Paper vrs not-paper

[Michar]

I have been reading the cheapskate gazette by Amy D. or a title close to that. It started a discussion among a group of us IRL of her suggestion to use cloth napkins for meals and to cut paper usage.

We have one friend that uses a very limited amount of kleenex they carry hankerchiefs (sp?) in their pockets. Personally this kind of gives me the "not clean" feeling.

But besides that the napkins for meals thing I can't wrap my head around. We don't use paper plates already ( mostly because I think they are horrid for the environmental aspect) but we do use papertowels in the bathroom and for meals.

If we switched to kitchen towels and cloth napkins it would mean an extra load or two of laundry a week. With water cost and energy cost, and time element of doing an extra 1-2 loads a week vrs. coupon cost for the papertowels... assuming I could easier get maybe 5 years out of kitchen dish towels/bathroom towels and 10 years out of cloth napkins (?) also the possible increase in illness from the reuse of towels instead of a new piece of paper each time... I am obviously leaning towels the disposables as being a better deal... what do others think?

[Mama Stu]

I personally prefer napkins and paper towels over cloth. I really can not see any long term benefit from using cloth. Like you said it is more time, energy , and money. Also with the deals we can always get paper towels cheap. Of course I do use a lot of paper plates (Chinet).

[fungirl2727]

i use paper towel personal I would not waant to do clothe it would drive me nuts.

[puakinikini]

I am a germ freak (self-admitting and unapologetic about it) so I use a lot of paper.

[Nitenites]

The only paper product we use in our house is TP. Everything else is cloth. I have four children, and we are rarely sick.

I think there is a lot to be said about making your home too sterile. Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't use common sense, but do you really need a clean paper towel to dry your hands every time you wash them? Your hands are already clean, so there should be few germs to leave on the towel! We have different cloths for different tasks - handkerchiefs, napkins, kitchen towels, dish cloths, and hand towels in the bathroom. There is a definite argument to be made that by being so aggresive with every germ we encounter, we have made super, antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And oftentimes, those families with the most antiseptic households have the most illnesses. Our immune systems are built by regular exposure to normal, everyday germs. I don't think that we should go licking our bathroom fixtures or anything, but I don't own stock in Purell, either.

I haven't noticed any difference in our water bill - my cloth items just go in with the regular laundry. It would take a HECK of a lot of napkins to get to a full load of laundry. In our house, each person has his or her own napkin ring, each a different color. We each start with a fresh napkin at breakfast. If the napkin becomes soiled, it goes in the laundry hamper. If not, it's put in a napkin ring and used at the next meal. All napkins are put in the laundry hamper after dinner. Every morning, I put out fresh kitchen linen (napkins, towel, and dish cloth.) I'm sure that when they're washed, most germs are killed off either by the heat of the dryer or the bleaching power of the sun (when line-drying.) If I have something particularly icky to clean up (like the dog gets sick), I use a rag that can be thrown away. (I save holey socks, old t-shirts, ratty towels, etc, in the rag box.)

For cleaning, I have microfiber cloths that are dedicated to different purposes - green for dusting, yellow for windows & mirrors, and blue for the bathroom.

Again, I have not noticed a difference in my water bill. But I do know that I buy fewer trash bags. And I'm helping the environment, because I'm not throwing away single-use items that have to be manufactured, packaged, and transported from factory to warehouse to store to home to landfill.

Our great-grandmothers didn't have access to the same single-use items we have, and they didn't have nearly the allergy problems and superbugs (H1N1, avain flu, MRSA) that we do. They were just conscious of keeping kitchen and bed linens clean.

Okay, stepping off my soapbox, now. Give cloth a try! It really is cheaper!

[cintinative]

We use cloth napkins but I do use paper towels often for cleaning off my kids faces if they are super grubby following a meal. Otherwise, I would be changing out my youngest's napkin every day multiple times per day. LOL. We don't use paper plates except when we have lots of people over.

[enginerd]

I have about 10-12 dark green washclothes that we keep in the kitchen drawer with the dish clothes that we use for wiping faces, wiping up spills, etc. so we use very few paper towels - I do keep a roll for really greasy messes, etc. but one roll lasts several months. I bought these when DS was a baby and he is now 11 and we are still using the same ones. I don't think they really add much to a load of laundry - I do the same amount of loads if they are in there or not.

[monica4patience]

We have been using mostly cloth for over 20 years:
* cloth napkins: individual napkin rings; reuse napkin until soiled.
* dishcloth / dish towel: changed daily
* powder room: changed daily; more frequently if guests / illness
* family bathrooms: each person has own color towels; changed weekly; washcloths changed daily
* used "bummy cloths" instead of wipes when diapering babies;
* used diaper service cloth diapers for all 3 kids.
* used "face cloths" when cleaning toddlers up after meals; DS9 & DS17 still use cloths bought for DD19!!!
* basket of rags (old dishcloths/towels) under kitchen sink to use for spills; dirty clean up.
* basket of rags in laundry room for cleaning
* just made our own quick clean bathroom cloths by cutting microfiber cloths into 4 and stitching edges. Great for FlyLady swish & swipe!

As far as laundry goes: 2 loads/month for rags; 2 loads/month for kitchen linens; 1 load /week for bathroom towels= 1 extra load / week versus shopping, carting, storing, taking to garbage for all that paper!!

We get a good 10 years out of dish towels; maybe 5 for dish cloths; 15 for bath linens; 19 + counting for face cloths! And then they become rags...rags still in use from the house we lived in 20 years ago!!! Can you say that about your paper products!!

[CW&M Mom]

We have a lot of rags that we use for wiping down stuff...but we do use paper towels and I LOVE lysol wipes and clorox wipes. Part of our problem is my DH is incapable of understanding how to use a clothe towel and not get it disgusting. For Instance if I have one by the kitchen sink...he will grab it, wipe off his grimy face on it...or better yet start scrubbing the dirty counters with it...and then he'll hang it back up....which we would then be cleaning our hands off of it once we dry them. ick. so we mostly use papertowels there.

Bathroom I use a towel for our hands and just change it often.

We use kleenex...hankerchiefs are beyond disgusting!!! But then so is using a kleenex and shoving it into your pocket instead of throwing away is just as gross.

I wash the towels probably every 4 days or so...they go rancid if I wait too long.


For us...I don't worry that much about the laundry aspect...and more about the germy stuff. Part of that too...is I have a little one who we really have to watch his health...he's been known to grow nasty nasty stuff in his lungs that landed us inpatient on IV abx for 10 days *sigh*

[beth119]

Honestly, unless one has a MASSIVE family, or is throwing a party... I can't see where using cloth napkins, cloth dishtowels, etc can create SOOO much extra laundry.

I have 6 people in my house, and we use cloth dish rags, washclothes and handtowels in the bathrooms, and cloth napkins. All these things are changed daily, and sometimes twice.
They are so small, that they don't create a whole load even by themselves every week. I usually add them to the last half a load of towels I do. So, maybe a total of 2 load a month?

We do use disposable napkins and paper towels when hosting a party.