Paper products... I'm talking for kitchen and bath. The ol' coin jar is getting low and so is the supply of paper towels and bath tissues. I cannot tell you how to get by without buying them, but I can tell you how to make what you have last a bit longer. Part of the key is getting a little old fashioned.
First off, paper towels. It is so easy when you have a spill, or need to wipe your hands really quick, just to grab a paper towel. The hardest part is breaking that old habit. I will take you through a few new habits of mine.
a) For wiping my hands in the kitchen, I use a hand towel... yes, those things that hang on the stove or fridge handle in Grandma's kitchen. They are great! Always handy and can be washed and re-used, over and over. Imagine that!! A DPS dream!
b) In cooking, I many times have a need for paper towels as well. For instance, wrapping tofu for pressing and drying. Yes it gets wet, but is otherwise unsoiled really. Same goes for drying vegetables after rinsing them. Instead of throwing towels away, I hang them to dry on a little ledge in my kitchen with clothes pins. Once dry, it can be re-used for napkins or "tissue" for your nose, or using again for cooking ie reducing condensation while baking bread in my slow cooker, etc. Two uses, one paper towel. Remember, it should go without saying that if you pat down a turkey with your paper towel, it should go directly into the trash... and wash your hands! :)
c) Now bath tissue. Again I go old fashioned. Let me illustrate... remember that scene in the movie You've got Mail, where Meg Ryan's character hands the little girl a cloth handkerchief and tells her that it is a tissue "you don't throw away."? Well I use that washable kind of kerchief idea to use less bath tissue. Normally, when I sneeze I would reach for the closest form of tissue I can, which is usually a roll of bath tissue. We don't have room to store the boxed variety so, bath tissue became the alternative to resorting to my sleeve.
Therefore, to stretch our bath tissue dollar, I went into the nether regions of my linen cabinet and found all those mini hand towels and rags that haven't been used in years. I just gave them a wash and started to use rags as I would tissue.
Now, in practicing these new less wasteful habits, hubbie and I have reduced our monthly cost of household paper by almost half. One might think that this would not be a huge cost to begin with. On the grand scheme of things, it's true... bath tissue can't compete with cell phones as one of the higher bills to pay each month. In our case, however, the cell phone has already been eliminated and I'm happy to be saving a few dollars on the little things. When you're down to the pennies each month, even that little bit can help.
First off, paper towels. It is so easy when you have a spill, or need to wipe your hands really quick, just to grab a paper towel. The hardest part is breaking that old habit. I will take you through a few new habits of mine.
a) For wiping my hands in the kitchen, I use a hand towel... yes, those things that hang on the stove or fridge handle in Grandma's kitchen. They are great! Always handy and can be washed and re-used, over and over. Imagine that!! A DPS dream!
b) In cooking, I many times have a need for paper towels as well. For instance, wrapping tofu for pressing and drying. Yes it gets wet, but is otherwise unsoiled really. Same goes for drying vegetables after rinsing them. Instead of throwing towels away, I hang them to dry on a little ledge in my kitchen with clothes pins. Once dry, it can be re-used for napkins or "tissue" for your nose, or using again for cooking ie reducing condensation while baking bread in my slow cooker, etc. Two uses, one paper towel. Remember, it should go without saying that if you pat down a turkey with your paper towel, it should go directly into the trash... and wash your hands! :)
c) Now bath tissue. Again I go old fashioned. Let me illustrate... remember that scene in the movie You've got Mail, where Meg Ryan's character hands the little girl a cloth handkerchief and tells her that it is a tissue "you don't throw away."? Well I use that washable kind of kerchief idea to use less bath tissue. Normally, when I sneeze I would reach for the closest form of tissue I can, which is usually a roll of bath tissue. We don't have room to store the boxed variety so, bath tissue became the alternative to resorting to my sleeve.
Therefore, to stretch our bath tissue dollar, I went into the nether regions of my linen cabinet and found all those mini hand towels and rags that haven't been used in years. I just gave them a wash and started to use rags as I would tissue.
Now, in practicing these new less wasteful habits, hubbie and I have reduced our monthly cost of household paper by almost half. One might think that this would not be a huge cost to begin with. On the grand scheme of things, it's true... bath tissue can't compete with cell phones as one of the higher bills to pay each month. In our case, however, the cell phone has already been eliminated and I'm happy to be saving a few dollars on the little things. When you're down to the pennies each month, even that little bit can help.
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