:)
Dee

I had a parent ask me to give her one so her kid could use it for his saxophone or trumpet or whatever instrument he played. I told her she could *borrow* it until she found some of her own, lol. I hold on to my old ones like gold!

:)
Dee

Kevin

I have returned to using cloth napkins, and rags for many of my chores, and when I do buy paper towels, I buy Green forest. Sponges, even synthetic ones, and those synthetic reuseable cloths get a lot more mileage than paper in my house.

Kevin

If you're using bleach, ammonia, baking soda, etc., you are using disinfectants/antibacterials. People thought of it; they were just less paranoid about it than they are now. And the technology did not exist to impregnate almost anything and everything (countertops, toys, appliances) with antibacterial ingredients, so it wasn't done.

I think we need to be careful about denouncing combinations of synthetic chemicals as unilaterally "bad" and accepting naturally-occuring substances as unilaterally "good". I have a friend who used to promote certain vitamin supplements as not harmful because they were "all-natural". My observation was that plutonium was "all-natural", too, but people didn't tout its health benefits. :-) I also know that borax is not toxic to humans in amounts in which it is used regularly, but that it does have a cumulative effect on groundwater and certain animals, so it's not completely safe, either. We are much better off not using so much of anything.

It still amazes me at how many news programs do these stories about various germs on every surface we touch. Combine that with all the antibacterial products available, the non-stop marketing of these products, the gardening chemicals available and the marketing of these which seems to encourage killing just about every "pesky insect" outside and we seem to have created a society of very paranoid and ignorant people indeed.

K

However, the potentially dangerous bacteria do not appear out of nowhere, they need a source. Nor do any bacteria live in large numbers all over the house, they need moisture and food to remain alive, thus a properly cleaned and dried kitchen counter or utensil is not the bacteria party that adverts suggest. Also, the bacteria count on walls, floors and ordinary household items is going to be very low because these places are not a good environment for them. Getting e.coli to live on a kitchen floor which is completely dry 99% of the time is like trying to grow grass in the Sahara.

The bacteria which can cause food poisoning are best prevented by cooking food properly and always consuming the freshest food possible, because in fact food poisoning is caused by bacteria from bad food, not bacteria that magically appear all over your kitchen with no obvious source and *then* contaminate the food. That idea is completely the wrong way around.

Point well taken. I should have said I don't use anything labeled "antibacterial" just because the marketing reps say I need to. The ad that makes me NUTS is the one where she splashes spaghetti sauce from the pot onto the counter. Grandma rushes in with the antibacterial wipes to mop it up. If you sauce is that toxic, you probably shouldn't be eating it. Not to mention the use-once-and-toss mentality of disposables.

Don't microwave dry though:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6293735.stm

I wash plates and clean the kitchen/bathroom with plastic foam sponges, the type with a block of foam and a scratchy pad attached. They don't last forever, but they outlast paper towels by a long way, and when worn out they can be saved up and used like disposables for really grimy cleaning tasks. The nice thing is that they're plastic, so easily rinsed clean and they dry quickly too. I've never had a bad smell from any of them.

I clean other things like the TV screen and house plants with microfibre cloths. They can clean the whole room and then be hand washed in the sink. I've had the same cloths for a couple of years now.

This thread has really got me thinking too, someone mentioned using old rags for mops and since my sponge mop head is just about to start falling apart Im going to try wrapping a wrag around it and see how it works!

"I should have said I don't use anything labeled "antibacterial" "

I knew what you meant aok, youre talking about products with things added like triclosan which is just going over the top. It is believed that these things only kill the weaker bacterias anyway, so the stronger ones may become resistant to these things from constant exposure.

I agree kevin about the ads too, they really irritate me. every little spill and some super efficient housewife is rushing for a paper towel to save the day and get rid of those nasty germs forever. Im glad to see Im not the only one who still uses tea towels and sponges and mop :)

Kevin

We have a few linen and mostly cotton teatowels. I don't think I've ever seen synthetic ones. May well be cheaper dyes I think.

LOL Kevin. All the things the marketing people tell us we need that we never used to need!

We don't use paper towels much, but we put the used one into the worm compost - the worms love paper - especially cardboard egg cartons. Munch munch.

Handkerchiefs were actually an enjoyable means of self expression. There were certain kinds for men, bandanna types for work, frilly ones for girls, little animals embroidered for children, knockout dressy ones, etc.

I agree with you about the landfill space (and the groundwater contamination, holy s***!). But there is precious little paper in disposable diapers today -- they're pretty much entirely plastic and polymer gel. The material in question now is petroleum, which of course we don't have any too much of to waste either.

That polymer gel, btw, can absorb something like 500 times its volume in water, so imagine how the dipes keep swelling even in the landfill.

Christy, my mom always had cloth towels in the kitchen when I was growing up and her big rule on pain of DEATH!!! was that the hand towel only be touched with freshly washed hands. That was the towel that stayed hanging in the kitchen all day or sometimes even two and it never stunk or got grimy because of her rule (which I have adopted).

Rags and towels used to wipe things don't usually get reused, just chucked in the laundry after one use.

The smell is not from being wet and then drying, it's from the bacteria that breed while a cloth is moist and then die when it dries out. If you keep your cloths either clean of debris, or quickly dried out, you won't have an odor or a germ issue.

Kristin

Ah, Kristin, I wish I could get your mom to work on my husband, lol! I have been asking him for 25 years to clean his hands before he uses the towel. He is a fabulous cook, but an extremely sloppy one.

Do you know how many times I have washed my hands, and have gone to dry them on the towel, only to wipe spaghetti sauce all over them?! Grrrr!! He just uses the towel to wipe his dirty hands, not dry off his washed hands.

The real dilemma comes in because I don't want to yell at him too much because I'm happy he's using the cloth towel instead of a whole roll of paper ones, lol!

:)
Dee

Kristin

BTW, Kristin, even if I tried his and her towels, my DH would just use both of them anyway, lol! Oh well, like I said, I don't want to discourage him from using the cloth and encourage him to use paper towels (especially since he will easily tear off 3 when he really only needs a half!) so I guess I have to suck it up and deal with it. Not a bad trade-off, really. After all, this is a minor issue - picking your battles and all that. My big battle will be persuading him to go solar!

:)
Dee

I know what you mean about these type of fabrics feeling creepy. There are certain synthetic fabrics I just can't stand to touch. It's almost like they try to attach to your skin or something. I can't stand them. Give me the old, cotton rag any day.

From what I've heard though, these microfibers do a great job of cleaning.

Kevin

Be sure to contact your local recycling agency. Ours had a deal in which they sold a limited number of upright composters and little buckets (for the kitchen) for about $30. U pick up, u assemble, but it was easy to do and it's been working fine for me.

The local recyclers also are going to collect compostable material starting this fall (IIRC). Of course, I won't be participating because I compost my own, but putting that out with the weekly recyclables might be a good alternative for you.

Marshall

I buy a new package of 12 cotton "bar mop" towels each spring - right before my family all comes out for a big dinner; that way they look nice. By the next spring, they are so disreputable looking (I don't like chlorine bleach) that they are relegated to being used only during canning season. The next spring, looking even worse after spaghetti sauce and grape juice canning, they are relegated to being the floor mopping, wiping muddy dog feet, cat yak towels. They eventually end up in the compost pile - usually in bits and pieces.