Replace paper towels in your home and save money (and the environment). Most kitchens today have a roll of paper towels on the counter; some homes go through a roll or more every single day. That’s a whole lot of money to spend and a a lot of garbage being produced.
Why Should Your Replace Paper Towels?
- They don’t clean as well as the alternatives.
- They aren’t reusable so they continue to be an expense over and over again.
- They are not environmentally friendly. They fill up our landfills and use trees (though some are made from recycled materials).
Now before you get all up in arms, I am not saying you should NEVER use a paper towel. I still have them and we use them. But we have greatly reduced our dependence on them.
How to Replace Paper Towels In Your Home And Save Money
Let me start off by saying that we DO still use paper towels in the house. For things like grease or pet accidents – paper towels are my go-to; but we don’t use them for everything anymore.
Replace Paper Towels as Napkins
One of the big things we used to use paper towels for was as napkins. This is a simple solution – go cloth! Even if you are the best seamstress you can make a cloth napkin. But check out the no-sew options too! Look for fabric that will wash well and be easy to remove stains from. Great thing? You can buy a fabric you love! Remember to check out the sales in your area for the best deals.
The other option is to purchase a set or two of ready to use cloth napkins. You’re still going to have a great savings over disposable.
Replace Paper Towels for Drying Hands 
Drying your hands with paper towels is fast but wasteful. I use the Norwex Kitchen Towel in our kitchen now and I love it. I have always used a kitchen towel but found you had to change them a lot because the got funky fast. I won’t go into a big sales pitch here but these are definitely worth a check out.
Other options of course would be a store-bought kitchen towel, bar mop kitchen towels or flour sack towels.
Replace Paper Towels for Cleaning
Cleaning with paper towels seems like the most sanitary way to clean but they are so wasteful. And often paper towels just move bacteria and germs around instead of actually removing them.
Again we switched over to using the microfiber cloths from Norwex and couldn’t be happier to not only get rid of paper cleaning but toxic cleaners too.
Cleaning Options
Just about any reusable / washable cloth with do.
- Old tees that you aren’t wearing anymore
(I would recommend sticking with a 100% cotton) - Cloth Diapers
- Burp Clothes (I like these better than the diapers because they aren’t as thick)
Make a DIY Reusable Paper Towel Roll!
If you love an awesome DIY you might want to try this NO SEW project – Unpaper Towels. Or check out this video for instructions in a sewing version.
It really isn’t that hard to replace paper towels in your home and save money (and do a solid for the environment to boot). There are so many options! Have you given up paper towels? What are you currently using?
Looking for other frugal ideas for your homestead? Let me hook ya up! 😉
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Hi. I have never used paper towels. I use old worn out kitchen towels to do my ‘mop up’ work. I don’t care for the microfiber towels as I have found they merely push around wetness, and don’t clean at all. Water seems to roll off them like something that has been waxed!
I have heard of making your own ‘tear-able’ paper towels on a roll, and I’d like to do something like that. I already have a towel holder attached to the bottom of my upper cabinets.
I also have enough regular kitchen towels and washcloths that I change them out everyday to avoid bacteria. Same with facial cloths.
AND I use “family cloth”…but that is something for another post!!!
I only use paper towels when I cook bacon. Do you have a suggestion on an alternative for placing the bacon on after being cooked?
I drain my bacon grease into a mason jar I keep in my fridge and then leave it on a baking rack. That gets most of the grease.
I use newspaper for bacon and sausage. They work great!
Yes, I sometimes get brown paper bags at the store, esp. Whole Foods. You can cut these into squares and use the inside of the bag which has not been handled by anyone. We rarely cook bacon but when we do this is what I use or anything else that needs draining. Works great ! Just cut to the size you want and put on a cookie sheet !!!
Happy bacon eating 🙂
Noreen W
We have use a rack that fits over the pan so everything drips back on the pan.
I save bacon drippings for collards, Brussels , beans, browning….
Instead of using plastic canvas or PVC why not use bamboo? It’s free if you can find it. I live close to an abundance of bamboo. I use bamboo for everything. I also use bamboo to hold my toilet paper on the toilet paper holder. I also use bamboo to hold my shower curtain up. I use bamboo to hang my clothes on in the closet.
Wow! Great idea!
I’ve never used paper towels all the time. I have a small basket of rags for cleaning. (OK, most are old, stained dish rags.) about the only thing I use paper towels for are messes that are really gross and I don’t want to send through the washing machine. If I have 1 roll in the closet, I’m well stocked up. I’ve lived in my apartment for a little over a year now & I’m still on the same roll that I put up (inside the cabinet door under the sink as I have a small kitchen) when I moved in.