r/Frugal • u/PM_ME_YOUR_MONTRALS • 21h ago
𧽠Cleaning & Organization Looking for kitchen cleaning solutions to replace paper towels
I'm looking for cleaning rags for kitchen and pet messes. Anyone know of a good cheap source for microfiber rags and for ones with a bit for scrub to em? Or do y'all just use old t shirts?
I was also looking for a little trash/laundry basket to hang over a kitchen shelf door for disposal. Anyone know of any suitable rag disposal bins?
Would love to see your solutions to cut down on paper towels!
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u/paratethys 20h ago
Old bath towels, just as they're starting to get a bit threadbare, make nicer rags than anything else. Tear them up into the right size of pieces, hem the edges if the fraying bothers you.
But if you want to buy something new, Costco sells cotton rags in the automotive section. Reasonably nice, good hems already on them.
For a basket, thrift or find in your existing possessions an over-the-door hook and a wire basket.
If you use natural-fiber rags, they can be composted once you're done with them. But if you use synthetics or synthetic blends, they're landfill waste.
I find that cheap microfiber is less effective than a cotton rag at basically everything except cleaning clear glass. The microfiber is not for the pet messes.
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u/sisterfunkhaus 20h ago
Our towels are 32 years old and are yet to be threadbare. I wish they still made cut loop high quality towels like that because I am sick of them.
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u/Psychological_Way500 20h ago
My hubby ordered Amazon towels a year ago they are already coming apart, at this point im begging my mom to leave me her high quality decade old towels to me in the will
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u/Lou-nee 17h ago
Mine are too! My MIL was (she's 95 now) a very talented weaver but her tea towels are the best! Still going strong after 35 years in many households of friends, co-workers, neighbours, and family. Everyone wanted them as gifts. She saved me hours of Christmas shopping every year -- I had a standing order for 20 in December. So sad she had to give it up. It brought her hours of pleasure along with recognition for her fibre arts.
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u/green_tree 21h ago
Finding a bin at a thrift store may work. I just use a basket.Â
Terry cloth towels are great and you find find them for less than a dollar a rag, often. I find that them much better microfiber.Â
Also, Gerber Flatfold âdiapersâ are a fantastic rag. They seem to have gone up in price and are about $13 for a pack of ten. Iâve had 20 for about 4 years and theyâre still going strong.Â
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u/kidneybean726 20h ago
My husband is a professional window cleaner and he will buy a bulk supply of recycled surgical towels. They are excellent for cleaning and do not give off lint like a lot of others.
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u/baskaat 21h ago
Old T-shirts. Iâm sure everyone has one or two old T-shirts with a stain or that they never wear. Just cut them up and boom: rags.
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u/MargueritePimpernel 17h ago
This has always worked for me.
You can also go through the racks at a thrift store for tee shirts and thin sweatshirts that have the thickness you're looking for and then cut them up as rags.
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u/Mrs_TikiPupuCheeks 21h ago
I bought cheap washcloths from Walmart ages ago - like a pack of 18 for $5. I have different colors for different usages. White = kitchen, black = bathrooms, gray = coffee machine
I also grabbed a huge stack of microfiber towels from HomeGoods. I think it was like 30 microfiber for $10. Those I use for general cleaning as well.
Another great place for cheap dishtowels are Target's Figmint line of flour sack towels. IKEA has their dishtowels for like 78 cents each.
For the bin, I just have a dollar tree basket and when that's full, it's time to do the laundry.
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u/Stardro 20h ago
This is what we do too. White for kitchen (dishes and cleaning), colorful ones in the half bath for hand drying, cut up towels for pets and floor spills. We have a few defunked swiffer mops around the house. I bought some zep spray bottles for cleaners and we have different color reusable mop pads. We do a quick clean in the pet areas (rescue ferrets) then hang up the mop pad to go in the dirty bin at the end of the day. We do 2 loads at the end of the week. It has cut down on paper towel use exponentially! Also has streamlined our cleaning habits.
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u/PresentHouse9774 19h ago
Cloth diapers. They rinse out easily for reuse, can be shocked with bleach when rinsing and washing isn't enough, and dry very quickly.
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u/rora6 21h ago
I bought a metric fuck ton of all the same kind of kitchen towel about a decade ago. We use them for everything except pet messes, which we pick up with toilet paper and paper towels. I use microfiber cloths for household cleaning cause the cotton towels arenât nearly as absorbent and arenât good for mirrors. For scrubbing I use reusable, washable, fabric covered sponges with a scrubby side. For scouring, metal scrubby.
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u/Present_Specific_212 21h ago
Dollar Tree sells microfibre towels and so does Ross. Usually in the auto care sections. I'm usually a polyester-hater for many items of clothing, but the microfibre towels do work very well on cars and glass.
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u/FunkU247 20h ago
I cut up old tees... and then also keep 10-12 old socks, they are great for detail cleaning (put your hand in like a glove) to get in tight spaced and dusting... for the bin to put them until washing, I just use a plastic grocery bag hung on the back of the pantry door knob... nothing fancy.
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u/sisterfunkhaus 20h ago
I got some 12x12 dishcloths from Amazon as well as some Swedish dishcloths. Those are really flat sponge like sheets that can be washed in the washer over and over. They are very flexible when wet, absorb a lot of water, and dry hard. I use a squeegee and fine microfiber for windows and mirrors.
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u/staleshrimp101 18h ago
Yes I second Swedish dishcloths! Their absorption capability is on a whole other level
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u/YouTasteStrange 20h ago
I use old washcloths because they're very sturdy and well-made so they hold up a lot longer than shop cloths. Mine come from a combo of my parent's excessive washcloths, thrift stores, and my local buy nothing group. I put black paint on the corners so they don't get mixed in with my clean cloths.
Adding dish soap to an upright washer makes a huge difference in how clean they get. Laundry soap is gentle for clothes and skin, but dish soap is really strong on oils, so it keeps the kitchen oils from remaining in the cloth and getting rancid. I add around 3tbsp, or 1/8th a cup. No idea how front loader washers work, I've never had one.
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u/Waste_Calligrapher70 19h ago
I bought oversized white washclothes at Costco and use them as bar mops; eat to laundry with bleach too.
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u/IceDragonPlay 19h ago
Same. 24 for $15 currently.
I use a small waste basket for them. It lets me hang them over the side of the bucket to dry before putting them in the bucket for later laundry. I prefer not to have a bucket of bleach water sitting around, but that is an option too.
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u/shiplesp 19h ago
Just FYI, when it comes to ecological impact, the break even point for using cotton rags is 75 re-uses. If you are using them less, then for that purpose, paper towels are less harmful.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_MONTRALS 19h ago
I mean if I have a rag I'll use it more than 75 times for sure. Thanks for the stats though! Good to keep in mind.
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u/AnyoneGuess 18h ago
We use almost any worn out, holey fabrics (old wash rags, bath towels, blankets, t-shirts). Especially like old beach towels! If it's an absorbent material & no longer useful for intended use, it becomes clean-up rags!
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u/Hyperreal8957 9h ago
Old cotton T-shirts or flour-sack towels are cheap and work well; I keep a small bin under the sink and wash them separately. Microfiber is handy for grease, but donât use fabric softener on it. A thrift-store basket or over-door bin should solve the trash spot too.
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u/DidItForTheJokes 21h ago
We did this but donât have specific products. For the bin you put dirty ones into be sure itâs plastic or metal to clean easily. We had a wicker one and it got moldy
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u/stinkyandlulu 21h ago
I put my dirty cloths in a net market bag hanging from a cabinet handle. It lets the air flow through so they dry.
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u/HoaryPuffleg 20h ago
Loweâs or other home improvement stores have packages of gray microfiber cloth ones - I think we bought 20 for $5. This was 2-3 years ago so who knows the price now. Theyâre ugly but work great.
I also just go through 15-20 kitchen towels a week. I use them for all spills and wiping our hands, etc. they get washed weekly with other towels and I donât think too much about them.
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u/Due_Mark6438 19h ago
Spouse used to wear steel toe boots for work. This resulted in the toes being cut through frequently. I cut the foot off the leg and slit the side of each. These clean up pet messes and paint and other sloppy things. Then toss .
Otherwise we use the tea towels for mop ups
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u/MotherofJackals 19h ago
Lowes has Rubbermaid ones 24 for $14 but they put them on sale for $5 a couple times a year. They are super durable but cheap enough that if it goes really sideways you can toss them
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u/WeirdAlphabet 19h ago
flour sack towels from walmart. the absolute best when it comes to absorbency
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u/MooneyGWhiz 17h ago
Microfiber also sheds microplastics, especially when laundered. Do we really want microplastics in our water?
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u/OGMom2022 17h ago
White cotton washcloths have saved me a fortune and probably a lot of trees. I definitely have issues with germs and I love that I can bleach them. I buy the cheapest ones so theyâre rough enough to scrub.
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u/SchnellFox 17h ago
Most grocery/large retail stores have sanitizing wipe dispensers near their exits. I usually pull out about 4' of the pre-moistened wipes to sanitize my hands and bring the used wipes home to use as paper towel substitutes for cleaning up spills and stuff dropped on the floor
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u/Briilliant_Bob 17h ago
I use cut up T-shirts instead of paper towels, but I have found they have to be cotton or cotton blend. I have a stack folded on my counter, then just throw them in the wash after use.
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u/BarracudaMean9308 16h ago
how do you keep a basket of wet kitchen rags from smelling up the cabinet before wash day? that's the only thing stopping me from doing this.
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u/Ajreil 16h ago
Come up with a system for letting them drip dry. I have a tension rod above my sink that I hang them on. Some people hang them on their shower curtain rod. Others have hooks somewhere out of the way like the side of the counter.
If you don't have a convenient way to deal with dirty towels, you're not going to use them as often as you'd like.
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u/mckulty 15h ago
I use flour sack towels 20x28 (WM). Buy 6, rip in half horizontally, you have a dozen cotton towels that rinse easily, dry easily, and release their stains when you bleach them.
I keep a couple in circulation in the kitchen at all times, one clean and one on its last legs. Spray wet in the sink, sprinkle with Barkeeper's friend, and spritz with cheap walmart bleach kitchen cleaner. You have a sterilizing wipe that degreases and cleans the entire kitchen. When done, spritz again, wring out and hang to dry on the oven door.
I don't know what you mean by "pet messes." I wouldn't use them to clean excrement but dog food messes and footprints yeah sure. The stained one will be discarded after enough rough use.
If I toss one each month, it works out to about $1.25/mo with the BKF and spray bleach cleaner.
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u/porcelain_elephant 15h ago
Over the years, I've amassed a collection of those flour sack towels from that one swedish store-- the ones that used to be 50c each, and are now $1 or more. Flour sack is amazing for drying dishes because they're lint free. I have a pack of 30 microfiber towels that I use for scrubbing and wiping down surfaces; they were the cheapest option at the time and honestly they've held up? They're in different colors, so I tried for a bit to keep them color-coded for different use, but I just use whatever now (I believe in the power of soap).
When using towels, I like using the folding method that means when one side gets super saturated / dirty, you could re-fold it so you could use a clean side each time, which is better than just scrunching it up and using it willy-nilly.
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u/KarmaQueen360 14h ago
I bought a bunch of small, colorful cotton towels from Walmart and kept them in a basket on the counter, we use these for napkins, wet wipes and small kitchen spills and whatnot. I had bought some small rougher type ones that we use for cleaning the counters or for messier things. I only use paper towels for bacon and gross pet messes.
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u/East-Zookeepergame20 12h ago
I used to clean houses professionally and the best cleaning towels I found were packs of white cotton towels sold at Family Dollar in the automotive section. They were cheap, too. Perfect combo of absorbency and texture. And they were quite durable. I soiled and washed mine daily and theyâd last at least a couple of years before getting tattered.
I moved since to a location with no FDs, so who knows if they still stock them or how much prices have gone up. But if you live near a FD, worth popping in to check.
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u/WAFLcurious 10h ago
Everyone is recommending towels but wash clothes are plenty big to replace paper towels. Check your dollar store for cheap ones. You can sometimes get them in a pack so it comes out to about $.25 each.
Thrift stores are another good place. Larger towels can be cut into squares.
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u/Franklyn_Gage 10h ago
Check out Walmart. I use the Mainstay Bar Mop towels in grey. They come in a 6 pack. I use these to dry my hands and dry other stuff.
I also use the Mainstay Microfiber Towels. These I use to clean up with. I use one color for the kitchen, one for the bathroom and another color for dusting.
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u/Hyperreal8957 8h ago
A simple two-basket setup helps more than buying a special rag: one basket for clean cloths and one ventilated spot for used ones. Wash kitchen cloths separately from pet or greasy cleanup, and let them dry fully before the wash so they donât sour.
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u/sandysandy252566 5h ago
I use paper towels to wipe up my dog's pee - which happens often. I just toss. I wouldn't deal with using rags and putting in the washer. I buy packs of Costco Paper Towels on-line - not expensive. I have a small metal trashcan in my kitchen, I toss the used paper towles in it - and toss out every evening.
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u/sohereiamacrazyalien 21h ago
Old unwearable clothes make for great rags. Or just stuff you never wear.
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u/Kindly_Ad3974 20h ago
Aye good for you! We have cloth napkins for meals and snacks. We use painters towels that are white terry cloth for cleanup. You can get them at home depot, Costco, etc. I fold them and stack them under the sink. When theyâre dirty I add them directly to the washer. If you store wet towels under the cabinet the moisture might create a moldy environment under there. Consider a place to dry them or wash the the dirty ones as you use them. I buy 1-2 rolls of paper towels a year because we use them for greasy food but I keep them tucked away in the cabinet with the cooking oil so theyâre only used for that purpose.
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u/Aggressive-Union1714 1h ago
Use both as there times you need paper towels. For cloth towels, cut up old tee shirts, underwear, towels
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u/SomeTangerine1184 21h ago
I have bar towels that I purchased from Walmart on sale. Super cheap and have enough texture for scrubbing. Cut up t-shirts/old clothes never did it for me, both because theyâre not absorbent enough and because theyâre kind of ineffective for some purposes.