{*If you’re new to Sacred Mundane (welcome!), each Friday we take a “Bite” from Simple Mom’s 52-bites e-book on simplifying life. Feel free to hop in now and start eating that elephant! Click here see all we’ve eaten so far…}

Okay folks, have you ever lodged some idea into your mind and then been shocked when you realized you had the totally wrong idea? I remember one time I was in charge of interviewing possible candidates for a personal trainer position at the women’s fitness club where I worked. I interviewed Adrian over the phone, she sounded great, so I invited her in for an in-person interview. For almost a week I planned for this interview. When the time for the appointment came, Adrian walked in the door … it was a MAN. Oh I wanted to cry. I’m sure he must have figured it out when he looked around and realized it was a women’s gym. There was nothing I could do. We stumbled through a horrendously awkward interview and wished him well.

*SIGH*

Well this wasn’t that bad. I’d been planning to do this Bite for a few weeks now, but in my mind I thought Tsh was going to make me get rid of all my paper recipes and only do it online? Or only do online bill paying? Wasn’t quite sure but I was a little hesitant about getting rid of all my documents.

Aha! Getting rid of paper products. Paper towels. Napkins. Oh dear, my brain. Well it was perfect timing because I actually just did this the past month, but I didn’t know it was a Bite!

I just thought I was copying my friend Candi. To save money, Candi doesn’t use any napkins or paper towels. She uses rags and cloth napkins. So this past month, I didn’t buy any. I still have a 1/3-roll of paper towels hidden under the sink (just in case) and about 10 flowery spring napkins on hand, but other than that–we’re paperless. It definitely saves money.  It was nice to remove those two items off my grocery list. So here are some ideas from Maya Bissineer  for making this work well:: 

Four Categories of Cloth: (in different place, simple, distinctive)

1. Deep cleaning: “This category is for cleaning dirt, sticky stuff, grease, and pretty much any kitchen mess. I invested in ten really good, industrial-strength static cleaning cloths.”

2. Kids’ cloths:  “As I put the kids’ old clothes away, I discovered a number of washcloths and burp cloths—some even unopened. I put all of these into a little basket and my girls have that basket of napkins all to themselves for anything they like.”

3. Exclusive:  “This is the pile of napkins for the guests. A little nicer, these are mostly put away until the guests arrive.”

4. Everything Else: “This category consists of about 20 very generic napkins. This is the critical pile that we use for just about anything—when in doubt, we reach for these napkins.”

I love this! I’m totally going to do it. I actually have lots of really nice cloth napkins we received as gifts when we got married NINE years ago that we never use! Time to pull those out. And for the Everything Else rags I think I need look no further than my husband’s old t-shirt pile. Shhhh…. 

{Thanks for reading!}

3 thoughts on “#15 Make your kitchen paperless {52 bites}”

  1. I really like the idea of going paperless, and already use cloth napkins and rags most of the time. The thing that always gets me, however, is the question of really nasty things that must be cleaned up. I have a dog and a kitten, and on the rare occasion that one of them throws up all over the carpet I am always incredibly grateful that I have paper towels on hand.

    I’m assuming that in paperless kitchens people would just use their oldest rags and toss them immediately into the washing machine, expecting that to take care of the mess? I don’t know. That idea bothers me. For now, I’ll stay paperless on a daily basis but keep my paper towel stash for emergencies, but I appreciate other people sharing how they do things – there’s always new and better options to learn and try!

    1. Yeah, I’m with you Jamie. I don’t have any pets…but would probably even keep a stash of “oldest rags” and then make those disposable. 🙂 My challenge is that I use homemade laundry detergent, which is pretty mild. Not sure it would do the trick on rags that gross. I’m almost at the one-month mark though and so far so good! Thanks for joining us!

  2. I love this idea simply for the adorable napkins. However I don’t know if I could give up paper napkins. I stop buying paper towels a few years ago, but I’m pretty dependent on napkins for all my kids spills and messes. I buy one cheepo package from Winco a month and we use it all up! I might give it a try though. I’ve really like going “poo” free and I’m using a homemade liquid laundry detergent that I love for many reasons, but the main one being the money it will save me! Thanks for posting these bites!

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