I am married to "King Paper Towel". My husband has a love affair with paper towels that can't fairly be described. And he only like the "good" paper towels like Viva. I was beginning to feel guilty about the amount of paper towels the boy would go through in a week and the toll that was taking on the environment. I wish I had some great statistic proving this, but I don't. I just know lots of paper towels = lots of trees.
Without letting him know, I let our paper towels run out and I didn't buy any more. At first Matt was very perplexed by the situation. The idea of using cloth towels was just too much. But he quickly adapted. We actually started using that big drawer full of kitchen towels. It really didn't make that much more laundry for me, on an average day we go through two towels, sparing any big messes. Now that I have him in the habit of using towels, I bought some recycled paper towels the other day and he was appalled! I save my paper towel usage for things like cleaning glass, and feel good about the trees we are saving by not using so many paper towels.
So my challenge to you, go paper towel less for one week! See if you can adapt to not using them! Leave a comment and let us know how it goes!!
6 comments:
Hey Steph-You are doing a great job with this! One of my goals this year was so stop the paper towel addiction with my hubby, too (What is it with guys and paper towels?!) We have also gone to the drawer in the kitchen with 4325 towels in it and no one seems to notice the change. But I do--in the $$ department, the financial department, etc.
Candy (BBC)
Candy,
Thanks for leaving comment! Way to go on using kitchen towels. Its really not a hard adjustment and makes a big difference!
Steph
Hey Stephanie - Nathan has been bugging me about paper towels. I'm slowing starting to use our regular dishtowels. I'll let you know how it goes! I love reading all of your tips. It's making me more aware of what I can do to be "green."
Thanks Kimberly!
It really isn't that bad once you switch. I promise!!
steph
You can use newspaper to clean your windows/mirrors. I think newspaper helps streak less too. Then you won’t have to buy any paper towels if you don’t want to. This is the first year I’m paper towel-less and we are doing a great job just using our kitchen towels and other rags. I’m lucky; my husband goes along with my “green-ness”! But I have other obstacles, like my siblings and in-laws!
What about sanitation? If I use a new paper towel, I know that any bacteria that it picks up won't get spread around. But if I am reusing a cloth towel, who knows how much nasty stuff it's spreading around.
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