{"id":487,"date":"2012-02-20T13:25:22","date_gmt":"2012-02-20T18:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=487"},"modified":"2014-09-03T22:18:43","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T02:18:43","slug":"how-i-broke-up-with-paper-towels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=487","title":{"rendered":"How I broke up with paper towels"},"content":{"rendered":"

On my journey to being a bit greener, \u00a0and because I am a psycho researcher, \u00a0I do a lot of reading about the ways to be more eco-friendly. \u00a0I am totally down with using vinegar and water to clean (although TB hates the smell of vinegar). \u00a0We recycle as much as possible and our compost is overflowing (more on that soon). \u00a0I was so open to all of the the things I read about. \u00a0But there was one I just couldn’t get on board with. \u00a0It was too hard. \u00a0Too scary.<\/p>\n

Let’s just start by saying I love paper towels.<\/p>\n

Even though I was ignoring all articles referring to them I started to notice how the garbage can was just full of them. \u00a0With the composting and recycling we don’t create a lot of garbage so it made it seem that all I threw away was paper towels. \u00a0I started to feel guilty about all those trees I was cutting down just to wipe up a few drops of spilled something and then be tossed away. \u00a0They come straight from trees, not recycled paper. \u00a0I couldn’t reuse them. \u00a0I couldn’t recycle them.<\/p>\n

The problem was if I stopped buying paper towels then what would I use? \u00a0My sleeve? \u00a0We all have visions of someone’s house that has that nasty, smelly dish rag on the sink that is a microbial wonderland. \u00a0It’s gross and a lot of the reason people love paper towels. \u00a0 So how do I give them up while keeping things clean and sanitary?<\/p>\n

The solution is you have to have the infrastructure at the ready. \u00a0You will still spill things and will need to clean them up. \u00a0In order not to have to use the same yucky rag over and over, have a lot of cloths. \u00a0I didn’t have enough extra shirts etc. to cut up and make lots of rags so I invested in some things from the store.<\/p>\n

First off, by invested I mean I spent about $10-15 on 2 packs of these<\/a> from Target. \u00a0They are a good size to wipe up messes and not be unwieldy. \u00a0 They are cotton and totally washable. \u00a0I put them in a basket I already had that I could never figure out how to use.<\/p>\n

Second, we would need dish towels to dry the clean dishes. \u00a0Luckily TB came with a ton of these when he moved in. \u00a0Not because he really liked dry dishes but rather to clean up spills from the drunk people at his old built in bar. \u00a0(I still miss that apartment). \u00a0Here<\/a> are some at Target.<\/p>\n

Third, we would need napkins for when we are eating. \u00a0There are lots of options here. \u00a0If you sew, grab some cotton fabric, cut squares and hem. \u00a0If you don’t you can find lots in different price ranges. \u00a0But remember this is for everyday eating, not a fancy dinner party. \u00a0I was at Marshall’s after Christmas when everything is really cheap. \u00a0I bought some dark green napkins with a red trim for nothing and they don’t look Christmas-y.<\/p>\n

So here is a pic of an assortment of my linen collection: (from left to right) dish towels, 3 different colors of napkins and white dish rags<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So now that we have enough linens to not run out, what do we do with them when they are dirty? \u00a0I finally found a use for this basket that we leave in the kitchen for the dirty ones.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The next question you may ask is<\/p>\n

“Doesn’t this create more laundry? \u00a0Because I hate laundry.”<\/p>\n

Well not really. \u00a0We have to pass the dirty rag basket on the way to the washing machine. \u00a0If we are taking a load of whites to be washed we grab the white cloths out of the basket and thrown them in. \u00a0If we wash the dark colors, we grab the green napkins etc. \u00a0I guess technically we are adding more laundry but we are already doing the load of laundry so it doesn’t take much more effort.<\/p>\n

I know what I have said above is crazy scary to most of us. \u00a0It is possible, and once you have the stuff on hand, not that hard. \u00a0And I do keep an “emergency” roll of paper towels in the basement, mostly in case there is a puppy accident or some other mess that I couldn’t imagine washing and reusing the cloth after. \u00a0It in the basement, unused now for quite awhile. \u00a0If I can do it, you can do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On my journey to being a bit greener, \u00a0and because I am a psycho researcher, \u00a0I do a lot of reading about the ways to be more eco-friendly. \u00a0I am totally down with using vinegar and water to clean (although…
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20],"tags":[70,71,69],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/ridiculous-redhead-towels.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1J4KT-7R","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":928,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=928","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":0},"title":"An Old Wood Steamer Trunk","date":"August 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"While at a garage sale (my friend \/ wedding officiant was having, of all places) I found this very sad little steamer trunk. \u00a0Time had not been kind to it and I wasn't sure if I could do anything to help. \u00a0Since I knew the guy and he gave me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Before & After"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/casey-after-1774-crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1953,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=1953","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":1},"title":"This Year’s Garlic Harvest","date":"July 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"One of our favorite things to grow in our garden is garlic. \u00a0Last year was our first year and I don't ever see us not planting it. There are two basic types of garlic: \u00a0softneck and hardneck. \u00a0Softneck garlic is what you find in the grocery store because it stores\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Garden"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Ridiculous-Redhead-Garlic-5278.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2345,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=2345","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":2},"title":"Paper Wedding Flowers","date":"October 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently our wedding was featured on NJ Bride Magazine's website\u00a0which was really cool I have to admit. \u00a0Our photographer Jenifer Rutherford\u00a0(who I seriously cannot recommend enough) took amazing photos that she submitted to the magazine. \u00a0It was a pretty awesome surprise to see TB and I, and our drunk friends,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "About Us"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/1039.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":867,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=867","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":3},"title":"Please believe me! Beets are delicious!","date":"July 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Every time I mention that I have planted beets I always get asked why. \u00a0After they call me weird, they make the face that looks like they ate a lemon and is the international sign for \"Yuck!\" This is my plea for you to at least try beets. \u00a0I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Garden"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/b-basket.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":578,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=578","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":4},"title":"Eco-friendly Wedding Favors?","date":"March 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So as many of you know I am getting married this fall. \u00a0We are trying our best to keep everything as local, sustainable and eco-friendly as possible. \u00a0Our caterer grows the veggies and salad fixing in his own garden, while his restaurant has gray water systems and he composts. \u00a0Our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Green Ideas"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/RR-logo-square-300-pix.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2310,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=2310","url_meta":{"origin":487,"position":5},"title":"Our Adventure with Cloth Diapers","date":"October 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"On the crunchy spectrum I think I am probably middle of the road but others may disagree. \u00a0With all my talk on here of organic this or reusable that, many of you may think I pretty crunchy. \u00a0I would try to argue but since today's topic is our use of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Green Baby"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/cloth-diaper-cover-ridiculous-redhead.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions\/511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}