We're Going PAPERLESS!

Pin It Paperless?  I know…seems a little drastic.  But think about it: how many paper towels do you go through in a day?  What about paper napkins?  We go through a lot of each.  I even started buying those half-sized paper towels in an effort to use less paper.

But guess what?

Now I use 2 or more sheets at a time!  Eek!!  That totally defeats the purpose!!

And then there are napkins.  We go through at least two paper napkins each night at dinner.  We've tried to use cloth napkins, but the napkins I bought were supposed to be for holidays and special events.  I never want to use them - especially since they haven't really held up to repeated washings.  They weren't cheap and I don't want to keep replacing them.  Plus, let's be honest, having to iron them after every wash is a MAJOR turn-off.  

But we live in Germany, the land of "bring-your-own-plate-and-silverware-to-a-BBQ-to-avoid-making-paper-and-plastic-waste" and after spending years of recycling virtually everything, the paper waste is really getting on my nerves.  It's been really bothering me but I think I've found our solution!

Love For Earth is an Etsy shop with so many great handmade items.  I found her during one of my countless sweeps of the Etsy world.  (Did you know I'm hopelessly addicted to Etsy?)  I bought reusable napkins from Kara to replace the thousands of paper napkins we use.  And at less than $1 a piece, they are WAY cheaper than the cloth napkins I was using.  And…drumroll, please…they don't need to be ironed!!  Just fold them up and put them in your napkin holder.  Ta da!!

While I was shopping for napkins, I started thinking about our dish towels.  I don't think I've ever been satisfied with the dish towels I buy.  Most aren't absorbent - so why even bother using them when they just smear the water??  I love how cute some of them are, but when they don't actually absorb any water, they're pretty useless.  Right now we have a couple Martha Stewart towels that we like.  But they're getting old and they cost over $3 a piece.  I've been avoiding buying new ones yet we're getting pretty desperate!

So...I ended up getting dish towels from Kara, too.  She solved my dilemma!  The towels are roughly 18x18 inches big.  She surges the edges to keep the towels from unravelling. When you order, you can request the color I wanted her to surge with.  I chose red.

Two towels fit nicely side by side on the oven handle.  I guess I should probably iron those huge creases out though…hmmmm.  Bummer!

The napkins and dish towels come with instructions on how to take care of them.  They're made of the same cotton material used to make cloth diapers, so they're easy to wash and brighten but soft and absorbent.

Think of all the money we'll save by not buying paper towels or napkins anymore!  

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