Today I'm going to talk about a stupidly simple way you can save cash on paper towels. This tip is completely free and you can start saving today, using what you have on hand. I'll walk you through how to make your own un-paper towels/cleaning cloths and how to retire them.
I'm not going to get into all of the eco-friendly reasons why you should ditch paper towels. In summary, they use a ridiculous amount of water, kill trees, use resources from transportation, not really recyclable, full of chemicals, etc.
You can save at least $2 a week, $8 a month, $96 a year switching to cleaning cloths. If you have an old t-shirt, towel, or flannel receiving blanket that has some worn spots, give it new life as a cleaning cloth.
Cost of paper towels
Assuming using 1 roll a week for household cleaning, the cheapest paper towels I've found on Amazon are Seventh Generation 100% recycled paper towels 30 rolls, 120 sheets per roll, 3,600 total sheets ($1.93 per roll a week, not including your trash bill)
Cost of cleaning cloths
These can be free if you cut up old unwanted fabric and combine it with a load you're already doing. If you later downgrade your cleaning cloths to reusable toilet paper, you will also save an additional $1 plus per roll.
Wash Your Fabric
Wash your old T-shirt or other 100% cotton fabric to get it as clean as possible. Old towels also work well for this. Synthetics such as polyester or nylon, however, suck at absorbing liquids, so just donate these items to an animal shelter.
Cut out the Cloths
Lay them out flat, and cut them into 12-inch by 12-inch squares to best duplicate the paper towel size. Cut with pinking shears or zigzag the edges of the un-paper towel/cleaning cloth to avoid unraveling. You can also sew two pieces of cloth together to increase the absorbancy.
Make the Cloths Easy to Use
If you have sac-sock plastic bag holder like we do, just shove the cleaning cloths in from the top, with a corner of the cloth peeking out. If you don't have a sac-sock, you can fold the cloths and arrange them in a basket. Keep the cloths in the same spots you kept paper towels.
Have a Place to Toss Used Cloths
Keep a bin to hold the dirty cloths. As you do a load of towels, sheets, or even clothing, toss the cloths in the load. I prefer to wash my cleaning cloths with my towels since that is a heavy duty load already.
How to Retire Your Cleaning Cloths
After you've used up your cleaning cloths until they're ratty looking, you can reuse them as cloth toilet paper, to save an additional $89.44-$104+ a year. You then compost your cloth toilet paper once they're completely shredded. This reduces your trash load by not needing to throw away the dumb plastic wrapper off the paper towel roll. The more you reduce your trash load, the closer you get to being able to reduce or ditch your trash bill!
Now you know how ditching paper towels can save you $96 a year or more by switching to cleaning cloths. Luckily, you can reuse what you have on hand. Now you can make your own un-paper towels/cleaning cloths and how to retire them.
Sign-up for 20 Ways Eco-Friendly Saver Can Help You Save 5 Day E-Course!
Want eco-friendly ways you can start saving money? "Going green" doesn't have to be expensive! As a matter of fact, doing your part for the planet can actually save you $100s a year. Get this FREE 5-day email series delivered to you today!
Once you finish the email series, I will start to send you a newsletter with details about my new free files each week. You will have instant access to my resource library with all my free files, printables, and patterns! You may, of course, unsubscribe at any time, at the bottom of every email I send out.
[social_warfare]
Shared at:
Share Your Style Link Party, Dream Create Inspire Party, Bloggers Dreamteam Linky, Diy Crafts More Link Party, Bloggers Spotlight, Aprons & Pearl Linkup, One Project At A Time, Snickerdoodle Create Bake Make Party, Home And Garden Thursday, Friday At The Fire Station Linkup Party, Motivational Monday Linkup, Party In Your Pjs,
Handmade Hangout Party, allmumsaid.com.au, Sundays Best Linkup, Funtastic Friday, KCACOLS, anallievent.com, Dishing It & Digging It, Anna Nuttall Bloggers Linksup, Link your stuff, Pretty Pintastic Party, BFF Open House Link Party, Busy Monday, The Hearth And Soul Link Party, Turn It Up Tuesday, Encouraging Hearts Home Blog Hop,
Artsyfartsy Link Party, Inspire Me Tuesday, Bouquet of Talent Party, Inspiration Galore Party Project, Nifty Thrifty Party, Inspiration Monday, Makers Make Party, Mix It Up Monday, Creative Corner, Over The Moon Link Party, Friday Favorites, Share the Wealth, Girl Chat Linkup,
Traffic Jam, Happiness is Homemade, Simple Saturdays Bloghop, New Beginnings and Breakthrough Linkup, The Scoop, The Homemaking Party, Pretty Pintastic Party, Share It Tuesday, What to Do Weekends Party, Friendship Friday, Creative Corner Link Up Party, Dear Creatives Linkup, Wine’d Down Wednesdays, Creative Muster Party, Wow Me Wednesday, Wonderful Wednesday Blop Hop, A Round Tuit,
Totally Terrific Tuesday Link Party, Home Matters Party, Bouquet of Talent Party, Lou Lou Girls’ Fabulous Party, Creative Gallery, Love Learn Bloghop, Nifty Thrifty Sunday, Simple Homestead Bloghop, Friday Feature Linky Party, This is How We Roll Thursday, Dare to Share Linkup, Home Away From Home Party, Think Tank Thursday Link Up, Wow Us Wednesdays,
Sew It, Cook It, Craft It Link Party, Homestead Blog Hop, Waste Less Wednesday, Saturday Sharefest, Bloggers Pit Stop, Urban Naturale Blog Hop, The Scoop Link Party, Share One More Time Party, Project Inspire, Tuesdays with a Twist, #For the Love of Blog,Celebrate Your Story Link Party, Sundays at Home,*Part of Financially Savvy Saturdays on brokeGIRLrich*
The links in the post may be affiliate links that support the cost of building this business and help end slavery at no extra cost to you! Read the full disclosure to learn more and find out what your purchases are supporting.
Well I have to say that I am all for being eco-friendly but I was child in the UK in the 50's and remember the bleak years that followed World War II. That was the sort of thing my mother had to do all the time, even if there were items in the shops there was no money! I still use old rags for cleaning cloths/dusters, that's just plain common sense, but compostable toilet cloths I think is taking it a bit too far!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pamela! I think it's important to note that many of the "eco-friendly" choices that people are making now are simply returning back to what people have done for years. In times past, people made eco-friendly choices simply because that's what was the cheapest option available. I agree that reusing old rags should be common sense, but it simply isn't anymore. That's why we let people know all of their frugal options here at the Eco-Friendly Saver, including cloth toilet paper.
ReplyDeleteCloth toilet paper is simply returning to what people have done in years past, as that was one of the options available. Moss and leaves is also an option, but you can see that I don't suggest going for that. Luckily we have more technology to make it more sanitary than our ancestors did. Disposable toilet paper simply isn't a sustainable option, even if you opt for (more expensive) tree-free toilet paper which is made from bamboo or sugar cane waste. There are also people who get micro-tears on their downstairs (OW!) from using disposable toilet paper, and I couldn't in good conscience promote something that harms people when there are better and more sustainable options available.
I have been wanting to make some re-usable paper towels for some time now since we seem to go through a LOT of paper products. Pinned.
ReplyDelete