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?!

Blooming heck that's a lot!! I have very small children too and we probably use 2 rolls a week...which I'm trying to cut down.

Things I've found helpful: Cheeky Wipes! Great for cleaning food from surfaces/highchairs/baby hands and faces. I've completely eradicated my use of wet wipes thanks to these.

I've also become better at using sponges and tea towels...I think I was always worried about hygiene, but now I'm just much better at making sure I clean them properly and regularly.

I use a roll every 2 months and feel like that is indulgent :)
I do use the bamboo one from Who Gives A Carp and it does last a lot longer than supermarket rolls.

You need to make new habits OP. A bunch of cloths (old clothes) and wash them every couple of days. Or use face cloths? Collect them up in nappy bucket of similar and wash regularly.

When I had toddler I would use a flannel to wipe baby/toddler, then wipe up highchair, then clean sploshes of floor - into the wash.

People on MN have been talking about how good reusable bamboo cloths are - better for environment than microfiber ones.

That just seems mad!
You can buy massive packs of paper cloths (those blue and white ones, used to be called j cloths) which you can re-use and rinse in bleach, wasing up liquid and hot water. I use them as dishcloths and replace weekly. The old one is then used for bathrooms before getting chucked.
Micro fibre cloths are also brilliant and wash and wear very well.
One ordinary kitchen roll will last me a fortnight, just for comparison.

do you just lob all the food and drink in the house around to create that much to clean up in a day? 2 whole rolls? seriously?

go to the cheeky wipes, buy a large amount of washable wipes. Use wipe, put in small basket after and once you have a few throw into the washing machine on a hot wash with other teatowels, bath towels,bedding.

You can buy 40 wipes here for £19 www.cheekywipes.com/cloth-baby-wipes/micro-fibre-cloth-washable-reusable-baby-wipes.html. would save you £681 per year..

Who Gives A Carp will anyone give a fish?

I mean Who Gives a Crap obvs.

You're completely U to even ask the question. You would have to be a total idiot to not know that there are perfectly acceptable alternatives, as suggested already.

I don't change my dishcloth every day either! When you make a cup of tea, pour any boiling water left over your dishcloth. Add a drop of fairy liquid. Squeeze out and hang up. Cloth will stay perfectly clean and nice for 3 or 4 days like that.

Actually the washing is still more environmentally friendly. The water gets reused, the paper ends up in the bin, and can’t even be recycled if used. This is ridiculously wasteful, get some cloths.

I find microfibre cloths are absolutely useless!!

That is ridiculous and in most areas kitchen roll is not recyclable so it's bad for your pocket and bad for the environment.

There must be better ways to clean things.

Ok, so put the cloths and tea towels on a Quick & Cool wash with Ecover.

My DH loves kitchen roll. I prefer those mircofiber clothes, use different colours for different areas, eg pink for wiping down coffee machine, blue for bathroom etc.

I agree it’s obscene, horrifically wasteful and awful for the environment.

You don't need to use bleach and boil washes to wash dishcloths. I wash mine with my clothes, bio powder, max 40 degree, usually 30. If they were to be examined by a lab they would probably contain some bugs, but they look and smell clean and I'm healthy and not getting infected by them, so they seem clean enough to me.

Fml that’s obscene!

Dishcloths, good quality branded blue ones, buy several packets of those, will last ages.
I use the blue dishcloths, has to be the branded ones though as supermarket own versions don’t need wash as well and fall apart after a while.

I do a job eg clean table and highchair and surfaces after dinner, then that cloth goes in the laundry basket and gets washed at 60 with towels and sheets. I probably use 2-6 cloths a day. I use with Dettol surface cleaner.
Dishcloths don’t have to be unhygienic, I inwardly shudder when I see people using the same cloth all week or whatever, ick.

I’ve never bought kitchen roll.... (but I am a domestic slattern)

What the hell? Do you use it to wipe the arses of everyone on your street?

Wow! I can't imagine how full your bins must be. And have you got a cupboard in the house dedicated to kitchen roll?
£700 is a week holiday!
I'd love to see some stats on the environmental impact of your kitchen roll usage.
Surely a couple of cloths used and washed every day would be a whole lot better? I bung my micro fibre cloths in a hot wash with my towels every week (I don't use fabric conditioner). You'd only need 14 cloths which are as cheap as chips from supermarkets.

YABU and ridiculous. But you knew that!

Cleaning up bits of food = collect up in a wet wipe

Mopping up liquid spills or drying off = old teatowels, chuck on a 60 wash

HTH

I always used a sponge and washing up liquid to wipe down high chair. Never buy paper towels. What am I using them for? Sponges do everything and if someone accidentally drops spaghetti bolognese on the floor, I would scoop up, throw out and then quick run over with the mop.

That's so wasteful, but at least you've realised OP!

Dishcloths are as clean as they need to be: don't fall into the trap of having to have everything '99% bacteria free' because that won't be doing your DCs immune systems any good at all. Cloths are fine, and as others have said they can be washed. We all have a responsibility to stop buying 'one use' products.

Take your high chair outside and hose it off, leave it to dry.

I never buy kitchen roll because my kids would just waste all of it.

Thoughts to mind
You use too much of it from the roll -4 sheets when you could use 1

• you are making everything too wet which is needing more roll
• blue dish cloths are so cheap. I cut them in half and they are more absorbent than paper towel. As is a sponge

I have never used it or bought it. DC are 7 and 10. I use old muslins and old tea towels for wiping up.

As someone said, this is obscene.