Friday, December 26, 2008

Unpaper towels

Here's another money-saving idea that is more along the lines of eco-friendly, but I love how thrifty is usually green! It's "unpaper" towels, thin pieces of cloth that you would use in place of paper towels.

When I first heard of "unpaper" towels I was confused, wondering why just regular kitchen towels wouldn't work in most cases. Then it was pointed out to me that they take up way less space in the kitchen and can be used like a paper towel or a kitchen towel. That made perfect sense and I had to try it. Take a look at my stash of FOUR DOZEN here! Just two little stacks, that's it.

To make these you can use any kind of absorbent fabric, with 100 percent cotton being the best. I had some old sweat outfits that I cut up for these. They have more polyester content that what you would want for this, but they are gradually getting more absorbent as I wash them in hot water and without fabric softener. I like sweatshirts since they don't need to be sewn. I did make two with two layers of t-shirt that I sewed together. Those are much nicer since they are 100 percent cotton but of course the sewing takes extra time. As time permits I would like to make some more.

I use them for drying my hands, mopping up spills, wiping down counters, pretty much anything I'm doing in the kitchen. After use I just throw them in the washer with the towels. Very easy to use, so eco-friendly and so economical!

2 comments:

Marti said...

This is a great idea. We use t-shirt pieces a lot, but the white ones don't ever look clean. Your red & blue wouldn't show the stains. We use white cloth table napkins and guests are constantly amazed at our "extravagance". To me paying for something that is used once and thrown away is the extravagance.

Christina said...

I buy knit hemp scraps from Hemptrader.com and cut them up. Cheap and super absorbant! They're awesome! Just another idea.