I am a dirty girl. This time of year, garden dirt finds a permanent home under my nails, and I’d much rather be outside with the kids than inside cleaning. It’s not that I don’t want a clean house, it’s just that I’d rather do anything (including reorganizing my file cabinet, pulling weeds, or reading endless Eric Carle books to my daughter) than clean my house. For years, I successfully managed my lack of housekeeping gumption by hiring someone else to do it for me. This summer, with Sun layoffs looming, I decided to try cleaning the house myself. I find that I spend close to twice as much time cleaning the house as I was paying the housekeeper and that, although the house is cleaner, I really hope we can rehire her very soon!
So when my pal over at Crunchy Domestic Goddess announced her second annual Ditch the Disposables Challenge for the months of September and October, I decided to join the fun for the second year running and give up something related to my new-found cleaning skills: My o-mop clothes and paper towels!
Last year, I blogged about giving up my razor & picking up a Diva Cup. Although my stint with sugaring instead of shaving only lasted a few months (long story short, I couldn’t make the sugaring very easily myself and the Moom is awesome, but cost-prohibitive), I still love my Diva Cup.
This year, I’m finding it fairly easy to ditch the o-mop clothes in favor of a plain old broom & dust pan. Let’s face it: they’re expensive, and my repeated attempts to compost them failed (take a minute to read my interview with method’s “Green Giant,” Drummond Lawson, where I asked him about composting the o-mop clothes, among other things).
But the paper towels will be a challenge. Given my cleaning deficiency, getting streak-free mirrors is difficult for me, and I tend to use paper towels for the many spills that occur when you live with two young children and an over-excited dog. I decided to do a little research and see what the others had to say about ditching the paper towels.
- Examiner.com breaks down the potential cost-savings of replacing paper towels with something reusable.
- MomsLikeMe discussed this very topic and the consensus was either to use newspaper (still disposable) or microfiber clothes.
- eHow suggests using a linen cloth.
So today, I cleaned my house without using a single paper towel. I used a vinegar-based biodegradable cleaner and a microfiber cloth on my mirrors and I’m happy to report that they look even better than they do after I clean them with paper towel. We’re already using cloth dinner napkins instead of disposables, so now all I have to do is remember to grab a cloth towel instead of a paper one for spills and I’ll be on my way to meeting the challenge!
5 comments
Deena McBain says:
October 9, 2009 at 6:03 am (UTC 2 )
Newspaper to clean windows and mirrors works great….and doesn’t leave the little bits of lint that a nice paper towel or regular cloth does.
admin says:
October 8, 2009 at 5:22 pm (UTC 2 )
The dryer sheets/softener will not be a problem since I don’t use them any more
Corrina Milito says:
October 8, 2009 at 5:16 pm (UTC 2 )
Julie, I clean my windows and mirrors with cloth diapers.
Remember when you launder your cleaning cloths, dish towels, etc, NOT to use any kind of softener or dryer sheets. Just like when washing cloth diapers!
Green Me Alison says:
September 13, 2009 at 2:32 pm (UTC 2 )
I’ve conquered the lack of paper towels plus toddler spills with a large stack of dish towels (I probably have at least 20) in a drawer in the kitchen. The are always an arms reach away! And, I keep a smaller laundry basket on the washer for the towels. The key is to wash them about every 2 days (versus once a week) or they will mildew — even in CO! I also toss in a bit of baking soda with the detergent and vinegar in the water softener to keep them smelling fresh. Happy Challenge! And, I wash them on hot to keep them more sanitary.
crunchy domestic goddess (amy) says:
September 13, 2009 at 12:07 am (UTC 2 )
Woohoo! Thanks for joining in – again.