This morning I woke up and started trolling the blogs I read each morning. One post, in particular, struck me. Kristen at The Frugal Girl wrote about a new product that was just released by Kleenex.
Yes, I know it looks like an odd shaped box of tissues, but it’s really disposable hand towels. First thing I thought when I saw this: Ah, overpriced paper towels in a box!
Then I started to think about how insane the disposable movement has become. Disposable items are supposed to make our lives easier, but at what cost? Don’t get me wrong, I’m guilty of riding the disposable band wagon, too. I grew up in a home where we used paper plates, paper cups and lots of paper towels. I think Jeff and I have done a lot better. We don’t use paper cups unless we are having a large party at the house. We use paper plates occasionally but we are still using about one roll of paper towels a week. It’s habit for me. I’ve always used paper towels in the kitchen, but after seeing disposable hand towels, I’m going to try to cut back.
The cost of all this disposable stuff is hurting not only our wallets but our landfills. So, I’ve decided to make more of an effort to watch my disposables. A few things I’m going to do:
- No more paper plates. We should be able to get buy with the plates we have.
- Decrease my use of paper towels. This is going to be the hardest for me since it’s almost instinct now to grab a paper towel when I wash my hands in the kitchen, even though I’ve got a hand towel hanging on the oven. Maybe I’ll have to put up a hook so the hand towel is next to the sink.
- Cut down on my use of parchment paper. I’ve got an amazon gift card on the way from Mypoints.com (if you want an invite to Mypoints to check it out, leave a comment on the blog and I’ll send you one). I’m going to use the card to purchase a pizza stone and peel. Most of the parchment I use is for making bread, which I bake 2 or 3 times a week now. This will greatly cut down on the amount of parchment paper I use.
- Remember to bring reusable bags o the grocery store. I’m terrible at this one. I’m going to start writing on my grocery list “reusable bags”. Hopefully, that’ll help.
- I’m going to be more conscious of what I’m throwing away so I can add more things to my list.
If we all make small changes, we can save ourselves a lot of cash and hopefully save ourselves from a lot of trash. Yes, it rhymes and sounds extremely corny, but I’m going with it. It’s Friday, after all. Let your corniness SHINE!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
We discovered that the best compromise for us was to have a roll of paper towels handy, but to keep cloth towels in more than one place in the kitchen. I am slowly changing over to a paper-towel-less system by introducing bar cloths or washcloths to take care of spills.
In order to remember to bring the reusable bags to the store, we use them to hold our cans & bottles for return. They automatically go with us and we’ve got them when the returns have been made. We’re still not 100% about remembering them but we’re better than before.
Great post, Kristin!
And yay reusable bags! I love mine! They go to the grocery store with me everytime, and I find them so much easier to carry groceries with than plastic bags. Something about the handles and the weight distribution. Plus, Stop & Shop gives you a 5 cent credit for every reusable bag you bring. Bonus!
In the year and a half I’ve been living solo, I’ve never bought paper plates or cups. I just find them unnecessary. Paper towels, unfortunately, are a necessary part of ferret cage cleaning, so I haven’t been able to cut them out either. But some day…
I’m also thinking about investing in a silicone baking mat or two, or adding them to my Amazon wishlist. They’re only $10 each and would almost completely eliminate the need for parchment or wax paper…and probably cut down on my baking spray needs as well.
Jenny – I don’t return our cans and bottles. We don’t drink much soda and I just put whatever cans and bottles we have in the recycling bin.
Jacie – excellent suggestion about the silicone mats. If I’ve got any gift card left after I purchase the pizza stone and peel, I know what I’m going to get!
This is how I taught myself to remember my reusable grocery bags: If I got to the checkout without my bags, my punishment was that I had to carry all my groceries out by hand! It only happened a couple times before I learned my lesson!
Wow! That’s a great way to make yourself remember bags. We have a store here called PriceRite where you have to pay for bags. Whenever I go there and I forget my bags, I will not buy any which means I’ve got to bring everything home bagless. I’m going to try your method for all my grocery purchases! Awesome idea.
Love my pizza stone! I remember my bags because they hang on a peg right by the door so they are easy to grab before getting in the car. I agree that society in general is too ‘disposable.’ However, in certain places, it may be more economical to use paper plates. I lived in western KS during a period of drought & water shortage. The city gave everyone low flow shower heads! Washing dishes every day would have bumped the household into a higher water/sewer usage rate. Bio-degradable paper plates were definitely a better option then. Also cheaper than replacing a plate a month when kids accidentally break them! LOL Also, doctors may recommend that people with compromised immune systems use paper towels after washing hands. It would be more economical than an infection. You just have to find the right balance for every situation.
Excellent points, Laura. When we had trouble with broken plates, we started buying Corelle plates. We’ve never broken one of those. Now that most of my stoneware bowls are broken, I’m going to replace those with Corelle also.
You do have to find a balance and do what works best for you and your family.
I have a hand towel (a small hand towel that a friend crocheyed ?sp a semicircle and then a hadnle with a button hole ) that I can hang off the handle of a drawer by the sink to dry my hands in the kitchen. We recycle everything we can. I carry my resuable shopping bags in the trunk so I always have them and also have a freezer bag that I throw a freezer brick or frozen water bottle in for the cold and frozen items on the hot days and do not need them in the winter.
My husband uses paper towels in his cleaning business, but he uses the clients paper towels as much as possible only in the bathrooms and clothes everywhere else that are washed and diinfected when we have a washer load full.
You have to find the balance that works for your family, yet be economical and mindful of our precious environment, which we as humans are pests destroying the beautiful land we were born into.
I’ll get off my soapbox now!
I’ve got a pattern for a hand towel like that. I think I may need to make some up for the kitchen.