Give up those paper towels

Recently a reader had a question about our paper towel usage, or lack thereof. Specifically she wrote: "You’ve commented before that a roll of paper towels lasts you quite some time because you rarely use them. I’m curious. When do you use paper towels?"

For us, paper towels were one of the casualties of our transition to a non-disposable lifestyle, during which we phased out anything we could (except toilet paper) that wasn't reusable. At the time, the list included the following:

• Paper napkins
• Paper plates
• Plastic cutlery
• Plastic wrap (Saran Wrap, etc.)
• Plastic/paper cups
• Shopping bags
• Vacuum cleaner bags
• Coffee filters
• Canning lids
• Baby wipes
• Disposable razors
• Feminine hygiene
• Paper towels
• Disposable diapers
• Facial tissue
• Batteries

Obviously baby wipes and disposable diapers are a legacy from when the girls were babies; but at that juncture we were having financial struggles, so cloth diapers and homemade baby wipes were de rigueur for our frugal lifestyle.

Fast forward to about ten years ago, when we phased out the rest of the disposable options listed above and replaced them with washable and/or reusable versions.

I cannot emphasize enough how wonderfully life-altering this transition to renewables was. It brought awareness to how many disposable "necessities" are recent inventions entirely unheard of a hundred years ago. Some items had a higher upfront cost (washable feminine hygiene, rechargeable batteries, etc.), but those costs have long since amortized.

Anyway, on to paper towels. At the time we were phasing out disposables, paper towels drew the biggest gasp from everyone aware of our project. People, it seems, are insanely devoted to paper towels. How could we live without them? Short answer: A drawer full of terrycloth dishtowels that are changed out sometimes several times a day (especially during active kitchen projects) and a basket full of rags for really dirty jobs.

I buy white terrycloth "shop rags" in a 60-count bale from Costco. A bale will last me for 10 years or more of hard use before the towels become ratty or worn enough to recycle into rags. These are our "paper towels."

So, with dish towels so inexpensive and versatile, why are people so devoted to paper towels?

I think I got my answer many years ago while visiting a friend. I needed to wash my hands at her kitchen sink, where she kept a dish towel hanging from a hook. Naturally I reached for the dish towel to dry my hands… and was so revolted I had to re-wash my hands and use a paper towel for drying. That's because the dish towel was greasy, rank, and damp. It was one of those pretty decorative towels that evidently never got washed.

I've since learned that having decorative towels in the kitchen is fairly common for a lot of people. Decorative towels are expensive, so folks don't have 50 or 60 tumbled in a drawer. They don't change them or wash them on a regular basis. As a result, the towels are either (a) never used, because they're so pretty; or (b) used so heavily that they get greasy, rank, and damp (and, most importantly, never washed). No wonder paper towels are so popular.

That said, we do use paper towels. A couple years ago, I noted in "The conclusion of a small experiment" that it took us 14 months (and two moves) to go through a single roll.

The reader's original question is, what do we use paper towels for? Short answer: For when we don't want to throw away the cloth. We use paper towels for absorbing bacon grease, for wiping up things that won't wash out (such as spilled paint or varnish), and occasionally for things we just don't want to deal with (notably dog vomit or other Really Messy Stuff). Literally that's all the uses I can think of.

So what's the easiest way to reduce the usage of paper towels? Simple: Remove them from the kitchen. Don't put a roll conveniently within reach. We keep our roll in the pantry, so it's a conscious decision to use it.

I suspect a lot of paper towel usage is reflexive – people just reach for them without thinking. It's simply a habit to break. Try removing the paper towels from easy reach (and make sure there are cloth substitutes at hand) and see what happens.

Hope this helps!

My love affair with bandanas

Many years ago, the Lewis family decided to try an experiment: Phasing out (almost) all disposable products. This includes facial tissue, paper plates, plastic cutlery, feminine hygiene, and the ubiquitous paper towels, among much else. It was so successful we've never looked back.

One of the greatest benefits of this lifestyle is the constant presence of bandanas in our lives. Pockets, purses, vehicles, toolboxes – all have their share of bandanas. We use these squares of cloth for a zillion different things. Currently, for example, we're going through the same heat wave that has gripped much of the western third of the U.S., and I can't count the number of sweat-soaked bandanas I've swapped out (I tie them around my forehead to absorb moisture) over the last few days. I keep another in my pocket for nasal emergencies, and another gets draped over my head under my hat whenever I go outside to keep the sun off my neck.

We were running short of bandanas, so I did a load of laundry which included every dirty handkerchief I could find. Here they're hung to dry in the outdoor heat, so they'll be ready to use within minutes.

Bandanas are so much a part of our lives that I can't imagine being without several within easy reach. Now it seems strange when I see someone using a tissue to blow their nose.

Who else loves these little square of cloth?

The conclusion of a small experiment

"Here's a small milestone," I told Don a few days ago. I held up an empty cardboard tube. "I finished a roll of paper towels."

The reason this is a milestone is because we seldom use paper towels. (In fact, having an empty cardboard tube is so novel, Don wants to keep it in case it has a use.) We segued away from using as many disposable products as we could many years ago – including the ubiquitous paper towels – and never looked back.

I put the empty cardboard tube on the kitchen counter while going about my tasks. It wasn't until a few minutes later I noticed something: I had written the date in the tube of when I first opened the roll. Evidently I did so as the start of a small experiment to see how long the roll would last.

Hmmm. November 10, 2020 – that put us smack in the middle of living in our temporary rental house while searching for our forever home. In other words, this roll of paper towels saw us through two moves as well as fourteen months of projects in our new home. Not bad.

Now that it's time to open the next roll of paper towels, I might as well write the opening date inside the tube. What the heck, it will make for another interesting, small experiment.

America's weird paper towel obsession

Here's an interesting article I came across recently: Americans Are Weirdly Obsessed With Paper Towels.

People, it seems, are insanely devoted to paper towels.

I didn’t realize this until I put a blog post in 2014, asking readers what kinds of reusable items they’ve embraced. The biggest conflict, I found out, was giving up the ubiquitous paper towel.

I was entirely unaware of this conflict because we seldom use paper towels in our house. Needs are taken care of 99 percent of the time by either dishcloths or rags.

About five or six years ago, we "inherited" a 12-pack bundle of Costco paper towels. I keep a roll in the pantry for certain purposes (draining bacon grease; cleaning up dog vomit) and go through about one roll of paper towels every two years. That bale will last me many, many years.

Let me digress for a moment. When I was growing up, my mother kept a kitchen drawer full of plain white terry dishcloths. They weren’t decorative and neatly folded; they were practical and tumbled into the drawer. She had those dish towels in constant use. A dishcloth always hung near the sink, and when it got damp or soiled (four or five times a day), she’d toss it in the washroom. She probably had fifty dish towels on hand. Old dish towels were, of course, recycled into rags.

We do the same thing in our house. I keep one kitchen drawer dedicated to a jumble of clean dish towels.

A towel hangs from a holder attached to the cabinet door in front of the kitchen sink for convenient hand-drying. I change the dish towel anywhere from twice a day (for light kitchen duties) up to four or five times a day (for active kitchen projects).

My kitchen is not a place of calm beauty and matching décor; it is a place of practical food production. It would never occur to me to use a paper towel merely to dry my hands; that’s what dish towels are for.

I buy white terrycloth “shop rags” in a 60-count bale from Costco. A bale will last me for 10 years or more of hard use before the towels become ratty or worn enough to recycle into rags.

So, with dish towels so inexpensive and versatile, why are people so devoted to paper towels?

I think I got my answer many years ago while visiting a friend. I needed to wash my hands at her kitchen sink, where she kept a dish towel hanging from a hook. Naturally I reached for the dish towel to dry my hands ... and was so revolted I had to re-wash my hands and use a paper towel for drying. That’s because the dish towel was greasy, rank, and damp. It was one of those pretty decorative towels that evidently never got washed.

I’ve since learned that having decorative towels in the kitchen is fairly common for a lot of people. Decorative towels are expensive, so folks don’t have 50 or 60 tumbled in a drawer. They don’t change them or wash them on a regular basis. As a result, the towels are either (a) never used, because they’re so pretty; or (b) used so heavily that they get greasy, rank, and damp. No wonder paper towels are so popular.

What's the consensus here? Are paper towels worth the cost and waste?

Plastic bags

We live a green lifestyle, as green as we can make it. We use very few disposables, work at home, recycle, etc.

And for years I dutifully used reusable grocery bags as well.

But about two years ago, I stopped using reusable bags and instead embraced the ubiquitous plastic bags once again.

Why?

Because I knew good and well these bags would eventually be banned, since they're so destructive to the environment. News came today that California just did that. They're also charging customers ten cents a bag if they use paper bags.

I have no doubt this kind of ban is on the horizon everywhere, so I'm saving every single plastic bag we get. I roll them up tight and stash them in a bag hanging from a hook in our washroom. When the bag of bags gets full, I tie it off and store it away. Plastic grocery bags are useful for any number of things: sending garden surplus home with neighbors, bagging up messy things like chicken carcasses or dog droppings, or bagging up a tankard at a show.

In fact, here's a true story from the sales show I do in Portland every year. I usually bring a "bag of bags" with me in case customers want a bag to carry their tankard purchase. Portland, I believe, has already banned plastic bags, so the offer of a plastic bag with handles is always received with startled gratitude.

At the end of each day, I pack down the booth before leaving and put anything of value into the car -- all stock, all financial accouterments, and anything else that might offer temptation to a 2 am thief.

One Saturday morning I got to the event and began setting up the stock for the day, but noticed something was missing from the back of the booth: the bag of bags. Yes, thieves had come into my booth in the middle of the night and stolen my stash of plastic grocery bags. Their scarcity in Portland is now making them valuable. (This past July, I put the bags in the car every night along with the rest of the valuables.)

I have mixed feelings about the ban on plastic grocery bags. I understand the environment destruction, but I must admit they're very handy devices. That's why I'll continue to stash away all plastic grocery bags I can lay my hands on -- until they're not available any more.

I know a valuable commodity when I see one, LOL.

Magazine article illustrations

Recently I submitted an article to Backwoods Home Magazine entitled "Disposing of Disposables." I heavily used all your extremely helpful input you sent in response to my request on this subject.

The following photos are for possible inclusion with the article for purposes of illustration. I'm posting them here so my editor can choose which ones she wants.

Photo 1 -- A drawer-ful of terrycloth dish towels

Photo 2 -- Recently washed Ziplock bags upended over utensils to dry

Photo 3 -- Cloth napkins

Photo 4 -- Plastic food containers and "shower cap"-style plastic covers

Photo 5 -- Tattler reusable canning lids

Photo 6 -- Old-fashioned metal "butterfly" razors

Photo 7 -- Bandanas. We have dozens.

Photo 8 -- Rechargeable batters, AAA and AA

Photo 9 -- Battery charger -- can be powered by solar or electricity

Photo 10 -- Corelle dishes resist breakage

Photo 11 -- Shark upright bagless vacuum cleaner

Photo 12 -- Gold mesh reusable coffee filter

Photo 13 -- Cheap wash clothes in storage as reusable toilet wipes

Photo 14 -- Used aluminum foil, folded and waiting for another use

Photo 15 -- A terrycloth dish towel always hangs by the kitchen sink.

Photo 16 -- The towel holder works by snagging the corner of the towel. Because the adhesive isn't very strong, we reinforced it with a screw to hold it tightly in place.

Photo 17 -- A bulk bale of 60 terrycloth towels lasts for years

Photo 18 -- The rag basket holds old absorbent fabrics of all types, suitable for messy cleanup jobs

Photo 19 -- Cloth diapers, washed and drying in the sun

What kind of disposables do you use?

Good morning, dear readers. I have a question for you.

My next article for Backwoods Home Magazine will be on the subject of replacing everyday disposable items with their reusable counterparts. The idea is that if we wean ourselves off disposables and start incorporating reusable versions now, not only will this save money and reduce our garbage output, but it will be useful for if and when the bleep hits the fan because we'll already have our reusable items on hand.

So what I'd like to do is get your ideas for what kinds of disposable items you use on a regular basis. A short list might include:

• Paper napkins
• Paper plates
• Plastic cutlery
• Plastic wrap (Saran Wrap, etc.)
• Toilet paper
• Disposable razors
• Feminine hygiene
• Paper towels
• Disposable diapers
• Facial tissue

What else can you suggest? And if you have a reusable alternative for your item, please let me know that as well. This way we can all contribute to the article!

Many thanks for your input.