I’ll be the first to admit that I hate laundry. I have complained to anyone that will listen how much I hate the close to 15 loads of laundry I do each week for our family of 8. So why would I choose to do something that adds more laundry each week? Because it just makes sense…and cents!
Several years ago we started using cloth napkins at our house instead of paper napkins (or really just paper towels because who remembers to buy napkins unless it’s for a party?). I didn’t go out and buy anything fancy or even matching. I just picked up napkins here or there on sale until I had a good collection of them. Then we put them on the table in a basket and use them at meal time. Simple right? So I started to think about other simple changes we could make to get rid of paper products.
Now you can imagine that in a family our size we go through lots of paper towels. We’d buy the biggest package we could and it seemed to be gone in a flash. So about 6 months ago I decided to pick up some cheap cloths at Walmart (like these) and put them in a pretty container in front of my paper towel holder. The thought being that instead of grabbing a paper towel to wipe up a spill, or clean up a high chair we would grab a cloth. We now go through less than one roll of paper towels a month! It worked for us!
Ir’s such a small change that has saved us money and cut down on the amount of trash we create. And as for laundry, well what’s a few extra cloths in a load of towels I’d be washing anyway?
Are you ready to ditch paper towels and napkins at your house?
Kayla North is co-founder of One Big Happy Home and is considered an expert on childhood trauma. Along with her husband, she has developed training materials and programs for parents, churches, and schools educating them on trauma and its impacts. Kayla is also an affiliate trainer with Trauma Free World, an ETC Parent Trainer, TBRI practitioner, and the Executive Directory of Tapestry. She speaks at churches, schools, conferences, and retreats nationwide.