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?!

Also, in the hope you’ll be game as you were before and answer honestly, why do you deem your life’s ease or convenience being more important than wasting finite natural resources?

Are you sure this isn’t a question of you doing these things because you can, and life bring stressful enough for you as it is so you’d rather not think about such things?

you don't need a boil wash for goodness sake. Get plenty of cloths and do a cloth and towel wash on a daily or alternative day wash - I am sure you get through a shed load of towels in bathrooms etc as well - just needs to be on a 60 at the most and detergent in. If you are doing them that regularly they are not becoming germ fests. Esp if you are also using anti bac spray. We had a toddler and a Puppy and we got through a fair amount then to be fair - went recycled and asked for forgiveness ha

Wow. YABU. I have a 1 year old and a 4 year old. Both messy eaters. One in a highchair. We go through 1-2 kitchen rolls per month. We also use kitchen cloths, face cloths, a mop and a dustpan. The usual really!

I almost never get food around my mouth. I didn't realise that was a thing that happens to adults.

You get stuff on your lips. I just bit into a sandwich with too much mayo in it. WWYD lick your lips or wipe it on your hand?

Think what you could do with £700...

Yes! It's more than my Miele singing and dancing pyrolytic oven cost me eight months ago!

I do use paper towels for drying my hands before I put my contact lenses in, but that's the only thing now.

@Eliza9917 you absolutely could do it yourself. I didn't have the time or patience!

I really can't see why I would ever buy kitchen roll.... I just don't need it. I have loads of cheap microfibre cloths, a new one of which gets used every morning and the old one goes in the wash with clothes. If I mop up a spill it just gets rinsed out again?!

I have stopped buying straws and takeaway coffees, but I was really interested to listen to this Radio 4 programme about the war on plastic and how some of the paper alternatives are harder on the environment than the plastic they are replacing. Have a listen: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000sxv

I have microfibre dish cloths and the care label says 60 degree wash and don't tumble dry.

If you're really worried, going vegetarian or vegan is the best step to take.

According to the Unites States Environmental Protection Agency, an average family of four uses about 400 gallons of water a day for various indoor activities, including taking showers, washing dishes, doing laundry and flushing the toilet. This statistic, however, doesn’t even begin to take into consideration how our food consumption affects our water footprint. If each member of this hypothetical family of four ate a cheeseburger for dinner, the household’s water consumption that day would shoot up to over 7,000 gallons depending on the size of the burgers, the amount of cheese, etc.

1 hamburger = 4.5 hours of showering
2350 liters of water is used for one hamburger weighing in at 150 grams. This means that every time you eat a hamburger, you could also have run the shower for 4.5 hours straight.

You get stuff on your lips. I just bit into a sandwich with too much mayo in it. WWYD lick your lips or wipe it on your hand?

Yes, I would lick my lips lol. Is that something that some people avoid for some reason? I mean, we're talking about just on the lips a bit, not all around them.

Your ambivalence is a selfish indulgence.

And as such, is my prerogative. I’ll give you the point about teeth brushing but why on earth would I leave a car running whilst emptying the boot? I will leave it running where I require heat or A/C though, not to mention the thousands of miles I do each year for the pleasure of driving and the numerous trackdays.

Washable cloths, bamboo are really good - I never use kitchen roll in the kitchen, well I have some but it just for canine accidents (or rather when dh feeds aforementioned canine foods that make unable to make it to morning like pizza, lamb bones, ciabatta dipped in oil, a bowl of custard ... you get the drift (I'm seething because I was late to work cleaning up!)

Rather than going cold turkey, but washable cloths and try and only use disposable for the really messy jobs, throw cloths in with tea towels and bath towels

Yes, I would lick my lips lol. Is that something that some people avoid for some reason? I mean, we're talking about just on the lips a bit, not all around them.

Well yes it’s not terribly good manners.

Paper napkin user here (during the week). However, we can put ours in the food bin, so they get mulched into compost. Linen ones are only used when guests are here as I hate ironing them.

Cloths = overnight soak in mild bleach every evening, changed weekly. Teatowels also white & changed daily. All washed once a week with dettol laundry. Spontex things in dishwasher daily.

Just cut up old towels or bulk buy flannels - then pop in washing machine

Well yes it’s not terribly good manners.

I've never heard that. Just googled it and found a LOT of manners/etiquette guides and none of them mention it.

Like I said, we're talking about an instinctive lick of your actual lips, not slurping your tongue all around your mouth like a dog.

Max there is a school on my mum's road and she has people like you rocking up early for pick up and sitting with their engines running for ages. It's incredible inconsiderate.

My washing machine wants me to do a regular hot wash to keep it hygienic, so I bung in the microfiber cloths. They don't need detergent.

@7salmonswimming

There's a difference between advocating and judging. Do you live an entirely carbon neutral life?

I've never heard that.

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’ve never bought kitchen roll in my life and have managed to keep my house and two children clean! Just buy some cloths like a normal person.

That's obscenely wasteful and bordering on obsessive hygiene.

Do you give any thought to the environment at all?
I use cotton dishcloths and throw them in with a hot wash.

Anyone with small children will have access to an abundance of old vests, t shirts etc. Cut them up to make rags which can be used for all manner of cleaning.

If you are cleaning the house that many times a day, you should get out and about more.

This has to be a classic MN thread, along the lines of toilet brushes, the great how many sausages conundrum and the how often do you wash towels dispute.

I hate dish cloths as well. That slimy rag hanging off the sink. Ugh. It is an unpleasant childhood memory.

Instead, I bought a giant stack of white dish cloths. An entire laundry load worth. I have a large laundry hamper in the kitchen. One with lots of air holes. They get used once and tossed in. When the bin is full, I wash on the sanitary cycle. Before I had a machine with a sanitary cycle, I washed on hot. I’ve been doing this for about 15 years now. I replace rags as they dissolve into shreds, but after the initial investment, only have to buy a stack occasionally. We also use them as napkins. I have better ones for company, but they work just fine for daily use.