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One of the questions I get asked a lot is how to save money on paper products, like paper towels and toilet paper. If you really want to save big money on paper towels, I suggest you stop buying them! (I however, do not suggest you stop buying toilet paper). I consider paper towels to be a waste of money, I don’t really think of them as a necessity.
Think about the things you use paper towels for, I am guessing you use them to wipe up spills and clean your windows. You probably already have things in your home that will do these jobs.
Old Towels: I keep around some old kitchen towels for wiping up messes. I have also cut up an old bath towel into several smaller rags.
Washing Windows: The thing that works best for washing windows and glass furniture is newspapers. Trust me on this one! Since most of us are couponers, we probably have lots of newspapers laying around anyway. When you use newspapers to clean, your windows will be streak-free and you won’t find any of the lint that paper towels leave behind.
Napkins: Do you like to use paper towels in place of napkins? I recommend going with cloth napkins. Not only will you be saving money, but you will be saving our natural resources too. You can possibly save even more money by making your own cloth napkins with the instruction found over at Skip to My Lou.
Let’s hear your thoughts. Do you think you could survive without paper towels? I haven’t purchased paper towels in over 10 years and I don’t miss them one bit.
Amie says
We don’t buy toilet paper, either. We use family cloth and wash it with our cloth diapers.
Ok, well, I do buy a roll or two here and there for guests.
Brandi H says
Amie, is that true?? That’s definitely a level I’m not willing to commit to! I love paper towels and wouldn’t give up on them for anything. The amount of germs that are carried around on any “rag” or towel that is used more than once is beyond my comfort level. I KNOW it isn’t the most “green” way to go, but I can’t give up my paper towels!
Mel says
GREAT advice! I do have a question, though. What do you do to clean up really nasty things like the toilet or a juice or milk spill or pet accidents? I have tons of towels, too, but after cleaning up nasty things like these, I can’t stand to wash them and end up throwing the towel away.
Bekah says
We buy the bulk pack of microfiber towels to do the cleaning, then they get washed together on hot with bleach to sanitize them. You can sanitize your kitchen sponges in the dishwasher too if you’re afraid of the kitchen/food germs.
karalee says
I used to be a paper-towel-a-holic and justified it by saying I’m a working mom with 2 toddler boys. BUT we found some 6 packs of white “wash cloths” on sale one day and decided to brave it. I bought 4 packs and come to find out they are almost exactly the same size as a paper towel! 😉 So we have been using them for just about everything and while we still have paper towels around too, we only go thru about one roll a month! I had looked into buying cloth napkins instead, but am glad we went this route, they are even cheaper and much for functional for our house with 3 boys now!
Erika S says
Add to your list of “instead of paper towels” for the people that can’t deal with the germs: Coffee filters! They work amazing and are MUCH less expensive then paper towels. I use them to clean windows, mirrors, sinks and more.
kari palmer says
I use dish towels as napkins. I love this post. I just don’t “GET” why people use paper towels. In our family growing up they were a LUXURY so I just never got into buying them.
kari
Tracy says
I used to use so many paper towels but finally realized bleach does wonders! If your not throwing out your counter or floor where you wiped your mess up from why throw away what your cleaning it up with. Just use white cloths and bleach bleach bleach =)
Amanda says
I use cleaning cloths all the time. I have converted old towels, burp cloths, and ripped old t-shirts to make new cloths. My washer and dryer both have sanitize cycles, so with a little Clorox 2, I don’t worry one bit about the germs remaining. I would love to switch to cloth napkins- what a great idea! I’ll keep my eye out for some on clearance!
Danielle says
I’m kind of shocked at how many people think that using rags is “unsanitary”. Bleach, soap, and hot water WILL kill germs, the same way washing your hands with hot water and soap will. Just pop them in the wash together and they’re fine. Restaurants, hotels, and other establishments typically do not use paper towels to clean with and they are (generally) held accountable by multiple health departments. I say if it’s good enough for them, it’s perfectly fine for your home!
Lacey says
being in the environmental field I detested using paper towel so I use wash clothes or old towels. Also I use vinegar mixed with water to wipe my counter. It kills the germs and is environmentally friendly. Not to miss how kids safe it is…
Lisa says
Since we are talking about this….one of my favorite stories of my grandma is walking up to her kitchen sink and see she was using an old worn-out sock as a dishrag! I’m not quite as frugal as my grandma – but I try!
mary says
We don’t use tp either! We hang our family rag.over the vent so it is rarely damp.for the next person. “save the earth” is our motto!
Terry says
Amie, we too use a family cloth instead of toilet paper. We are a family of 7 with in-laws that visit regularly. You could imagine how expensive it would be for us if we actually used toilet paper! Not to mention we are a very Earth Friendly household, so even if we had a lot of money, our morals say no way. SAVE THE EARTH!!!
Christy says
I had no idea there was such a thing as a family cloth! I am not quite sure I am ready to go there, but thanks so much for sharing.
Tony Payne says
I am in agreement that you can save a lot of money by using old towels instead of buying paper ones, but I’m not so sure about not using toilet paper.
I have never heard of a family cloth before, but does the name mean that the whole family share a single cloth to wipe themselves on? That just sounds nasty, and what about the smell?
It’s fine if you are left clean after you do #2, for want of a better way of putting it, but what if your backside is left messy. Do you have to try and find a clean section of this cloth to wipe yourself on?
Think I would rather not think about it, and just stick to toilet paper. At least for now. After the great apocalypse when luxuries like toilet paper are no longer available, I guess I will have to change, but not yet.
Kimberly N says
I have some cloth towels that are the same size as the paper ones and have snaps so you can store them upright on a roll like the paper ones. My husband thinks they’re too hard to unsnap so we keep them flat in the cupboard with the cloth napkins.
I mostly don’t use paper towels, but still do for extra messy stuff (cat barf, draining bacon, smushing spiders). But I used cloth diapers exclusively for my son, so really, what’s a little barf, grease, or bug parts? Thanks for posting this… you’ve inspired me to hide the paper roll somewhere for emergency use only!
Trina says
Whenever I’ve heard of “family cloth” I think of it being separate cloth wipes for each bathroom trip. Used one time, and then laundered and re-used. I’ve never heard of someone sharing a single rag for bottom-wiping amongst their family without laundering in-between. That would be completely unsanitary! Perhaps Mary meant that they don’t use the clothes dryer for their cloth TP, but instead hang it over the vent to air dry quickly?
I did cloth TP for about a year while I was also cloth diapering. I liked it fine for #1, but I still preferred a disposable wet wipe for adult #2. I just kept the cloth diaper pail in the bathroom that I used most, added the cloth TP wipes to it and still had TP on the roll for my husband and guests. I used cut-up t-shirt squares for the TP, no sewing required they just rolled up a bit on the edges. You can fold them up, or just leave them tossed in a basket.
Jayme says
I bought a pack of small baby washcloths at Ross (around $5 for maybe 30?) and we use those all the time for the kids after meals. When cleaning up a baby who is learning to feed himself, it’s much easier (and softer) to use than paper towels!
Fred Seaborne says
Great article! I just wanted to share an additional idea for how to not only eliminate paper towels (just like you, I have not bought paper towels for over a decade now, and I don’t miss them one bit), but to also avoid buying washcloths and dust/wipe rags, as well — I simply slit open old flannelette socks that have holes in the heels/toes. I just use scissors to cut the sock “halfway around”, starting at the rear side of the cuff (the leg-opening) and snipping down along the back of the cuff and through the hole in the heel and continue cutting along the sole till I reach the hole in the toe. Then I just “unfold” the cut sock into a fairly squarish cloth and use it for a washcloth or dust-rag. I find the resulting cloth to be just about as sturdy and comfy as an ordinary washcloth or hand-towel would be.