I got to wondering how many trees that I've help bring down over the years just to wipe up a small spill or to dry my hands. I tattoo for a living and our most commonly used items are paper towels. There is definitely nothing I could think of to replace them in my work environment but I thought I could maybe drastically reduce our use of them at home. After talking it over with my wife we went to the store and purchased 20 nice bistro style bar cloths, a small trash can and mesh bag to store the dirties in and a shelf to put the clean one's on in the kitchen. All in all we are in for $57 and the way I figure it that's about 5 to 6 cases of paper towels in cost. With a case lasting only about a month for us this project should pay for itself within about 5 months or so. You could save some money if you have no need for a shelf but with limited space we definitely needed one. One of the great things about cotton cloths is how long you could keep them around. After the new cloths have been used in the kitchen/household and are all beat up, just transfer them to the garage or garden to further there lifespan. Then when the time comes to retire your trusty rags rest assured that you have helped our environment in some small way.

Ultimately I would like to be able to completely discontinue the use of paper towels in my home. With a new baby on the way and having been raised using paper towels my entire life, I'm not sure if we will be able to completely stop using them but I would like to make the one's I have to buy last much longer.

We spent yesterday doing some of our spring cleaning and at the end of the day took notice that we did not have to replace the paper towel roll when normally we may have used a roll and a half or more. Hey that's a good start. Think of how many resources we could save on just by using cotton cloths instead of tree based paper towels.