In my endless quest to waste less I sought out Trader Joe's Super Amazing Kitchen Cloths as paper-towel replacers. (Well, I at least wanted to use fewer of them. I still prefer paper towels to clean up doggie accidents.)
I use my sponges plenty, but mostly to scrub tough goo off the stove or for a preliminary counter swipe. When I'm using spray cleaner, as eco-friendly as it may be, I don't want it on my sponge. My dish towels are meant for drying dishes and hands, so ditto there. My solution had been to use microfiber cleaning cloths with my countertrop spray, but they were a bit heavy and seemed like overkill.
The TJs cloths (which come 2 to a pack for $3.99) are made of vicose, a super-absorbent synthetic material that's somewhat related to rayon. They're around the size of a standard 8.5x11" piece of paper, and feel a bit like felt to me. I hear vicose can absorb 10 times its weight in water? This reminds me of those special swimming towels a friend of mine had in the '80s. (They were tiny and came in a tube. I wanted one.)
The SAKCs apparently come in many colors- ours are a chocolate brown (j. picked them out). I haven't actually washed mine yet, as ringing it out after use has sufficed. It dries really quickly. I am starting to feel badly for its unused buddy.
I wasn't relying very much on paper towels, as I said, but this is an improvement over my microfiber cloths (and I was thinking of going to disposable wipes from those, so the Trader Joe's cloths prevented that transition.)
3 comments:
Ok, I read about these paper-towel subsitutes at some AT website and immediately ran out to get some. I was a little shocked at the price, but whatever, I bought two packages. Now, I'm not sure what to do with them! I've used them a couple of times, they do wring out nicely, but don't I need to wash them before re-use if I wipe up something like milk or oj? Or can I just wrinse & wring?
Let me know how you like them, maybe I am using them wrong!
p.s. They shrink a little after you launder them.
I think I'd wash them if I cleaned up something like milk, but with juice I'd just rinse it in the sink. I don't get the people who have never laundered theirs though- I used one of mine to clean the lid of the trashcan today so it's going in the wash.
why bother with laundry? just soak 'em in soap and water and hand-wash 'em, old-school style, right there in the sink. simple, clean, quick, and does not waste laundry cycles. that's just my 2¢. i am using these for drying my hands both in the kitchen and bathroom. less laundry = saved energy.
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