One of the things I’m trying to do here now that we are on our “new and improved” budget is to reduce the amount of money we spend on paper items in the kitchen.
Not JUST because of the budget but also because, like many families, we use LOTS of paper in our kitchen.
I saw it, I called myself on it and then I challenged myself to DO SOMETHING about it.
I found these interesting facts over on Going Green Today:
- 3,000 tons of used paper towel ends up in US landfills every day. That same paper towel uses twice as much C0₂ to make produce than reusable (and prettier!) cloth napkins.
- Every US household throws out the equivalent of 4 trees in paper waste!
- If every US home replaced just one roll of paper towel with recycled paper towel, we would save 544,000 trees.
I did share in this post, Hanging Hand Towel, from last fall how to make one kind of hand towel to hang on the oven door.
But I’ve also come up with the version you see above. I was inspired by the old gas station bathroom towel holders. You turned a crank and a new portion of towel rolled out for you to use. The fabric towel was white(ish) and had a red stripe, or pair of red stripes, down the center.
Of course this all came about because of some conversation Warren and I had about old gas stations.
And, yes, I realize I’m probably showing my age. Do you remember them too?
I’m rambling again.
What you’ll need:
- A kitchen towel – washed and dried
- Sewing machine, scissors, thread
- Stitchable Velcro
Be sure to wash and dry the towel before making this project as cotton towels are prone to shrinking.
Cut the velcro so that it fits just inside the hem area of the towel and sew it just inside the hem on the wrong side of the towel
Stitch the other half of the velcro to the right side of the towel so the when the velcro “kisses” the ends of the towel are overlapping to make a continuous loop.
All that’s left to do is hang it on the oven door.
The nice thing about having a hand towel here is that it’s within easy reach and the heat from the oven helps the wet towel to dry.
Of course there are a few messes I may still use paper towels for (I’m thinking about when my dog occasionally gets sick) but the paper towel usage is about to be drastically reduced here.
The next step is cloth napkins.
P.S. Here I was thinking I was all original when I came up with this idea. Turns out Martha Stewart had the idea long before I did. Oh well. Great minds think alike and all that.
I just found this on Pinterest. So happy I did because I hate that every time I open the oven the towel falls off the handle! :p We try to only use paper towels for things too yucky to use a regular towel for. We went with cloth napkins years ago. I bought a pkg of white restaurant napkins at Sam’s Club. They were huge so I cut them in 4 pieces and hemmed the edges. I thought they may be too small but they are perfect for our family. They wash up well and have lasted a long time. I fold them in 4 and stand them up in a rectangular wicker basket on top of the microwave. 🙂
Hi Elaine,
I used to have that problem too. SOOO frustrating. Oh, I’ve painted on some of those Sam’s Club napkins but I can’t remember where they went.
I think I’ll have to go out and get some more – I like the bigger sizes because I can be kind of messy! 🙂
i like the idea and we do have tea towels, but we also use paper towels as well. that’s why i like that there is select-a-size paper towels where i can use smaller sheets for messes. i use them for cleaning and for napkins. i am trying hard to reduce the paper waste, but sometimes you just have to use them. 🙂 though i have heard that you can use newspapers for doing some cleaning. i have to check that out more though.
Hi Jodine,
I imagine that my kitchen will not go ENTIRELY paperless but I figure that any reduction in paper waste is a help to the environment and my wallet.
I use newspaper to clean the windows here. Not that I clean the windows all that often! 🙂
V
This is a genius idea! I’m totally making one for my kitchen – we use way too many paper towels around here, and this would really help. Thanks for the how-to!
(Also, 100% agreement on the Animal Hork Exception.) 🙂
Yay! Glad you found it useful.
I should add (besides animal “hork” – too funny) that if there is sickness in the house I’m not even going to put a community towel out! Ain’t nobody got time for that! haha!