I've stopped using paper towels a while ago and replaced them with old rags or store bought kitchen towels (textile) . The rags/towels I can wash and reuse, the paper towels I just throw away and buy more. So I think it's cost efficient to use textile towels instead of paper ones. Opinions on this, what do you think and use?
I prefer cloth towels too. You buy them once and forget about ever replacing them until they are worn out. Not only does that save someone lots of cash in the long run but it would also be better for the environment if most people used [reusable] cloth towels. Of course there's the argument that since paper towels are used just once they're more absorbent, more hygienic etc, but all this hype about hygiene and stuff is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Before they started making paper towels what did people use?
Well, I am actually a sucker for paper towels. I prefer using those then kitchen cloths, because they are a nightmare to clean. Often I get my kitchen cloths dirty with stuff like oil or fat, and those are not very easy to get off them. Plus, paper towels are pretty cheap. Sure, it's not the best for the environment. But I don't use them that much, so I don't feel bad about it.
I'm on the paper towels side of the debate too. I'm a bit compulsive about hygiene, especially in the kitchen, and it would be tough for me to bear the thought of what a kitchen cloth harbors! Knowing myself I'd wash them so often that it would be cheaper to just use paper towels, which are very cheap were I live anyway. To save some money I buy enormous rolls of paper towels, they're much much cheaper than all the alternatives, although they probably aren't as soft or fancy. Good enough for what I use them, though.
I use a combination of both. I use some white bar rags for cleaning the counters and then bleach them. And I use paper towels to clean up quick spills like if my elderly dog pees or vomits. If my old dog has a small accident, I don't want to reuse a rag that has touched that on my counters, so paper towels are handy for the dog stuff.
I have to say sometimes they are a waste but I love them so much in the kitchen and the bathrooms so when company comes which alot of my friends has kids so they always need a paper towel for something. They are so handy and convenient sometimes they dont last a day but it beats using my dish towels.
I love paper towels. Even though I spend a lot of money by using them, I find it faster for me to clean up a spill or something with them. When I purchase paper towels, I normally buy a big pack so it would last longer.
The thing is rag and other cloth towels tend to hold on to germs and bacteria, so to prevent this you would have to be washing them every day. SO when you 'dry' your hands in a rag chances are good you are moving germs from the rag to something else. Paper towels helps to eliminate this serious problem simply because each sheet is used only once.
Honestly I get my paper towels so very cheaply by buying them on sale, with coupons, etc that I think the cost of buying soap, water, electricity from running the washing machine to wash the rags is about a wash. Also I tend to have to clean up a lot of cat messes so I don't want to really reuse cloths that have been used for that purpose, even after they have been washed. Paper towels just seem so much more hygenic to me.
