I’m not a big fan of disposable stuff in general. No, it’s not some tree-hugger thing, though I’m totally fine with things I do being less wasteful or polluting.<\/p>\n
It’s a money-saver. \u00a0I don’t use paper towels. \u00a0I have cleaning cloths made of old towels. \u00a0They’re not just cut up old towels, though. \u00a0 You take an old towel, cut it in eighths. Then you sew a zig-zag stitch all around the edges to prevent fraying and sew the long ends together into a loose tube. \u00a0Depending on how you fold it, this gives you more cleaning surface per cloth, so you don’t go through as many cleaning. \u00a0I’ve preferred those for years. \u00a0They last a long time, and you can just toss them in with the regular laundry with no problem. \u00a0(I don’t use bleach or bleach-based products in cleaning. \u00a0You would have to handle them with more care in terms of laundry if you did).<\/p>\n
But I always associated cloth napkins with formal dinners until I went to visit a friend in Portland a few years ago. \u00a0 In the kitchen, there was a basket of clean, folded napkins in cheerful colors and patterns. \u00a0I remember seeing it and having to restrain myself from smacking my forehead at the casual sensibleness of cloth napkins. \u00a0You buy a set once, <\/em>then you’re all good for napkins for many years. \u00a0They’re so small that it’s insignificant in terms of extra laundry and for me they wouldn’t really cost any extra to\u00a0acquire. \u00a0I mean, I sew. \u00a0I’ve always got fabric lying around, so it’s not even as if it would have cost anything for me to have some. \u00a0But if you buy paper ones, you’re buying napkins about once a month or so.<\/p>\n I made a set of sixteen. \u00a0Since I usually do a load of darks about every two to three days (my napkins are dark burgundy), that’s more than enough. \u00a0We never really run out.<\/p>\n What really gets me to thinking about it, though, is how often disposable products are pushed. \u00a0The Swiffer Wet-Jet not only needs those disposable pads (well, okay, I use my cleaning cloths with mine, and just attach them with some old hair ties) and the special bottles of cleaner (and I just have a spray bottle of all purpose cleaner to squirt the floor down well), but then there’s the dispoable dusting rags, toilet wands and what have you. \u00a0This stuff is silly and wasteful. \u00a0It’s not even safer in terms of germs. \u00a0If you’re really concerned, use a disinfectant cleaner, spray the surface and let it air dry. \u00a0Do you do that? No, of course not. \u00a0So don’t be silly about germs and disposable cleaning products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m not a big fan of disposable stuff in general. No, it’s not some tree-hugger thing, though I’m totally fine with things I do being less wasteful or polluting. It’s a money-saver. \u00a0I don’t use paper towels. \u00a0I have cleaning cloths made of old towels. \u00a0They’re not just cut up old towels, though. \u00a0 You … <\/p>\n