I've always wondered why people used paper towels to clean up. Growing up my mom would take old clothes and we'd reuse them as rags to clean around the house. Still do it even now.
You're not saving the environment 😂 For a start, there is no crisis. Secondly, some rando's on tiktok making money from a trend of not buying plastic straws wouldn't make a dent in it if there was.
@@Mandaxx25 You’re right! Consumers making these small changes alone would not solve the enormous amount of landfill and plastic waste being produced, as a large quantity comes from the waste produced directly by large corporations and businesses. We may not be in a commonly visible crisis yet, but you wouldn’t wait to get the flu to get a flu shot, right? What making these types of small conscious decisions will do is at least delay the amount that is getting thrown out until there are better policies to regulate material usage and disposal better. At this time, our technologies and infrastructure can’t support the recycling practices we claim to be succeeding at since there is simply too much to process. I agree that some content creators make money off dumb trends… but many creators such as the one from this video seem to just want to share some great tips that maybe someone didn’t get the chance to learn yet. Plus, it’s completely up to you at the end of the day what you choose to do with the info 🙂
@Manda have you see the garbage mountains in the ocean? Also my country is directly being affected by climate change and pollution. Making talk less crap and do some research. You're so privileged you think nothing is happening. It's not all doom and gloom but there is a problem.
@@Mandaxx25woah. You can make the argument that one person won’t make a huge difference (it’s really about spreading it to more people), but denying climate change altogether? Do you live under a rock? Do you ever go outside? Spreading this type of misinformation is dangerous!!
Paper towels are good in cases where something is really gross , something you don't want in the wash like paint or a chemical, or if a mess contains broken glass. Don't want shards in a towel and in the wash. Ever broken a glass bottle of pancake syrup? You can't just sweep that up easy peasy. Edit: This seems to be a very contentious topic. We do use cloth in our home too. I just wanted to point out there are unavoidable exceptions. I have those stacks of bar mops you can buy anywhere, like Sam's. Those are our "clean up towels" for counters, table tops, spills, wiping down anything that needs it. And I have old bath towels cut in half for those giant messes that can happen (like vomit). We have a big family and if I relied on paper towels alone, not only would we cause a lot of waste, we'd spend a lot of money. I also have used cloth diapers on my kids for years, mainly because I feel like it's more healthy than a paper and plastic diaper filled with tons of chemicals. Just how I feel. I prefer cotton underwear to synthetic so I assume they would too. The fact that cloth diapers cause less waste is just a nice bonus.
Yep. Sorry, not sorry, not giving up paper towels. There are certain substances requiring mop-up from time to time that require an absorbent that is thrown out after one use. And newsflash, if you use a cloth rag to mop up a spilled chemical, it still ends up in a landfill.
A piece of bread works better than anything to get little glass shards up! But yes, paper towels are meant to be thrown away and used for gross stuff for sure!
I love this!!! Just as an extra reminder, please remember the waste in our planet is hardly our fault, big corporations produce 99% of the waste that’s killing our planet. Try to find ways to advocate for a change in laws and legislations surrounding the matter as well
I remember as a child soda came in bottles with a 2c return on each bottle Then they changed to plastic and it’s the consumers fault? Just venting 😊 be Blessed 💜
What? Just because you didn't produce it, then it's not your fault, but with all the knowledge about the damage you still choose to buy their products.
@@yes12337 I somewhat agree with you and totally support your attitude, however in our economy ethical consumerism is close to impossible. Majority of products are only affordable if they are stored in cheap and harmful plastic packaging. Places who produce and sell in environmentally friendly / zero waste ways are only affordable if the company has made the choice to underpay employees, particularly those at the root of their production (e.g. for Coca Cola it would be the sugar beet farms). Until there are laws to force corporations to pay everyone a fair wage and source ingredients ethically, they will continue to produce unethically for a cheaper price, which wipes out any competitors that try to do the right thing.
I am a stained glass artist, and I always save everything glass. I get mortified that so much glass gets thrown away. If people only knew what it takes to make every glass jar.
@@kirsten007 If there is an art school nearby they would probably appreciate the glass bottles There are some arts and craft You Tube channels that have great ideas for glass jars and bottles. There are also some You Tube Videos that use glass bottles and jars for storage and reorganizing kitchens, art supplies. or whatever.
I keep a roll of paper towels around for the worst of the worst messes. I have cats. But that's maybe one or two rolls per year. Otherwise I keep old towels and rags for all other household cleaning. Being frugal isn't always pretty but it should be sanitary! 😊
@@Samlovescornbread Thanks, Sam. It's like trying to get to infinity and beyond! Zero waste, minimalism, green living...they are wonderful concepts to inspire us but we never truly arrive there. Unless we go into the wilderness and cut ourselves off from modern living completely. And eat and use only what we produce! We can, however, cut way back on consumerism and actually be happier, healthier and richer from the effort! 🤗👍
Cloth paper towels actually don't save me money.. I have to travel to wash them, pay a premium to wash/dry, & they always end up stinking because the hot water washes cost $1 more at the laundromat. 🤷🏽♀️
Soak them in hot water and buy a washboard to use in your sink and use oxiclean or borax with your detergent to clean them. As far as napkins for eating use dinner cloth napkins.
What on earth do you need to use paper towels for? I use 3 small microfibre cloths in a week and they take up no extra space in my washing machine on cold wash tossed in with whatever else I am washing. I also use 3 tea towels in a week. If something is very sticky I use a small piece of toilet paper- but that is no more than once a month - never more often. I think you should try to pay more attention when and why and how you use paper towels.
@@jladylove1 That depends on the country too, I guess. I'm from Germany and I would get it mostly online, in some Unverpackt Laden (a store that sells unpackaged goods and ppl weigh and use their own containers) or Reformhaus (health food shop?). Amazon has bio degradeable coconut scrubbers.
Not me. I’m tired of these “alternative” lifestyles being rubbed in our face. If god didn’t want us to use plastic he wouldn’t have let it be discovered. 😂
@@pgarciaAP Well, I do get tired of trying to find ways around using plastic. But it's everywhere and there is only so much recycling or repurposing one can do! I do my best and try not to feel bad at the trash I do generate. And not be preachy with others. 😚😳
Love this.... I have been a zero waster for a while and my neighbors are like, " how come your garbage can is always so empty?" That question never lets me down!
@@veganpelosanimais1216 😂😂 I have a shirt that says ‘this girl runs on coffee and Jesus’ I actually plan to start making my own bc Etsy shirts are $25-$50 each and I only make $15/hr so as much as I’d like to support others I can’t afford it but still need some shirts bc I have like 3. I want to open a shop but need to figure out how to get it set with taxes. I have a friend that seems to know everything and everyone lol so I’ll ask him.
I use a dishrag for my dishes; sponges have always grossed me out, especially because they start to smell so quickly. But paper towels are a hill I’m going to die on until they’re to expensive to reason with it lol. I just don’t feel like doing that much washing.
The dish rag you use to wash dishes. Before you wash it out put a little bleach onto it. Then wash it out and then pour some hot water and vinegar onto it. Let that cool down, then let dry it shouldn't be smelling after. Do it after every use at night before going to bed you shouldn't have no problem after.
See im the opposite. The thought of using a dish rag makes me vomit! 🤢 idk something just grosses me out about that. I also dont use one to bathe either! 😂 loofah all the way. Maybe its a texture thing? Idk .. but im also not the one who stops a sink and fills it up with water and soap and washes all 20 dishes that are covered in food and funk...in that same nasty water from the previous ones! 😂 am i the only one!?
What on earth do you need to use paper towels for? I use 3 small microfibre cloths in a week and they take up no extra space in my washing machine on cold wash tossed in with whatever else I am washing. I also use 3 tea towels in a week. If something is very sticky I use a small piece of toilet paper- but that is no more than once a month - never more often. I think you should try to pay more attention when and why and how you use paper towels.
This is random but I wanted to share. My grandma uses a wash towel (a small towel designed for watching dishes… it’s non abrasive so it doesn’t scratch her pans.) for washing her dishes. Then she puts them in the dishwasher (she lives on a ranch so she washes her dishes by hand then washed them again in the dishwasher 😂.) she has crocheted clothe scrubber. Again, it doesn’t screech or ruin her pans. I think it’s genius. Food scraps are given to the chickens/cat/dog. Probably not the healthiest thing but it keeps the animals from getting into the trash bags since there was no food thrown into the trash can or trash bag I should say. Large milk jars are perfect for storing flour and sugar due to its wide brim… there are other jars that have wide brims now but that’s what my grandma uses and I think she’s awesome (I’m 24, female…)
Wtf is a milk jar? And please don't feed your pets table scraps - a lot has changed with companion animals due to breeding, even since your grandma's time. Life on a ranch is so different from life in a city.
The only thing I'm unsure of are the cloth towels. Is the electricity and water required to wash them truly a better tradeoff to buying biodegradable paper towels? 🤔 But I'm really impressed with the other tips, especially the bamboo brush! I hate sponges
The paper towels can also go in the compost after your done with them. Also you can buy paper towels that were 100 new paper. I agree with you too much to wash towels instead of just using a paper towel .
Not a waste at all you have to wash towels anyways, if your towels are clean enough to use on your face or as napkins why would washing you cloth towels be a waste instead of paper towels.Make it make sense😮
paper towels may not always be biodegradable depending on what you used them to clean up, also when in a landfill biodegradable items are not actually able to breakdown properly so they’re not actually degrading. if you have a compost bin paper towels make great brown product as long as it wasn’t used with any harsh cleansers or something of the sort
Yeah but it's not gonna do much good for regular average people to do all that but elites n super rich aren't gonna do those things they're gonna continue to live their same lifestyles
@@agirl2094 explain how acrylic nails are zero waste? 🤷🏾♀️ Now I ain't claiming to be "zero waste" because that is damn near impossible and I'm not a hypocrite.
Reducing plastic is always a good thing, but remember that 70% of plastic in the ocean is from commercial fishing nets and individual consumer actions are not nearly as effective as industry regulation for reducing plastic waste!
If that's the problem you want to point out then you should feel obligated to come up with a solution. It's not like these higher up people aren't taking into account this statistic. It's hard to regulate something so isolated. Each fishing boat will need to be inspected frequently. Each inspector will need to be paid. The inspector will need a list of regulations that these boats need to follow which means laws will need to be passed and both the inspectors and crew of the fishing boats need to actually care for why these regulations are in place. Work at any fast food place and you'll see how careless people are towards regulations when the authority isn't around which points us back at how frequently you'll need to inspect these boats at work. But this is all without mentioning things like chinese fishing boats. Can we let China solve the problem themselves or do we have to intervene. Intervention is bound to put us in war but leaving them be is bound to letting them destroy necessary ecosystems if they don't solve the issue. You can't just bring up a statistic and pin the responsibility on someone else when the responsibility is all of ours And also another thing that went without mention is the pollution in our local ecosystems that pose the same threats as the plastic in the ocean. I know for a fact that that trash was put there by consumers. The amount of trash found in cities that end up in waterways and bodies of water is astounding. This is a problem that can most definitely be changed by consumer choices and one that must be changed. We can't play the blame game and pin the responsibility on whoever is in power. We must make our own changes and rise into these positions of power if we really want to create the world we want to live in
Look up where your plastic recycling goes... It's almost certainly sent to a landfill in another country. It's the sad, shameful truth about recycling: most of it still ends up in the trash. 😥
@@meks194 I litarly just said it's efficiënt for storage 😵💫 different sizes and shapes of packaging leaves a lot of empty space but all the same shape means they all fit neat next to eachother. So in my opinion that's pretty efficiënt 🤷🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️
@@meks194some people might require that level of efficiency. I guess it just depends on how and what you're storing and how much space you have I agree with you tho. I think most people do it for esthetics rather than efficiency
@@maridelatte6824 Glass can be recycled too :) I am sure they have a recycling program they can collect their extra glass jars and bottles for. That’s what we do where I live, at least.
Thank you sister. I started my zero waste journey 3 years ago. The dish soap idea just got me closer. Liking and following. I'm looking forward to Part Deux.
My grandma is 95 and grew up during the depression and is the definition of zero waste 🩷🩷 Never know if you’ll open the sour cream and find sour cream or leftover pasta. She uses shower caps she can wash to cover her bowls instead of plastic wrap and has never bought a paper towel. Simply rags for different messes. Love this.
Not to be rude but you know eating leftover pasta after it's been in the fridge after it's been cooked can actually make you sick I've watched a video of a guy ate five day old pasta that was cooked and he ended up very sick came to find out the pasta was moldy he put it in the fridge after he cooked it and didn't eat it till 5 five days later ended up in the hospital..
I already have a jar and bottle hoarding problem. I used to work at a high end cocktail bar and the pretty bottles what came from there and they were just going to bin it are still part of my collection.
Maybe you can sell the wider mouth ones to candle makers, there are so many in the market. Personally I would buy them from you and make you a beautiful candle to make you feel happy you decided to pass them on.
If you soak it in boiling water and antibacterial cleaning, it's fine. Also pour boiling water over your wooden cutting boards and wooden utensils to sanitize.
I up cycled a cookie cooling wire rack from dollar tree. I took 4 of them to make a grid, connecting with wire ties, I made the perfect drying mat over your sink and for most of the silverware I stick in the grids they hang there and dry fast. I also took their wire baskets and cut one up to use as dividers in the other one and I attached that to my wire rack and now I have two places for silverware!!
That’s commendable., however it’s not up cycling , it’s just using a newly purchased product in its non intended way. If you had those items laying around the house , and you repurposed them - then you’re up cycling. My apologies for man-spraining . Keep on deducing that carbon footprint. 😊
Literaly every German ever. Also some stuff dosnt cost money but a whole lot of spoons. And not everyone has a huge supply of those... If you don't know what I mean than you likely have plenty.
@Jess J There are definitely some pet messes you don't want to reuse the cloth after! Even then, I mostly just pick a threadbare cloth and throw it out. I keep a BIG basket of cloth rags, and every few years buy a pack of paper towels to keep on hand , more for direct contact food use than anything else.
I use a cotton dish cloth. I buy ones that are color fast or white background. To sanitize I can put 1 or 2 in a glass bowl with one teaspoon of bleach in the water. 5 min soak, et Voila! You may think that's too much. Ok, Sanitize on the run. After washing the dishes, wash the cloth with just plain soap & rinse. Get your Dollar tree spray bottle from under the sink, lie the cloth flat in the sink. Spray the cloth until it saturated with 70% Isopropyl Alcohol; et Voila, sanitized on the run. Squeeze out the excess hang to dry on dish rack. Love you -- mean it.
Yep, use a soap bar for your hair too. Buy white vinegar in a glass bottle if you need a hair rinse. (A tablespoon with a pint of water.) It’s also what I use to get soap out of the laundry during the rinse cycle.
I put grey wash clothes in little baskets in each bathroom, cut up old towels and put them under my sink and have reusesble paper towel rolls….i save hundreds every year. It’s kinda crazy. You do laundry anyway….so it’s literally saving a step. And reduces trash by soooo much. I also use rubber lids for stuff instead of plastic wrap. And reusesble ziplocks. I wasn’t even planning to be a zero waste person but the logic and simplicity totally makes it worth it for me.
I totally agree. I am so grateful. You put this on video posting more of these videos will help the communities and our whole environment. Thank you so much
I make many of my own recipes, but I have a favorite pasta sauce that comes in a glass jar. I save every one. They are the perfect size for my spice blends, kitchen ingredients, etc.
You can wet the brush or a dish cloth and rub the bar on it. The soap is transferred to the brush or dish cloth then wash a couple of items. For more washing, rub the bar again.
Thank you for showing how to use those UNpaper cloth towels in the kitchen. I have always wondered how they look and how to keep them nice on the roller. Going to make some now!!
Like with most things the answer is It depends, but generally no advised. Here's a more in-depth breakdown. Do NOT use anything that can chip the coating on Teflon cookware. No metal cooking utensils, no scratcher pads, no bamboo brush. Hot water, soap, and dish cloth ONLY! There are a shit-TON of studies about the harmful effects of chipped Teflon. With cast iron non-stick, if you use a scrub of ANY kind you're scrubbing OFF the seasoning that makes it non-stick. Making it more prone to rust and breakdown. The bamboo brush would be good for non-coated cake pans, or stuck on food. Not really non-stick. Hope this helps❤
Still cheaper. You don't "constantly" clean towels. You have bin for them and wash all at once. Plus, if it's only water let the towel dry out and keep using it.
Thank you for this, my dear. I've been doing this all my life. I very seldom buy jam, or as you call it, jelly. When I was a child, long ago now, we saved the glass jars that it came in, and sterilised them to make our own. And we foraged for fruit, too. Crabapples, (wild apples), blackberries, damsons, to name but a few. The only expenditure was on sugar and pot covers. Still do that to this day. By the way, did you know that by boiling a couple of tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda (breadsoda), in a couple of cups of water in a pot in which you've burned food, and leaving it overnight, the burnt food will come off next morning with your wash-up brush? (I'm a mine of useless information!) And, just a quick p.s: Frugality is my middle name! I was born just after WWII, and actually remember rationing. I played, eventually, with the remains of the books of coupons. Everything was in short supply, but looking back, everyone could go away and leave their front doors unlocked, and nobody would break in. We were all equally poor, you see. No-one had anything to steal. So I suppose it's just the way us oldies were reared. And, if we could help, we didn't hinder. So, if I can help...............?
I am wondering if you have figured out the cost of water, laundry soap, electricity, and wear and tear on the washing machine to wash all those cloth towels? And how do you dry them? If you use paper towels, you can tear them up and add to your compost to help make soil, or you can even add to worm beds and you will end up with some of the best garden fertilizer.
I buy a 40 count of white cheap washcloths to use for spills around the kitchen and separately for the rest of the house gather them up and wash them with my colors. Got 2 kids and 2 dog and cats
Microfiber towels work great as well, you don’t need fancy unpaper towels, cheap rags, microfiber, or even up-cycling old clothes are all affordable ways to switch!
i have pets so there is no way id be able to use cloth towels instead of paper towels. id literally have to spend hundreds to have enough to deal with their messes and our own.
I stopped buying glasses and only used glass jars to drink from. My kids broke so many I was tired of paying out food money when the jars were just as good
My favorite glass jars I drink my tea in are marzetti salad dressing glasses. They don't leak when I shake my tea together!! And they are the perfect size 🥰
I love that you're young, that you're a woman and you're a woman of color because these are all great inspirations. There's too much negativity with people of color on the news and I would like to see more young women of all colors, shapes and sizes getting out there and changing this world. White men had their turn.
But u still own those other products and ur not using them? Isn't that wasteful. I've seen these use these not this video and its like u have a whole plastic bottle of soaps and cleaners just to show
I also use old socks and other fabrics that have holes, stains, etc. as polishing and dusting cloths. If a blanket is very worn and not in shape for even donating, I stuff it inside an old pillowcase and seal up and use it as a makeshift pet bed.
I love the re use of glass jars! I’m a candle maker and small wide mouth jars make the best “testers” I also reuse them for more candles once they’re all burned
I started cutting up old t-shirts and keeping them in a bin to use instead of paper towels. I don't think I've bought paper towels in 5+ years. I just wash and reuse. And it's something where I really don't want to keep the rag, it's not the end of the world because it's already far outlived its intended lifespan.
Nobody’s asking how you have a bottle of dish soap if you don’t buy bottle dish soap and how you have a plastic sponge if you don’t buy plastic sponges
i use paper towels for toast and bagels and stuff. it's harder to get butter out of cloth than anything else in my experience. for cleaning i use cloth and always have.
This is so cool! I have a degree in Wildlife Science and I love to see people sharing sustainable living. I would add that paper towels are a forest product. When you buy forest products you help to increase the planting and management of trees and healthy forest systems which have great environmental benefits! ❤🌳
@@godslittlecrayola That’s good it works for you. I would be cleaning it to often. After I wipe my counter down with Clorox and paper towels I throw it away. Then I’ll use another for my stove throw it away etc. I wouldn’t even want the cloth sitting in my dirty laundry for wash. Even when I wash my face I dry it with a paper towel. I wash my hands a lot I couldn’t keep drying with the same towel multiple times not even twice. Just cooking a meal I’m washing my hands constantly and to me drying your hands over and over with a cloth is unsanitary.
The dish soap bars saved me SOOO much money in college! I bought one from a soap maker who made a big block of it using scraps from their other dish soap bars (REAL zero waste shit!) and it legitimately lasted me from September to May 😧
