So I mentioned a while back that I was on a mission to replace disposable items with reusable items as much as possible. Here’s a progress report.
– Replacing plastic wrap and sandwich baggies with things such as Wrap-N-Mats. This is going pretty well, and it’s pretty easy. They get washed by hand and left inside out to dry. They fit sandwiches, cheese, and generally anything that would normally go in plastic wrap. These will pay for themselves eventually.
– Replacing tissues with flannel hankies from Sustainable Homestead. It’s unanimous in this house; we love these hankies. They’re soft and much easier on noses than tissues. They absorb well and wash well. What’s not to love? These also will pay for themselves, if they haven’t already.
– Replacing paper towels with cleaning rags. Actually we’ve used rags for a long time, but when we don’t want to ruin a rag because whatever we have to clean up is just that bad, we’ll use a (recycled) paper towel. So I can’t say there’s zero paper towel use here.
– Replacing dish sponges with dish rags. Sponges do last a long time, but in order to keep the teeming bacteria monster away, they have to be sanitized often, such as in the microwave or in the dishwasher. They’re also not the greenest crayon in the box, so to speak. Instead we now have lots of washable dish rags made of cloth and use one per day, and this is yet another reusable that will pay for itself.
Some future projects include replacing cotton squares used to remove makeup with more flannel hankies from Sustainable Homestead. I try to use the same square several times, but something permanent would be better.
What can’t I seem to replace? Q-tips and the occasional piece of scratch paper, to name a couple. But nobody’s perfect, right?
What have you replaced? Any plans to do so, or ideas you’d like to share? Any DIY projects you’ve tried? I know we have some innovative people out there, so let’s hear about it.
