To spend £700 a year on kitchen roll?

[Stellenbosch]

Yes, I fucking am?!

WTF, how can I cut down on usage? For my bank balance and the environment! .

In my defence I do have a toddler and a rather large family, but still, go through £2 a day worth of the stuff!

I hate dish cloths, they seem so inefficient and full of bacteria!

Help?! Hints?! Tips?!

That's ridiculous. I almost never use it and never have done, even when children were smaller. Just use a range of cloths. My mum never used it at all when we were children.

Am I the only person who uses damp kitchen paper to wipe mushrooms before eating them?

I do, ineedaholidaynow. I also use it to absorb the water in tofu.

Washable rags - old muslins; tea towels or towels, squares of old t shirt....

Not microfiber as its bad for the environment. Sheds microplastic into the water which ends up being eaten by marine life and then by us.

I also do that. We probably use one roll of kitchen roll a week, if that.
Used kitchen roll probably goes in the composter.

Yes we could do better in our house, but like I said on the shower gel thread, my usage rates are a mere drop in the ocean compared with the people who buy bottled water daily, or use the dryer all year round, or use an entire tree's worth of kitchen roll every 5 minutes and me cutting out all the 'bad things' would have less of an impact than the high rate users cutting their usage by 20%.

Buy absolutely loads of dishcloths for kitchen etc (I use two different types so that one type is only ever used for food preparation surfaces and the other can rub down walls and door frames etc). Wash them on very hot with Dettol in the wash and change daily or each use if for a more than usually dirty job. Then just use kitchen roll for bathrooms (draw the line at using reusable cloths in there!)

Rags here too. Old facecloths, muslins etc - I stockpile them and add them to the wash once used. I do buy kitchen roll, but a pack of 2 (recycled paper) lasts me a month at least

Actually muslins are great too - cotton, wash easily and dry fast, soak anything up easily. Mine are all gone now but in the baby days I used them for everything. Might buy some!

Am I the only person who uses damp kitchen paper to wipe mushrooms before eating them?

I bought a mushroom brush - just dry brush them before using. Oddly satisfying!

mugglemom I wrap my tofu in a clean teatowel to press out the water. Much more absorbent than kitchen paper.

The costco rolls are amazing - they last much longer than normal supermarket ones.

How extraordinary. Why do you think paper napkins are available when you buy food to go?

Etiquette guides tend to tell you where to put the napkins, can’t find one that doesn’t assume you’re using them

I'm not saying I didn't know people use napkins. I said I didn't know (and still don't believe) that licking your lips is considered bad manners. Perhaps among the most esteemed company it is. But in day to day life, people lick their lips habitually multiple times per meal. It's just part of eating.

How extraordinary. Why do you think paper napkins are available when you buy food to go?

Because you aren’t sitting at a table using a knife and fork.

Serious question, when do you use the same cloth/sponge? Would you use it for cream cleaner and then kitchen cleaner? I try and use one for the main clean of my sink but then I couldn't use it for anything else.

thats a stupid expensive amount of waste paper, use a cloth and bleach it occasionally

Get cotton dishcloths, rather than microfiber ones which she'd fine plastic particles into the water and just wash them with your towels.

For wet messes, use cellulose sponges, which absorb loads and just wring them out. These also survive several rounds in the washer or dishwasher.

I tend to use a tissue as a napkin as it’s easy to get out the box.

Will read all the messages soon!

Have been to the shop... I'm going to TRY!

Don't understand the tumble dryer remark. Of course it makes sense if you have a garden/balcony on which to dry clothes but newsflash not everyone has outside space! We use a drying rack indoors sometimes but it takes up space.

I'm sorry, but WTF?!

Was a napkin once a WEEK? What the hell is wrong with you people?! 😲

Most adults don't actually use a napkin much - twice a week for us is fine, once a week would probably do though as most days they're completely clean. For our DCs we wash daily.

The only napkins I own are disposable Christmas themed napkins and I’ve had them for three years.

Not microfiber as its bad for the environment. Sheds microplastic into the water which ends up being eaten by marine life and then by us

Oh bollocks. I love microfibre cloths and have been feeling virtuous about the fact that a kitchen roll lasts us well over a month. I thought microfibre was particularly good because it cleans all but the worst filth effectively just with water, so save on cleaning stuff as well.

Old t-shirts, flannels etc just don't seem to work as well as microfibre.

I suppose I'm just going to have to learn to live without them.

Because you aren’t sitting at a table using a knife and fork.

I don’t only mean food you are taking out, I said food to go as opposed to food you buy in a supermarket. Much of it is eaten in the restaurant.

Make it simpler - why do you think napkins are provided in cafés and restaurants?

Was a napkin once a WEEK? What the hell is wrong with you people?!

They’re only really used in the evening. They’re put out for breakfast but they don’t get much use for cereal and toast. No-one’s here for lunch.

When the children were younger they had to be washed more often.