Paper Towels are Silly

About six years ago I quit using paper towels and paper napkins, and I haven’t bought any since.  I can’t remember exactly what motivated the change, but I was making a number of changes at the time.  My motivation for replacing them was partially related to wanted to be more environmentally friendly, and also in an effort to be more cost conscious.  There’s not a ton of hard-hitting facts and research in this area but based on my guestimate most families are using 1-2 rolls of paper towels per week, which could cost anything from $50-150 a year depending on if you buy store-brand or splurge for the fancy ones.  And though that may not sound like a lot, it’s just one additional thing that you don’t really need in your life.  It is a way to simplify things.

I’ve now been doing this for so long, that it seems incredibly wasteful to buy paper towels.  They are sort of a silly product when you think about it.  Why would you buy/dispose of something when you can easily use an inexpensive and more durable replacement item that does the job just as well, if not better?

There are many benefits of cloth napkins + towels:

• More durable and sturdy – They are much more durable for cleaning up than anything made out of paper. I use them to clean the counters, scrub things in the kitchen, etc. They get the job done extremely well and they can be used multiple times before needing to be washed.  They don’t tear or get soggyor have any other shortcomings of paper towels.  They also hold up to my kids and their messes much better.
• Low cost – There’s an up-front cost to investing in a starter batch of cloth napkins and towels. I started with a bunch of cloth napkins 5 years ago and they are still holding strong.  I’m sure they’ll last me another five years.  Every now and then I’ll see something I like and add a couple more to the collection.
• Last forever* – The asterisk is because I am actually not sure if they last “forever,” as I don’t know how long forever is. I’ve only been doing this for 5 years personally, but I feel fairly confident in saying these would last you for an average human lifetime.
• More ascetically pleasing – Most paper towels are white, or perhaps they have some sort of a cheesy floral pattern that was designed by someone at P+G or wherever. Sidebar: I just had a realization that it’s likely someone’s job to design paper towels.  Not judging that job at all, I just always find it fascinating to think about all of the different jobs out there.  Ok so now that we’ve established paper towel designs are boring (oh wait…now I might have offended the designer), let’s talk about how exciting cloth napkin designs can be.  My cloth napkins have personality and my kids fight over who gets the ones with Mount Fuji on it, or the cute one with dogs and cats.  This past year I wanted to jazz up my cloth napkin collection a bit, and so while we were in Japan on vacation, I shopped around to try to find some cool new designs.  Japan definitely did not disappoint in the cloth napkins department, and I bought a bunch of new ones.  An added benefit is that I now have a fun memory of Japan that we get to use daily.  Some of the ones I bought in Japan were too large for what I really wanted, and my mom was kind enough to cut them and re-hem them too, which made them even more functional.  The point is, you can easily purchase specific sizes or customize cloth napkins to the size that’s most useful to you.
• Takes up less space on your counters – I keep my cloth napkins and towels in a kitchen drawer/cabinet. But I used to keep paper towels on a holder under a cabinet, and though it wasn’t taking up counter space, it was adding to the visual clutter in my kitchen.  After about a year of not using paper towels, I finally decided to remove the actual paper towel holder that was still installed under my cabinet.  It made a noticeable difference in the minimal clarity of my kitchen.
• Easy to wash + maintain – Cloth napkins and towels are small enough that I just throw them into the laundry I’m already doing. It’s not creating any extra laundry.
• It feels better – When I wipe my face, or my kid’s faces, with a cloth napkin it just feels nicer than a paper napkin. It’s gentle and who doesn’t love a good gentle face wipe!?  It feels nicer on the outside, and on the inside.

Every now and then I end up with some paper towels in my possession that were left over from an event of some sort, and I’ll take them home and use them.  It feels abnormal, and I don’t like it.  I also feel obligated to work through them as I hate wasting things.  It reminds me that I really enjoy my cloth napkins and towels.  They get the job done in a more cost effective and environmentally friendly way.  And that’s win-win for me.

On a related note, I feel like I should include my stance on two other paper products:

• Kleenex – While I do use paper tissues, I try to use them sparingly. I try to use toilet paper where I can as it is a lot cheaper than Kleenex.  I also carry a cloth handkerchief when I am traveling, at work, or on the go.  My favorite ones I purchased at Liberty of London and they are in super fun prints.  Also, another great reminder of trips I’ve been on.
• Toilet Paper – I’m a big fan, and I use it. There are a lot of products I will buy store-brand of, but toilet paper is one product where I think people should splurge.  Life’s short, I buy nice toilet paper.  Cottonelle all the way.

The replacement of paper towels is symbolic to so many more changes you can make it your life.  Changes that are fairly easy and have massive benefits to you and the world.   Two questions to ask yourself today:

• Could you cut out paper towels and napkins from your life?
• What are some of the other changes you could make like this?

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