Cleaning Rags

I went on a journey in 2019 to eradicate paper towel use in my house. I stopped cold turkey. I challenged myself to buying ONE package of paper towels from Costco a year. That's right - on average using no more than one roll of paper towels a month. Why? Honestly, it started as part of a new year's resolution to make one positive change for the environment a month. This one turned out to be so easy, it stuck! Going three years strong with this, and we will never look back!

When we use paper towels:

• Messes that won't was out easily...cooking grease, drying cast iron pans, painting projects, etc

• Camping - of course we take some rags, but we do throw a roll of paper towels in the car as well

Where we no longer use paper towels:

• Cleaning! We now use rags in the kitchen and all the bathrooms. Even for outside cleaning!

Was it an expensive investment?

Nope! One package of paper towels is about $18+tax. One pack of our favorite microfiber rags is the same price! And you get to reuse them. We started with one package and ended up getting a second package when we proved we would use them and we had a system we can get behind. One package would suffice, but two means we can leave some in each room where cleaning is required and we would optimize the load of laundry and thus use less energy for washing the rags in the long run.

Highly recommend not choosing white as the color...gray is what we chose and we love it. We did try white at first, but they get that grungy look pretty quick. Gray is light enough to show that you are actually picking up dirt (it's so rewarding!) but dark enough to still look new after months of use.

REMEMBER: Do not use fabric softener! Be careful, a lot of those laundry pacs/pods are meant to be easy but do contain fabric softener! So just double-check if that is what you use. We use Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds for all our laundry. Add in a little baking soda as well and a few drops of your favorite essential oil if you'd like! We love adding a few drops of peppermint to our load of cleaning towels.