Nov 20, 2008
The Daily Poverty Post.
You are looking at a Bossy kitchen staple: the dish towel.
Dish towels should not be hung in the kitchen for show, they should be used and abused, as indicated by the large yellow stain covering the entire left half of this particular dish towel because Bossy is keeping it real until you beg for mercy.
The wasteful use of paper products is a Bossy pet peeve. Bossy can’t remember how young she was when she attempted to imitate the theatrical unfurling of the paper towel roll–something she no doubt witnessed on TV moments before–but she does remember her mother’s reaction, “There’s no need to use more than one sheet from the paper towel roll, if that, ever.”
Do you know what Bossy is referring to? The person who unrollllllllllllls several perforated sheets in one unnecessary swoop, to dry something minor that could have been taken care of with something less disposable?
This is where the dish towel comes in. Bossy uses it to dry her clean hands and to dry her vegetables and to dry the water that collects along the side of her sink, and and and.
Bossy won’t even mention the environment like she just did–but think about your wallet. Paper towels and napkins–and even paper cups and plates–are expensive. Cut your use in half and you will notice a decent savings.
Speaking of which, in Bossy’s kitchen it’s not uncommon to see this:
It’s a single sheet of paper towel, drying over the faucet. Because, dudes, those things are reusable!
Check out the amazing resource of participating Poverty Party bloggers below, because the list is constantly updating. And don’t forget to comb the comments for links to the latest Poverty posts across the web!
And I thought I was the only weirdo doing that! Thanks, Bossy!
I’m all about the cloth towels in my house. I only keep one roll of paper towels for housecleaning purposes.
I’m not as squeaky cheap as one of my late uncles who was a millionaire. When you visited his house you were reminded that you only needed 3 squares of toilet paper, folded over to make one 3-ply square.
I often dry a paper towel for reuse! I am thankful to know others who skimp on the use of disposables!
My kitchen towel collection numbers in the thousands, my husband would claim, since they are always everywhere and overflowing their drawer space!
I would use more dish towels if I had some with dancing bananas. . . .
I praise thee.
I want to quit paper towels, I do. But the germs, Bossy, the germs! (Dish towel = bacterial incubator) + my hands – my sanity = I CAN’T STOP!!
We wash and reuse plastic ziplock bags in our house. They get set over the feed tube of the food processor to dry.
I re-use *all* plastic bags! I have wooden spoons strategically placed around the kitchen for bonus drying space. And I started using rags instead of paper towels for small cleaning tasks.
I usually have two dish towels draped over the oven handle. The one on the left is for hand drying, the right is for clean dish drying. But because I can’t trust hubby to follow that rule, I change them daily. I also use dishrags for washing dishes, never sponges. For housecleaning, I use my oldest washcloths.
I see you’ve met my husband then, the paper towel waster. What irks me almost as much is when he throws away a roll of toilet paper that still has paper on it. He’s says it’s not much so he doesn’t care. Arrrrgh!
You’d be proud of how narsty my dish towels are. And also, my Daily Poverty Post suggestion is up on Yellaphant. I’ll give you a hint: PORN!
It drives my mother crazy that I reuse paper towels.
My dish towels are stained beyond belief. I don’t owen any decorative towels.
I am with you on this. I also use cloth napkins at every meal. People come to my house and think I’m crazy for using cloth but what’s the big deal? I have to do the laundry anyway, right? If I had to iron the napkins every week it might be a different story. The amount of waste we generate as a society drives me absolutely crazy. (Just as an aside…today is garbage day here and I have to brag that I had less than a full trash bag to be picked up – woo-hoo!)
The wasteful use of paper towels was a key part of turning my boyfriend into my ex-boyfriend. How could we have a future together if he didn’t believe in using dishtowels and cleaning rags? Or at in least using one sheet at a time?
What Gigi (#6) said.
I must use paper towels to clean up the PyschoKitty’s Vomit of Joy (and I *will not* reuse them. sorry). I luv dish towels, though, too.
AND, I have a completely unrelated Poverty Party Post up now: http://vuboq.blogspot.com/2008/11/retail-therapy.html
Not only do I use dishtowels, I use them until they are paper-thin and stained beyond recognition. And then I use them some more.
We have a separate hamper for dishtowels and other “wet” laundry, I do it maybe twice a week. I do wonder about the impact of detergent on the water though.
I’m with Gigi.
Sorry Bossy, I can’t help it.
The paper towels also do double duty at our house, moving down to their home under the sink when they are no longer good for packing around just rinsed grapes in lunchboxes and must be relegated to floor messes and such in preparation for their final exit.
We also have the hand towel, the drying towel and the dishrag. An economy package of paper towels lasts a l-o-n-g time in our house. And paper plates? I have a dishwasher…whatever do I need paper plates for? That’s what comes of having parents who lived through the depression.
I just had a flashback. I think that my roommate from college, crazy Lisa, used to wash them out and use them. And this was in our dorm room…..
I’m with Gigi too. After years of worrying about a little toddler with no immune system due to chemo, I don’t take chances with reusing much of anything. I still wipe down the grocery cart handle with antibacterial gel.
My mother used to just wipe out her non-stick cookware because they told her to on QVC….hello salmonella!
Ok, now about that dishtowel…that’s a wine stain, isn’t it?
Ooh, the paper towels drying in various places in the kitchen – that’s a common sight around my house.
Here’s my latest Poverty Party post, about budgeting for Christmas: http://wherearethebears.blogspot.com/2008/11/reduced-fat-christmas.html
I’m with ya Bossy. I have a big bundle of bar towels that I bought at Sam’s and launder them constantly (with bleach). No germs, no tons of paper trash and they are great for everything, even as pot holders.
See, SubHub has this terrible habit that he picked up from his mother of getting the entire dish towel wet, using it, not wringing it out, and then leaving it in a disgusting pile on the bottom of the kitchen sink to rot and stink up the place.
I won’t touch them. He has to. And it usually takes him a long time because he doesn’t want to touch it, either.
I have rationed the use of dish towels as a result, simply because I cannot gag and nearly toss my cookies every time I want to use the sink because of the stench left behind by the towel.
Tough choice, huh? Pollute the entire kitchen and subsequently the laundry room and eventually the washer with it, or just let him use a paper towel and save us all the headache. Hmmm…..
Buried away somewhere I have a photo of teabags on a washing line, hung up to dry.
But this is better.
I also love my dishtowels and use them when I can. But re-using paper towels? I don’t know– life is too short, I think.
I hear ya sistah!!!
Paper towels are only for cat barf.
I use to never buy paper towels even. But now husband (who works for a paper plant) brings home two rolls a week from work. But I don’t even go through them before more come. And I can’t STAND paper plates and never buy them.
HOWEVER there is an argument on the other side about water used AND water contaminated with detergents???
It’s a not win/not win situation- I’m afraid.
We use a combination of paper towel, cloth towels, and sponges for cleaning up messes…depending upon the type of mess.
My most recent Poverty Party Post doesn’t have anything to do with cleaning up messes, but it is an idea for saving a little time, a little money, and there’s WINE involved!
http://blogs.brocknet.net/eriepressible/?p=2016
I’m with ya Bossy, it’s cloth all the way: napkins, rags, dustcloths, dishtowels. I only use paper towels to keep leftovers from splattering all over the microwave and for cleaning up toxic cat barf. And sorry, but I just can’t bring myself to wash them out.
I’ve got a poverty post up today about staying warm:
http://buenosburritos.blogspot.com/2008/11/are-you-cold-or-is-blue-lipstick-new.html
Has anyone tried microfiber cloth for cleaing tasks? I didn’t believe in its vast array of magical claims (clean everything and anything with only water and it’ll be cleaner than with conventional cleaners, etc. etc.) until I read I.D. magazine’s report on it ( http://www.id-mag.com/article/Missing-Microfiber/ ), which essentially says that they’re less ubiquitous than they should only because the science behind them is behind the everyday comprehension of ordinary people.
I’ve since tried and subsequently adopted this product, which works as advertised. They’re highly reusable and also help to save on all kinds of cleaning fluids, toxic or not, and of course paper towels as well, especially since they’re a lot more absorbant than paper towels. And they are really cheap in bulk, averaging at around a little more than $1 each.
When they get dirty, just dump them in sinkful of hot water with some added dishwashing liquid, soak for a while and then rinse. They’re good as new afterwards.
Oh and they have the added advnatage of being gemercidal — or, more precisely, they effectively remove germs from the surface they clean, which is something paper towel can’t do.