If you have had a chance to follow my blogs, then you know that I am a big advocate of reducing paper towel waste. Not only is it frugal to do so, but it is also good for the environment. To take the place of those paper towels, we use terry cloth towels and thing terry washcloths for the kitchen. We can go through several of these towels and cloths in a day. They do everything from wipe sticky hands and faces to clean up spills and dry dishes. I like to keep a good number of the towels available. When soiled, then go into the washing machine. Having many of the towels available allows me to run a full wash load of them.
I never buy kitchen towels from a housewares store or housewares department. Not only would this be extremely expensive, but the kitchen towels tend to be very flimsy. I need towels that can hold up to bleach and multiple washings. I even use some of them to mop the kitchen floor, so they have to be tough.
Instead, I go to the automotive department of a store (warehouse stores are great for finds like this) and purchase white terry cloth towels. You can get a package of a dozen towels for less than $5. They really do last forever. In the seven years I have had our current set of towels, I have only had to throw away one, and that was because it was left too close to the burner and got singed. (We won’t be making that mistake again for obvious reasons).
I mentioned the warehouse stores. I found striped terry cloth towels there in a package of 30 towels for $9.99. it is hard to beat that sort of bargain, especially when kitchen towels and run a couple of dollars each!
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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