1. No more paper towels. I buy a pile of white washclothes once or twice a year and use them til they shred. I especially like the larger ribbed terry cloth "barmop" clothes. They are between the size of a wash cloth and hand towel.
2. No more paper napkins. I put my foot down even for birthday parties this year. I keep a pile of cloth napkins in a drawer. No, they don't all match, and some of them are not even hemmed. But they work to wipe chocolate off your face and they don't kill trees.
3. No more "disposable" plastic tablecloths. I keep a pile of tablecloths in various colors. Some of them are "vintage" thanks to my great grandmother's linen collection. I love the wrinkled look. It's "shabby chic" but really I just hate to iron. Besides, ironing wastes electricity.
4. Yes, I still buy toilet paper. There were times in my childhood when we were too poor to buy toilet paper. A pile of soft rags, a bucket, and hot water and bleach work. However, as long as I can afford toilet paper I am buying it.
5. I am currently hunting some clothesline posts. Occasionally I hang clothes over the fence in the backyard, but am hoping DH will put up some lines for me soon.
6. Did you know old underwear make good dusting rags? Whatever happen to a rag bag anyway? My mom always kept one. Old t-shirts make for good dusting and window washing. They don't have lint. Moms used to save cloth diapers for such things.
Reduce Reuse Recycle
5 comments:
Love it! I'm with you on the towels and cloth napkins, too. I was lucky enough to find someone selling tons of black restaurant-style linen napkins on Craigslist last year just as I was planning the switch. And for towels I have the good old cloth type as well as some of those super-absorbant ones that are also biodegradable so I'll just compost them when they're a gonner.
I'm impressed that your dad/family actually did that as a TP alternative (although I understand it was probably not their first choice due to the circumstances!). I've read recently some discussions about how the best alternative would be the bidet, or some type of hand-held shower head rigged up next to the toilet. :)
I have a rag drawer where the holey socks go to become dusters, etc. And I bought a clothesline once, but the outdoors is so dusty here it did not work well- I'm planning a rack for the garage at some point.
Happy Earth Day (belated- but every day is earth day, right?) and keep up the good work! You're setting a great example for your kids.
There are always bidets. ;-)
I guess if one washed then dried with a rag it would not be as gross as just using a rag, huh?
i now have a rag drawer instead of a rag bag. with the terry towels you mentioned. and did you HAVE to mention the TP story?
mom
The part I read that made it seem reasonable was the logic that when you use your hand to wipe yourself, you wash that hand afterward to get it clean, naturally. So why not wash the source also to get that clean too, rather than just wiping and smearing? lol OK, a bit graphic there, but the idea made sense to me. Haven't tried it yet though. Maybe someday in my dream house that's totally zero-impact- washing facilities next to my composting toilet. :)
Like I said, it will be a long time before I am willing to give up toilet paper.
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