Going Paperless at Home

How many rolls of paper towels do you go through in a week?  Are you constantly grabbing a Clorox or baby wipe to clean something up?  Do you use Swiffer pads like they are going out of style?  Can you imagine how much money you could save if you stopped using all this disposable stuff?

It’s been a process, but picking one thing at a time, we finally use way less paper stuff.  Most times I feel like the cloth versions of my old disposable option generally works way better than their counterparts.  And it’s great not just for the environment but for my wallet too.  

Here some of the things I’ve been doing to work towards getting more paperless and reducing disposable waste in our home:

1.  Norwex Microfiber Cloths for Cleaning:  This was what took me to the next level using cloth. You can clean any surface with just water and a cloth, including your grossest stuff like meat goo and toilets. They don't get stinky as fast because of the silver woven into them, so you can use them more often without having to wash them.  This lessens your laundry and will allow you to have just one drawer of cloth stuff to clean your whole house.  My main must-have cloths are the Enviro and Window cloth (for cleaning all my surfaces, windows, mirrors, etc.) and the Kitchen Cloths (for daily kitchen counter/table/highchair/floor clean-ups).  If you have these things, you will hardly ever reach for the paper towels in the kitchen again.

My Norwex cloths and my little drying system... Yes, I am a dork!

2.  Cloth Napkins:  Get some on the cheap at Marshalls or TJ Max and have a set or two for your family and one set for just for company. Wash them in hot water and just don't worry about stains for the everyday ones. I use these in replace of paper towels sometimes for food stuff too, like when I need to dry brussel sprouts before putting oil on them to roast, or to squeeze water out of frozen and then thawed spinach.  They are thin cotton and don't leave fuzz on your food. 

3.  Baby Washcloths:  These little babies pop up all over the house for different reasons these days.  The biggest use is in place of disposable wipes for my almost two year old, Will.  I used to make a solution with essential oils and water, and either pour it over the washcloths (in an old wipe box), or use a spray bottle to spritz their little butts.  Now I just run some warm tap water over them in the box and they work just as well.  But baby washcloths also double as tissues for any bodily clean up you can think of, most often for snotty noses.  I keep a stack in the kitchen and a stack in each of the kids dressers.  They either get washed with the cloth diapers or with the load of cloth napkins, depending on which floor of the house I happen to be in when I need to toss them.

4.  Resist the Paper Plates:  We bought a set of plastic plates that we use for the deck if we want to eat outside, and these are also the plates we try to take if we picnic or go camping.  For larger parties I still go with paper or plastic stuff if we don’t have enough, but I try to resist the temptation to grab paper plates mid-week when I just don’t want to do dishes.

5.  Use Tupperware and Reusable Snack Bags:  I've been in a bad streak of using plastic baggies lately. Things that help are Tupperware and reusable snack baggies.  I've also started saving empty pickle, salsa, and pasta jars because the wide tops make it easier to store leftovers. I get excited when the label comes off easy or if the lid is plain without the brand written all over it!  

6.  Cloth Diapers:  If you are in this phase of parenthood, it may not be as hard as you think.  After I found my groove with it, it was only an extra load of laundry every 2/3 days.  This still may seem like a lot, but now it’s just a habit and it doesn’t seem like much at all.  Maybe even borrow some dipes and try them out before you buy them.  I cloth diaper part-time when we have a busy weekend and can’t get to the laundry, and that's okay too.  But every cloth diaper used is a disposable diaper I don’t have to buy again.

7.  Norwex Microfiber Cloths to Wash Your Face:    There are lots of easy to use disposable make-up removal cloths out there, and I used to use a couple cotton pads with astringent every night. Now I just get my Norwex Body or Baby Cloth wet and wipe my face off. I find I wash my face more often because it is easier and I don't have water dripping down my arms and on the sink. Plus you are removing a big chunk if chemicals from your life too (not to mention some pricey items in the budget).

8.  Skip the Cotton Swabs or Other Little Disposable Things:  This may sound gross, but I stopped using cotton ear swabs.  I’ve heard doctors say before that they aren’t that great for you, and I had a nightmarish thought one day that my daughter Addy saw me use one, grabbed one herself, and jabbed it in her ear.  *shudders*  I just use my washcloth to clean my ears, and it seems to be working out just fine.  Just pay attention for one week to all the little paper things you grab, and focus on one at a time to see if you can get by without it.  You may surprise yourself.

9.  Other Norwex Cleaning Products to Replace the Disposable Options:  I love my Norwex mop, and it works so much better than my old disposable Swiffers.  My Norwex Dust Mitt is also super convenient and can just be washed and used over, with no chemicals/sprays needed. 

10.  Put the Disposable Options in the Basement:  Or in some other far away place.  After you have the cloth options available, you will still want to just fall back to the paper if they are staring at you.  Put them somewhere that you know you can get them if you need to, but not convenient enough to grab on a daily basis.

My kitchen/dining room cloths

I think the key here is that it doesn't have to be all or nothing.  You can use the disposable options sometimes when you are just too busy to get to the laundry, and you are still cutting back.  Just pick one thing speaks to you and start there.  I know I am more motivated to use cloth because it's cheaper - the investment is already made and every time I use it my cost per use goes down.  And I don't have to go to the store to replenish it, which means less impulse buys at Target because I shop less often.  So just do what you can do, one step at a time.