Save When You Clean That Mess with Cloth Rags
By vernon, June 11, 2010, Energy Efficiency, Groceries
Years ago, my wife and I used to breed American Eskimos (a.k.a Spitz). So, up to three times a year, our house would be filled with cute, little, white fur-balls scampering all around the the house. They’d get into waste baskets, chew on everything, and have accidents. Sometimes, that added up to four or five accidents a day for about three to four months.
Unfortunately, we could not keep enough paper towels in the house. Part of our problem, though, was that we’d been conditioned to using paper towels mostly because of convenience. So, we decided that saving a few bucks off our grocery budget and saving a few trees outweighed our convenience.
Fortunately, we had several old sweatshirts and bath towels that were no longer soft or warm. We cut these into 8 inch by 12 inch pieces (or as close as possible) and used these as “dog rags”. We’d wipe up the liquids with them, rinse them out in soapy water, and then hang the rags out in the sun to dry. The sun’s ultraviolet rays helped kill bacteria and oxidize away any smell. After-wards, we would wash them in vinegar (for further odor control) and detergent and then hang them outside once again. This let us wash a single load of them (usually about 15) once a week.
When we stopped breeding puppies about 20 years ago, we continued using the dog rags for wiping up spills or cleaning or dusting. Nowadays, we may only buy a roll of papers towels once or twice a year. This has not only reduced the amount of paper we bought over the years but also the amount of paper and worn out sweatshirts and bath towels we throw away.
But when the rags wears out, do we throw it away? Nope. We stuff them into cloth tubes used to block drafts from windows and doors in the winter. This way we stay clean AND warm.
Here are a few tips on how to wash and care for your own rags.
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