Dish towel management

[Danestress]

I feel like I have to wash 30 dish towels every day. Ok

Not feel. Fact. Is this normal? And many of those dish towels require ironing after washing in order to seem like they are lying right.

 

So I have two issues: how do you manage dish towels? My kids get a fresh towel every time they wash and then dry their hands. And I am never going to be successful getting them not to wash them in the kitchen. So all day long, people come in, do something, and grab a towel - to wipe something, dry something, etc. By the end of the day, there is a glut of towels, and we are all sort of squeamish and won't use a towel to dry a dish (or our hands) if that towel feels like it might have been used before. It makes me crazy, though, that there are so many slightly used dish towels to wash.

 

Second issue: I need better dish towels that don't need ironing!

[itsheresomewhere]

Who irons dish towels? Not me. I use bar mop towels and microfiber clothes for cleaning and such. I throw them in a 5 gallon bucket with lid and wash once a week.

 

 

The bar mop towels are cheap and nice. They are white and come in 5 and 10 packs.

[Butter]

We always have a towel hanging on the oven door handle. They use that to wipe their hands. I change it every few days. Pretty much you'll just have to get used to using a previously used towel or deal with the laundry. I never iron kitchen towels whether they "need" it or not. Most of ours don't.

[bolt.]

In my kitchen dish towels are not really accessible to the kids. I have one or two on the oven handle, and we use those as needed. Usually dish towels are for 'water only' and so they dry and are re-used still clean. If one gets used for real dirt it gets put in the laundry. For wiping and cleaning we use cloths and rags, not dish towels. These get rinsed out and left for further use as a rag, usually for a day.

[Jean in Newcastle]

It would be cheaper to have them dry their hands with paper towels if they are using a new dish towel each time.

[DesertDweller]

We always have a towel hanging on the oven door handle. They use that to wipe their hands. I change it every few days. Pretty much you'll just have to get used to using a previously used towel or deal with the laundry. I never iron kitchen towels whether they "need" it or not. Most of ours don't.

 

 

This is what we do. Sounds like you're treating your dish towels like paper towels. We always reuse ours then wash. I would look for dish towels that don't need ironing.

[2squared]

And many of those dish towels require ironing after washing in order to seem like they are lying right.

 

:blink: :svengo:

[dangermom]

Argh, that would be really aggravating. We have two dish towels hanging on a rack, and we use those. If I want a clean one for drying dishes I get a new one if I know the ones on the racks have been used, and I have a separate supply of older towels for floor spills. But we definitely don't use anywhere near that many dishtowels!!

[AK_Mom4]

We use bar mop towels and they lay flat when they come out of the dryer. No Ironing. Ever.

 

We have lots of them and when they get dirty, we toss them in a special basket. I really have LOTS - bought them in a big pack from Costco - so I only have to wash a load every few days.

 

I have also trained everyone here to get a clean one when they wipe their hands or a dish, but then to hang it on a hook to use for wiping up the floor spills. Not so icky to wipe the floor with a used towel.

[SwallowTail]

Seriously, I must just run a wet kitchen, because we also go through a million towels per day mopping up the counters, drying the sink, drying a dish or three, wiping up water on the floor, wiping down the fridge, etc..

 

I wash at least 1-2 loads per week of just dish towels. I don't iron them though! (wow, really?)

[kitten18]

I feel like I have to wash 30 dish towels every day. Ok

Not feel. Fact. Is this normal? And many of those dish towels require ironing after washing in order to seem like they are lying right.

 

So I have two issues: how do you manage dish towels? My kids get a fresh towel every time they wash and then dry their hands. And I am never going to be successful getting them not to wash them in the kitchen. So all day long, people come in, do something, and grab a towel - to wipe something, dry something, etc. By the end of the day, there is a glut of towels, and we are all sort of squeamish and won't use a towel to dry a dish (or our hands) if that towel feels like it might have been used before. It makes me crazy, though, that there are so many slightly used dish towels to wash.

 

Second issue: I need better dish towels that don't need ironing!

That is crazy talk! :blink:

 

I usually go through 2-3 dish towels/day. I don't ever really use them for drying dishes. I have a mat that I put wet things on to dry.

 

I have a few dish towels that benefit from being ironed but they are seasonal and rarely get used.

 

I mostly use "fluffier" towels, not the thin kind that wrinkle.

[justLisa]

I have this problem. We all hate using a towel someone else used or fell on the floor etc. In my kitchen I have my "cooks" towel that I use one per day. DH has one hanging on one side of the island that he uses. Kids don't wash in the kitchen much, but when they do they will use that one. It gets changed daily, after being used to quickly mop the floor with my Bona mop. In the bathroom I sewed towels together to not fall on the floor. I have a snap press from my wanna be cloth diaper sewing days. I basically sewed two hand towels together, then they snap with hidden snaps on the other. I quilt so I used some cut patchwork panels to hide the snaps. Everyone has their own. I used to just have a small ring type holder for one towel, but no one wants to use the same one! So I just installed one of those longer ones and it holds 3 across.

 

I also have this in my kitchen and i LOVE it. I don't promote the over use of paper products, but you just need ti sometimes.

http://www.amazon.com/Clean-Touchless-Dispenser-Stainless-Finish/dp/B003NRCQ2W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1337733285&sr=8-3 I have it in white.

[VeganCupcake]

We use birdseye cloths in place of paper towels and their edges curl so don't "lie right" out of the dryer a lot of the time, but although I have briefly thought about ironing them, I have quickly put that thought out of my mind. :lol: They're just being used to wipe up spills and crumbs or messy faces so I don't worry about how they look.

 

We also use quite a few kitchen towels, too. I don't run a separate load for kitchen cloths--they go in one of my other loads of laundry a couple of times a week. I don't think they add a considerable volume to my laundry. We have 3 dozen birdseye cloths and probably a dozen dish towels in circulation, so I run out long before I would have a washer full of just those.

[K&Rs Mom]

We have a hand towel hanging up that gets changed every few days, and a dishtowel behind the sink that is only for drying dishes (though they mostly air dry in a rack). For counter spills or crumbs, I use the dishcloth, then hang it back in the sink & throw it in the wash after the night's final dishes. I keep a big stack under the sink, and just wash them with whatever else is going in the machine next, so they're constantly rotating. It honestly never occurred to me to iron them. :001_huh:

[laundrycrisis]

I used birdseye flat diapers or large flour sack towels. I hang them over the cabinet door. When one ends up damp from various uses, it goes into a bucket under the sink along with the white washcloths I used for kitchen rags, and a new one comes out. Repeat. Sort of like a dry pail for cloth diapers but no lid. Eventually these kitchen whites all end up in the washer in hot water, soap and bleach.

 

I cannot imagine ironing a dish towel - ever !

[OrganicAnn]

Kids must wash hands in the bathroom sink. Since they are only drying clean hands with the towel, they should be able to hang it up or lay it out to dry, so it will be ready for the next use. If necessary each kid gets their own color towel.

 

We use a lot of dish towels in the kitchen, but they are all for kitchen clean up and cooking purposes.

 

Convert towels that need ironing into rags.

[Rebecca VA]

I usually use about two small dishrags a day for scrubbing dishes and counters. I probably use two larger dish towels a day for drying hands and dishes. All the towels go into the laundry every day, and they get bleached at least once a week.

 

It would never in a million years cross my mind to iron a dish towel.

[justasque]

I feel like I have to wash 30 dish towels every day. Ok

Not feel. Fact. Is this normal? And many of those dish towels require ironing after washing in order to seem like they are lying right.

 

Lots of towels? Normal.

Ironing them? Crazy talk! :D

 

Here's how I do it:

 

~Kids are encouraged to wash their hands in the powder room; the hand towel there is changed regularly. It is made of toweling, and matches the room. I have several.

 

~There is a towel in the kitchen for drying dishes; it is changed regularly but certainly not after every use. It is not used for wiping counters, etc., just for drying. I like either the "tea towel" type or the "waffle weave" type; I have a few of each.

 

~There are dishwashing cloths; they are hung in the sink when not in use, and changed regularly. I basically use washcloths, or I make them from cutting up old towels and serging the edges. They take longer to dry because they are thick, but I love using them. I don't have problems with them getting stinky, but if my climate was different I'd probably want thinner ones.

 

~There are cloth napkins for use during meals, and now and again for drying hands. I've tried to work out systems for each person being assigned a particular one and using it all day, but gave up years ago. The clean ones are kept in a basket on the table. They are all pretty prints, solids, or tie-dye. I made most of them, either by cutting cotton squares and serging the edges, or by buying blank ones and tie-dyeing them. I have a bunch. They are used once (one meal or one drying), then hung to dry and put in the wash.

 

~The dishcloths and towels are kept in a cabinet until they are used, so it really doesn't matter what they look like. The napkins are pretty, and kept loosely piled in a basket.

 

~Any cloth, once used, is hung on the oven door to dry, then put in a to-be-washed bag hung just off the kitchen. Thus, unlike many kitchens, anything hung on the oven can be assumed to be unsuitable to be used again. I like to dry them so that they don't get stinky before washing.

 

~All cloths are washed in hot water about once a week. The key to that is to have enough to last the week. I do fold them, but I do NOT iron them. I find folding them somewhat soothing.

 

I think, if you want to cut down on the work involved, you have to develop a better system to signify the status of any given cloth, encourage your kids to wash their hands in a nearby bathroom, collect more cloths so they don't need to be washed as often, and, unless you enjoy ironing, learn to live with wrinkles.

[petepie2]

I feel like I have to wash 30 dish towels every day. Ok

Not feel. Fact. Is this normal? And many of those dish towels require ironing after washing in order to seem like they are lying right.

 

So I have two issues: how do you manage dish towels? My kids get a fresh towel every time they wash and then dry their hands. And I am never going to be successful getting them not to wash them in the kitchen. So all day long, people come in, do something, and grab a towel - to wipe something, dry something, etc. By the end of the day, there is a glut of towels, and we are all sort of squeamish and won't use a towel to dry a dish (or our hands) if that towel feels like it might have been used before. It makes me crazy, though, that there are so many slightly used dish towels to wash.

 

Second issue: I need better dish towels that don't need ironing!

 

No, it is not normal. You're very close to being labeled the "Crazy Dishtowel Lady!" Ironing a towel? [cueTwilight Zone music] I think an intervention is needed. :)

 

We use 1-2 towels per day in the kitchen--one for drying hands and then I usually get a fresh one if I need to dry dishes in the evening. The kids wash their hands in the bathroom and dry them on the one towel that hangs on the rack for a couple of days.

[ktgrok]

huh???? that is crazy! First, really, they don't need a new towel to dry their hands on. The previous person only had water on their hands, as they had just washed them, right? So I put a new, clean one on the oven handle every day, and we dry our hands on that. If I use it for something like wiping down the counter I will put it in the hamper, but not from just water. Second, if you are going through that many get flour sack cloths, they are cheap and don't take up much room.

 

finally, if you can't accept reusing a dishtowel than have them use a washcloth to dry their hands. You can keep a stack of cheap walmart ones in a drawer or basket in the kitchen. At least they are smaller, take up less room in the wash, and don't need to be ironed.

[ktgrok]

OH, and I should clarify. I use flour sack cloths for every day, and then a stack of "nice" dish towels for company. And dishcloths (with a scrubby side) for washing dishes and wiping down counters. I also keep baby washcloths in that drawer, for wiping baby hands before getting down from the highchair.

 

Actually, thank you for this post. I have an unholy love of my dishcloth drawer, it is the most organized thing in my house.I was feeling a bit weird about it, but next to your one use/ironing post I seem normal, lol!

[bookfiend]

Instead of hand towels, I have big stacks of terrycloth washcloths. They are just the right size for hand drying and wiping up small spills. After one use, I drop it to the floor and leave it there to clean up the next floor spot (typically dog, water bowl drool). Then they go into a small seperate laundry basket for bleach wash every 3 days or so.

[Jeannie in NJ]

I have a confession t make. I don't even own an iron. Isn't that what dryers are for?

[Jpoy85]

The bar mop towels are cheap and nice. They are white and come in 5 and 10 packs.

 

:iagree:

[AdventureMoms]

I have a confession t make. I don't even own an iron. Isn't that what dryers are for?

 

I own one for sewing. I have never ironed laundry of any sort. I most certainly don't iron dishcloths no matter how bad they look. I don't even fold them, I just stuff them in a drawer in my kitchen to grab as needed.

 

I keep one dishtowel on the oven handle for drying hands. If there's a spill or something I'll grab it and wipe up, then replace it, but otherwise it doesn't get replaced until the end of the day. I wouldn't replace it after drying dishes with it either.

 

I have three little kids and there are a lot of spills, so I probably go through 3-4 of them a day. I own about 15 dishtowels.

[Bassoonaroo]

Our no-iron system...

 

We have two rectangular plastic baskets at the end of the counter, about 10 X 14" and 5" deep. One catches recycles and one catches dish cloths and towels.

 

We have about 20 dish cloths that are simply thin white washcloths we picked up somewhere. And about the same number of bleachable kitchen towels, most of them bar mops. All these things are terry cloth (no ironing).

 

We hang a washcloth on the spigot and a towel on the oven handle. These are retired to the plastic basket as often as 3 times a day and as rarely as every other day. Once a day we take those two baskets to the laundry room and garage (recycles).

 

If we have a spill, we first grab any used cloths in the rectangle basket before grabbing a cleaner towel.

 

Once a week or so, we bleach those things and a dc (rotating job...) folds and restocks the drawers.

[stansclan89]

Hmmm...we reuse dish towels at least for the day unless they are truly dirty. And I would never iron them whether they needed it or not. We go through no more than 2 or 3 a day and usually just 1.

[sbgrace]

We use washcloths to dry hands in the kitchen so everyone has something fresh for drying. I have a couple of baskets of them on the counter and refill from the drawers as they get low. I have a lot of them--enough that I have a full load to wash up before I run out. Oh, I have a basket to put the used ones in too. My laundry is in a pantry off the kitchen so easy to throw them in as it gets full. I don't iron towels or washcloths either one. I can't remember when I last ironed anything. Maybe you could have a pretty towel out and then not worry about the look of washcloths?

Edited May 23, 2012 by sbgrace

[Danestress]

I am not one of those detail oriented homemakers. Seriously. I wish. But some of my dish towels are the really thin, linen type that are awesome for drying glass wear and also nice because they are so thin and you can have a large number of them folded into a small space. I use them to put washed dishes on to dry - things that don't go into the dish washer. But this type of towel wrinkles so badly when washed, and the edges fold into each other so they really aren't usable unless you iron them.

 

The nice terry dish towels are great, but bigger, thicker.

 

I have no use for microfiber. I can't figure out why people like it. To me it just feels icky in the hand, doesn't really absorb anything, and can't be bleached.

[KS_]

I feel like I have to wash 30 dish towels every day. Ok

Not feel. Fact. Is this normal? And many of those dish towels require ironing after washing in order to seem like they are lying right.

 

So I have two issues: how do you manage dish towels? My kids get a fresh towel every time they wash and then dry their hands. And I am never going to be successful getting them not to wash them in the kitchen. So all day long, people come in, do something, and grab a towel - to wipe something, dry something, etc. By the end of the day, there is a glut of towels, and we are all sort of squeamish and won't use a towel to dry a dish (or our hands) if that towel feels like it might have been used before. It makes me crazy, though, that there are so many slightly used dish towels to wash.

 

Second issue: I need better dish towels that don't need ironing!

 

Well, first of all, I am the only one here who's regularly allowed to wash their hands in the kitchen sink. The kids have their bathroom and dh uses ours, and so those towels are only used for hands and get changed out several times a week. I have one hand towel next to the kitchen sink that I use, but since I'm the only one using it, and I use separate towels for dishes, the hand towel lasts for the whole day (I change the kitchen hand towel and wipe I use for the counters, daily). So by the end of the week, I have a whole load of hand and kitchen towels.

 

And I would definitely find some other towels that don't have to be ironed. I use thin, cotton (like flour sack type) ones for drying dishes and they don't take up much room and dry things well.

[KungFuPanda]

My first suggestion would be to hang a hand towel in the kitchen and everyone use it to dry hands all day long. Your hands are clean when you wash them. There is just water on the towel.

 

If non of you can take reusing a towel ever, then scale back to smaller towels. You don't NEED a dish towel for single use stuff. Get a supply of those cheap, white washcloths and use those for everything. The bonus is that you can bleach them and you certainly wouldn't be tempted to iron a terrycloth wash cloth. (I hope) Just put the white cloths where it's convenient for you kids and the dish towels where it's a pain to get to them and they'll naturally make the switch.