The editors of Real Simple magazine asked the question, “What cutback has saved you the most money and changed your life the least?”, and Homemade Mothering’s answer is featured on page 31 of the November issue.

Several years ago, I quit using paper towels and paper napkins.  In their place, we rely on reusable cloth towels and napkins.  Not only has this choice greatly reduced the amount of trash we send to the landfill, but I’ve found that it saves us $HUNDREDS$ of dollars a year.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t hard to adjust to life without paper towels and napkins, probably because we quit “cold turkey.” Using cloth is normal and convenient for us, and I can’t imagine ever going back.

With washing all our towels and napkins, it might be assumed that we are increasing our water and detergent usage. However, I never run a laundry load exclusively for the cloth towels and napkins; I just toss them the washing machine along with whatever else I am washing at any given moment.

Read my initial post on living life with a reduced reliance on paper products here: https://homemademothering.com/2009/06/a-challenge-for-you.html

Are you ready to ditch your dirty paper towel habit??