toothpaste - i can seriously extract the last morsel of paste and be scraping the inside of the tube before finally breaking down and buying new
lightbulbs - ugh such a hassle. buying new bulbs basically means there's now a project at home to replace the non-working ones
sheets for the bed - WHYYYY are they so expensive
and paper towels - i'm seriously going to drop some dough on an economy pack of towels, basically to throw away? and i swear we just bought some and now our roller thingy is empty?
i realize the first 3 of these are just my crazy rationalization of putting off things we need.
i have issues.
but paper towels quite frankly irks and disgusts me.
they are such a waste and once you get in the habit of reaching for one - you start using way too many
so when i read this post of emily's a couple of months ago i couldn't believe what a great solution to paper towels she had come up with
replacing paper towels with wash cloths and making under the sink bins for clean and dirty cloths seemed easy enough
i told bill about it; he was on board
and then two months pass.
as i kept thinking about buying the supplies it sounded like a hassle.
ugh - i have to go out and buyyyyy all this stuff?
i'm whiny.
and while most rational people would tell me, "girl, you ain't gotta have bins and new cloths to make going paper towel-less work"
and i'm all like "girrrrl, yes i do. it's got to be organized or i won't stick with it."
- edited to add - i feel it's necessary to also inform you that i've been looking at a papertowel-less holder for about 2 weeks now
so i was at target on lunch break today
i knew we needed new dish towels. new paper towels too but i sure as heck wasn't going to go down that aisle on my lunch break...
i somewhat thought about the project above
and i came accross a pack of 4 flour sack towels
i love flour sack towels - they're great because they're absorbent (and become more absorbent after a few washes), big enough to clean up messes, won't leave lint on glass when drying/wiping, easy to wash/bleach/etc
i also use paper towels or dish cloths when pressing tofu - and terry cloth can leave lint on my 'fu - which isn't cool. and the 'fu really holds a lot of water and can soak through 10 paper towels
so this was a no-brainer purchase
oh, and the icing on the cake?
the 4 pack was $3.99 - among the cheapest of all the dish towels target had (and really the cheapest ones i've seen, amazon included)
i picked up 2 packs as well as a 4 pack of dish clothes (for smaller messes)
so i had it in my head i was totally going through with this ditching of the paper towels
next i knew i really needed some way to sort and keep handy clean and dirty towels
and in the trash can aisle, target had these petite 2 gallon trash cans which will fit perfectly under my sink
(you can also spy a a florally container in my cart - target has a bunch of organization stuff on clearance, and that guy is also going under my sink to round up the cleaning supplies)
these containers were also perfectly priced at $2.99 each
so the total spent on going paper towel-less?
2 4pack of flour sack towels............................................7.98
1 4pack of dish cloths......................................................3.99
2 2 gallon trash bins.........................................................5.98
total before tax.................................................................17.95
cost of Bounty "select-a-size" 12 huge rolls on amazon?.......................$30.93
that's a difference of almost $13! PLUS...or, uhm, MINUS the waste created when throwing away paper
i realize with this method there's the added cost of washing
but i figured these could be added to our load of towels without a problem
and i think that being able to reuse the towels instead of continuously buying paper goods (as well as the packaging they come in) creates less waste/less impact
if anyone has any other waste reducing ideas, let me know - i'm on a roll.
get it?
roll?
paper towels?
i'm done here.
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