Honestly when I first started going paper free it was really freeing knowing I didn’t need to rely on buying paper towels to dry my hands, dishes, and clean my surfaces. Plus, it’s actually really fun, especially if you love to shop, and who doesn’t! In addition to the fun part of stockpiling the kitchen with towels get excited about how you’re going to store all of them, clean and dirty.
Here are my top tips and steps you should take to become a paper free kitchen and keep it clean & green:
HAND & DISH TOWELS:
- Start by designating a space to conveniently store your dish & hand towels in a nearby upper cabinet. A lower drawer would work as well if it’s a deep one because you’ll want a good amount of towels eventually. Don’t forget to keep it as close to the sink as possible.
- Find a vessel to keep about 8-10 towels in at a time on the counter. I racked my brain thinking about what to use on my counter. I very happily decided on a vintage yellowware bowl. One of many I’ve collected over the years thanks to my love for antique & vintage items. I recommend starting with things you already have in your home that you love and see if something will work for you. Or go scan your local antique or thrift store for something fun.
- Next, you’ll need a little laundry basket in the kitchen for your towels. What I did was rearrange under my kitchen sink in order to be able to store two baskets. One for dirty towels, and one for my house cleaning towels. Once I got everything organized under there, I measured what kind of space I had and picked my basket based on that. You don’t need a huge one for the dirty towels.
- Then the fun part, go shopping for some fun new towels! Sometimes I get some great finds on towels at the antique store, target or seasonal ones at the dollar spot at Target, and of course we can’t forget good old Amazon.
- Even though I really love having a (mostly) paper free kitchen. I do keep a roll of paper towels under the sink for those nasty messes the kids or dog inevitably makes, but other than that we’re paper free.
There you have it, this really just covers hand & dish washing towels, but all you need to do is throw some flour sack towels in another basket under the sink for cleaning. In addition, you’ll want to get started on napkins. Use the same process as above by creating a space, finding a vessel, then buying them up!
~ Natalie