Paper Towel-less House

We shop almost exclusively consignment and ¾ of the time don our babies’ bums with cloth diapers. Our laundry detergent is free of synthetic fragrance and dye, reusable travel mugs outnumber silverware, and (as my husband describes it) whenever he carefully plucks out a ziplock bag for leftover storage, I materialize out of seemingly nowhere and ask if the immortal plastic pouch is completely necessary in the given situation.

“Perhaps we can just use Tupperware?” *sly smile*

It’s been at least an 8 year journey, but I’ve slowly made the switch from one environmentally friendly option to another. I simply can’t help it. Within mere weeks of attending my first environmental studies course, I inadvertently donned a pair of earth-colored glasses and could no longer turn a blind eye to responsible living on this precious planet. Now that I have children, it’s even more imperative that my household reduces our reliance on resources, when possible and feasible.

We’re constantly learning and changing, and this earth friendly journey of ours, in some ways, is still quite the feisty teenager. Something unexpectedly dawned on us last summer, and it took a couple chaotic mini-humans and my nanny of a niece to help us reach another Mother Nature approved decision… to go paper towel-less.

Flashback to 2013. Before the twins were even half formed in the womb, my niece exclaimed that she wanted to babysit. Once the confusion settled (you *want* to watch two of the same aged tiny tornadoes?!) and our children were about to enter their first summer after a daycare-filled school year, we hired said niece to watch our kiddos every Monday through Wednesday. My mother in law and sister in law would take them Thursday and Friday (WIN!). We saved on daycare costs and my willing and quite able niece landed herself a summer job.

Time passed, children laughed and played, my niece not only survived… but seemed to be enjoying the gig. It was approximately July before I realized that I should be buying stock in Bounty, Scott, or Brawny. I asked my niece if she felt as though she was going through a lot of the paper squares, and she told me she had meant to ask if we had any small cloths that she could use to wipe the twins’ hands and faces with after mealtimes. Boom. It was as if a force field of absorbent, reusable textiles slapped me in the face. We did, in fact, have a stack of small cloths that were tucked away in the nursery closet; I had forgotten about them from the “early days.” I also bounded to my laptop and purchased a 24-pack of plain cotton dish towels for less than $20.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Within mere days (that Prime doe), we had a kitchen drawer designated to hold smaller cloths for the kids’ hands and faces, and placed a stack of the larger towels next to the sink for general cleaning and spills.

We’ve been largely paper towel-less (occasionally I will use them to clean our cast iron pots) for over a year now and, for any interested parties, here are some thoughts that might help you forgo the Bounty and create even less waste in the household!

• A fellow mom has been practicing the lost art of reusable towel-ing for years now and suggested keeping a basket near the washing machine where you can place your dirty towels. When the basket becomes filled or you’re low on clean towels, throw ‘em all in the wash on a nice soapy cycle. This keeps them out of the normal wash. (For the record, mine are thrown in the normal wash…. cuz I’m reckless like that).
• Keep extra grimy towels separate, like those used to remove delicious bacon and potato bits from cast iron pans. As I mentioned, we use paper towels for this single job, but I may switch to reusable and keep these extra dirty towels separate from our regular wash in the future!
• It’s barely made an impact on our lives, aside from having less crap clog up the trash can and less money spent on these nicely packaged paper products. I quickly adapted to stashing the clean cloths around the kitchen. It’s not like we’re talking about a switch to self-sustaining sheep farming in New Zealand, people (pipe dream).

In the short span of 3 to 4 decades, American consumers have made the switch to more “convenient”, earth *un*friendly, wallet draining practices like the unchecked use of paper towels, disposable diapers, paper cups and plastic cutlery, Ziploc bags, and chemical laden cleaning products… to name a few. I have noticed, however, that many folks are hearkening back to their traditional roots and opting for safer, healthier, and less wasteful habits and products. I now realize the paper towel-less practice is the norm for many families, yet it eluded our household for some reason (part of why I was moved to write this; perhaps it will inspire even one person to make this relatively easy switch!). We’re more than pleased to add it to our humble collection of activities to make our abode a little more financially secure and planet friendly.

Do you have additional tips, tricks, or comments on this practice? Questions? Leave me a snippet of your thoughts below (you may help or inspire another reader)! 🙂