If you have a large family and use rags instead of....

[2squared]

I sweep/mop daily our living area (about 800 sq ft, my kitchen, eating area and family room open to each other and are tile), but I still have small spills etc

 

 

You mop daily? :huh: My dh would love that, but it's not happening in my lifetime.

[happypamama]

I have one-layer napkins made of quilting cotton, and they're perfectly nice. I have some thicker one-layer napkins that are a little bigger and a little more serviceable since they're thicker, but the thinner ones work just fine. If you have the cotton already, I vote for using it. Mine are a lighter colored print, so I tend not to grab them (I grab the thicker ones, which are navy blue) for things like spaghetti sauce, but otoh, they look a little more formal for fancier meals.

[Um_2_4]

 

 

You mop daily? :huh: My dh would love that, but it's not happening in my lifetime.

 

 

This is my DH's quirk, a dirty floor drives him nuts....like he can't sit down and read if it has spots on it nuts, so I try to do at least that daily. Dusting, well, weekly is my goal. (Actually making DC to it as part of their chores is my goal LOL)

[Susan in TN]

I used small bar mop towels for napkins for a while ($4 for a pack of 8 at Walmart). I gave them up after a few months because they looked so grungy I couldn't stand them any more. We do keep old dish towels in the table drawer for spills, but I'm happier with the paper napkins.

[Once]

I used washclothes for hands and faces when my kids were younger....changed them at the end of each day...they would sit on the chair at the table until needed again during that day. As they got older and did not need a wet one for eating I made some cotton ones from fat quarters and we have a basket with folded ones in a piece of furniture beside our dining table. Many many washclothes were down graded to kitchen counter clothes. When something is gross or staining I just throw it out after I am done. If not, I have a bowl I hang it on (over the edge not in a ball) to be added when we do laundry once a week.

 

I only use papertowels for 4h events, greasing my bread pans and seasoning my castiron pot with oil. I buy bulk at Sam's maybe once a year for paper towels.

 

My drying dishclothes are gifts I have received over the years and second hand ones my mother passed along to me when I married.......18yrs ago. It is actually something I keep meaning to buy. I try to get seasonal once the week after the season is over.....Christmas, fall, Easter etc. I have been forgetting lately.

 

I have bought a few nice ones from Pampered Chef and Norwex but the kitchen items always seem to get damaged by my kids on baking day with chocolate batter.

 

Once I bought premade flannel ones on Ebay with surged edges (I do not have a surger) and it was expensive but I bring them out occassionally as pretty soft absorbable versions of my fat quarter ones.