Much to the irritation of my mother, I don't keep paper towels on the counter top in my kitchen. About five years ago, I started using flannel wipes to clean my kid up after meals and I liked them better than using paper towels... they cleaned more thoroughly, and they didn't really create more laundry because I could add them to a load of towels. And, they paid for themselves after awhile. My mother uses paper towels for ev-ery-thing in the kitchen... including drying her hands after washing. She blows through the rolls of paper towels like crazy, but whatever, she likes her system and doesn't mind buying huge packs of paper towels frequently.
I'm currently on my second set of kitchen wipes (the first set looks great and is still in rotation in the kids' bathroom for wiping down counters, floors, etc. when I do my regular cleaning). This current set is starting to look pretty bad. Very stained, and getting pilled. (I've used them for a little over two years.) Plus, I really don't have enough of them. I might have about twenty, which means I do have to wash load of towels/wipes before the load is full because I have run out of wipes in the kitchen.
I like two layers of flannel because they are sturdier, stack nicer and wipe better than one layer. Once they come out of the wash, I stack them ...
...and put them in an under-shelf wire basket in an upper cabinet near the sink. In my old kitchen that had tons of storage space, the wipes had their own very small drawer next to the sink.
To make the wipes, I cut 9-inch square pieces of flannel, put two pieces together and serged around the edges (you could totally do a zig zag stitch on your regular sewing machine). I rounded the corners so that I can get one wipe done without having to remove the wipe from the machine 4 times to do all 4 straight sides. To people with sergers, that sentence makes sense, right? To other people, just ignore that part about rounding the corners.
I do actually keep a roll of paper towels in the kitchen, for those big messes that just need to get tossed in the trash and not get washed with my towels. They are above the sink with my cook books. And when my mom visits, I get them down for her and leave them on the counter.
See them hiding to the right of the cook books? Here's where I feel compelled to explain why they are brown. It's because I took my annual trip to Whole Foods in Birmingham [annual because it's far from me and let's face it, very expensive] and I couldn't resist them. You know me, sometimes I have to be a rebel and be different so I went berserk and bought a huge roll of recycled brown paper towels for $2. Normally, I get plain white Publix brand or whatever is cheapest. I love some crunchy things, but I do not have I-only-use-crunchy-brown-paper-towels-from-Whole-Foods righteousness. I promise. I think.
And because this blog is about "decent" order, you should know that when I took these photos, this is what was in my sink ::
Oooh, how about a bonus orderly tip for the day? See the green kids' Nalgene in the dirty sink? I put painter's tape on it and write Calvin's name with a Sharpie. It's basically free. I know it's not as cute as some of those imprinted bands, but whatever. It also lasts through the dishwasher for months on end, so you don't have to keep replacing it.
Okay, any of my more astute writing friends have some advice for me on how to share helpful things without sound like an overzealous jerk? I mean, I really hate that know-it-all tone, but it's hard to know if I'm writing in it. Ha!
Peace, everyone, it's Friday!
P.S. Here is the flannel I ordered for my new set of kitchen wipes. I can't wait for it to arrive, it's so fun and happy. And if you followed me on Pinterest, you'd already know about this flannel. :) Click on the red "follow me on Pinterest" button on the right sidebar!
0 comments:
Post a Comment