How do you economise on kitchen paper towel use?

anguk

Linda32 wrote: »

I don't buy kitchen roll either. We just use dishclothes and they get washed with the normal washing regularly.

The problem is we've got 2 cats and a dog, this morning I got up to find the dog had been sick, dishcloths are no good for things like that. If I'd had some newspaper I guess I could have cleaned up with that but we don't buy newspapers and I can buy some kitchen towel with the money I save on newspapers.

Shropshirelass

We buy the Saturday newspaper for the Motoring Supplement (hubby is incurable petrolhead), the TV/radio schedule for the week, and the Codeword puzzles . We also buy local weekly paper, as its the only way to get local news - TV and radio news rarely reports from darkest Shropshire. we recycle as follows:

To line a swingbin with newspaper, remove top of bin, open one large sheet and fold double across existing crease and use to line around inside straight sides of bin. Then take a sheet folded and push into base of bin, so that it holds the first piece in place. This should mean that when you emply the bin, it remains clean.

I use a plastic ice cream box, lined with newspaper sheets cut roughly to size, to collect food scraps for recycling.

Line dogs bed with newspaper for extra insulation.

Kitchen paper roll lasts ages. Dont need to buy swingbin liners. Dog is happy:D. Only the colour supplement (and junk mail) goes for paper recycling.

Ben84

I've not bought it in years. Newspaper does everything really - however if you want to use it as a cloth for cleaning or polishing hard surfaces, it does need crumpling up first. I also use it to wrap things and for draining fried food or just washed salad.

mioliere

A tip I found on here a couple of years ago was to pull about ten sheets at a time from a kitchen roll, stack them together, and cut them into four - these small squares are ideal for little jobs like wiping knives while making sandwiches, for small spills, and all those other things that it seems a waste to use a whole sheet for. I keep them in an unlidded plastic box next to the roll itself so that they are just as handy, and it really does make one roll last a lot longer. I notice that one of the kitchen roll manufacturers has created a roll that has different sized sheets on it, so what I do is just a cheaper version of that!

valk_scot

One tip for paper towels..if you've used a piece for something suitable, like mopping up water or pee or clearing up peelings, drop it in the composting caddy to put in the compost bin. Obviously if you've been using them for poo or blowing your nose or with cleaning chemicals they can't be composted but otherwise don't waste them in landfill.

maman

Kitchen roll can last me weeks as I mainly use it for food things. I'm a fan of the 2 large roll packs of Nicky at Farmfoods.

I used to buy J cloths but decided that wasn't very OS. For 'wiping' jobs around the kitchen I use dishcloths and wash them either with my (white) towels on a hot wash or put them in the dishwasher. When they start to get a bit scruffy, they are relegated to the floor or bathroom. I still wash them through (with darks or coloureds) and keep using them for a while until they're past it.

Linda32

anguk wrote: »

The problem is we've got 2 cats and a dog, this morning I got up to find the dog had been sick, dishcloths are no good for things like that.

lol, No your quite right, the dish cloth isn't the thing to use there.

I was replying to the opening question though on how I economise on kitchen roll use. - I don't buy any :T :rotfl:
No cats or dogs here either. We do have other cloths which OH's Mum calls Floor Cloths. These are seperate cloths for things which you wouldn't use your dishcloth for :eek: Wiping things off the floor, mainly.

trailingspouse

Trying to think what I use kitchen roll for - I don't use much, and I buy Plenty because it's just better. OK, here goes -

cleaning windows - lint free, so better than a duster
cleaning up after the cat - wouldn't want to re-use a cloth after that!
mopping up occasional spills on the kitchen floor

that's it really - I'm sure I use them for other things, but not often. I have a dishcloth that sits on the sink in the kitchen and is used for wiping down the bench regularly, and anything else that needs wiping. Every few days I steep it in boiling water with biological washing powder. We haven't died.

My ex mother-in-law knitted her own dishcloths and used to give me them as gifts (!) I never liked them as they were a sort of off-brown colour and never looked clean to me.

eilidh_s

I don't use much kitchen roll, I just use it for things that I wouldn't want to waste a blue cloth on like if I have been doing a lot of cooking on my griddle and it is particularly black and disgusting or if I have something particularly unhygienic to clean up. I have had the same roll for almost three months and am just over half way through.

I cut my blue cloths in half and use them for dusting first, then after a couple of rinses I use them for harder dirt where chemicals are involved, ie window cleaning, and then after a couple of spins through the washing machine I use them for serious horribleness.

If you need more heavy duty cleaning and you live near the coast and have a good chandler near you then it worth buying a rag bag. This is a bag of clothes that have been chopped up for use as rags. I have clothes that I don't wear any more I save them up for free listing on Ebay and if they don't sell or if they are beyond the stage of where I could legitimately sell, I chop them up and add them to a rag bag for serious, disgusting horribleness, although anything that is natural fibre I wash and use again and again.

bellaquidsin

Not my tip, but one wise oldstyler on here once said, 'cut each sheet into four'. This really does help.

Bella.