick cuts down on how much kleenex you use!

When my kids were babies I made my own baby wipes somehow (don't remember how! - something about cutting a roll of paper towels in half and soaking it in baby oil and something else? I've forgotten).

I used cloth diapers with one of those little paper slips that peel off the diaper and is tossed into the toilet.

I hate those one time use towels! Such a waste and a scheme to make money. If you want to use paper to dry your hands, it would be cheaper to buy a paper towel rack and just buy paper towels.
I'm all about cloth. I'm starting to use cloth on everything. Diapers, mama cloth, maybe even family cloth when I move out into my own house (i live with my parents). Cloth dish rags, cloth baby wipes. Pretty much I love cloth. And you can have so many cuter prints if you make your own cloth items. I have even seen cloth sandwich bags!!! I'm eventually going to get one of those.

I just saw this and we use nothing but cloth napkins. My father hated paper napkins so I grew up with only cloth and to me it just seems nicer. I never run out, they add nothing to the wash and it's easy.
I do totally get entertained by the kids who come over and have never seen a cloth napkin in a home. They will be eating something messy, hands covered in whatever, napkin neatly placed to their left on the table folded, and saying frantically "Can I please have a napkin??" They don't even connect the piece of folded fabric next to them as a napkin!
I would definitely keep some paper towels around even though I am big on cloth dishrags, etc. There are just some things you don't want in the laundry under any circumstances.....

We use cloth napkins... it makes having pizza seem "fancy" :)
I still use paper towels, I think it's less germy for the kitchen, but I do use the ones that have the size options for how big of a sheet you need for the job.
I use cloth grocery bags. If for some reason I dont have a cloth bag on me I get paper now rather than plastic. I'm using the paper bags for my trash bags. I'm trying to eliminate as much plastic as I can.... I feel paper is much more recyclable than plastic is, so that's where my loyalty lies for now. It's hard to make the changes... it's a process.

We use our shirt sleeves. Just kidding, tho the kids actually do :) I have cloth napkins, and I use dish cloths to wash dishes and clean with, microfiber to dust and clean the floors. I have always done this I guess b/c that's the way my mom did it. My dad still uses handkerchiefs. I am sure it wasn't to be environmental but economical. Now it drives my mom crazy that I don't have paper towels and that I use toliet paper to blow my nose :)

We use cloth napkins an rags in our house. However I keep paper towels around too mainly for soaking up spilled milk or yoghurt. I have found that unless it's laundry day and I can wash immediately, dairy products lead to mold in cloth items - even if I rinse them out!

I use cloth diapers for my little one, cloth wipes (huge $ saver), cloth dishtowels to dry my hands or dishes, I have white washcloths that are strictly cleaning towels and live under the sink (that way they can get bleached and don't get mixed in with our regular towels. I know if it's white it's a cleaning towel), I have small colored washcloths that we use to clean up the kids after meals or they use as a napkin and I have cloth napkins. I buy paper towels for things like bleaching the counters or wiping the mirror in the bathrooms. But a roll of paper towels lasts a long time.

Now, if any of us is sick I use more paper towels and def use disposable tissues. Just keeps things cleaner and helps keep the spread of germs down.

Thank you for bringing this up and for using cloth instead of paper towels. I love it. Thanks again.

P.S. I enjoyed reading the responses and I will be working on adding more cloth towels and less paper towels to our household.

Love the question. It caught my eye because I just bought the first papertowels I had bought in over a year (I mainly use them when I cook bacon) and was frustrated with the PLASTIC packaging.

Like others, we use cloth diapers, towels, only rags that used to be clothes or diapers, cloth wipes for babies and kids faces, I use cloth pads and TP (only part time on the tp, it's my new project, only in one bathroom, only for pee). We use hankies, but I'm finding that the flannel wipes I made for diaper wipes (I just cut up and serged all those darned receiving blankets you get at the hospital, so we have way more than we need) are great one-use hankies. I have two kinds of cloth wash... one for rags, dishrags, cloth grocery bags (don't want those to get germy) which I wash about once a week and one for diapers, wipes, tp, etc which I wash about 2 times a week. Way to go getting us to think about these things, this wash takes me little time (not even much folding done) and seems so worth it to me if just to avoid all the plastic packaging!

K.

We use cloth napkins and I would like to go to no paper towels, but with two little ones I find that I use so many baby wipes, I think I should focus on those first.

Oh, and I do use cloth diapers too.

We stick with paper towels, napkins, tissues, etc.

If you get really detailed... figure out how much it cost you to do all the washing and drying and then get a true feel for the numbers.

You have good ideas. For me, my time = money and maintaining cloth would not benefit me time wise.

More importantly what kind of car do you drive and how much electricity to you expend?

I bought a package of generic sham wows. I use them all week long and then toss them into the wash. Since they're so absorbant, they're better than papertowels or even cloth dish towels or rags.

Using handkerchiefs just seems a little to germy for me.

I do laundry daily and still struggle to keep up so doing more cloth would be tough in that respect. Hopefully when my kids are a bit bigger it may be an easier switch.