Simple Living Series-Paperless Kitchen

Well it has now been over a month since we have had a paperless kitchen.  Much to my surprise it is completely doable.  Even with children.  Although age is a major factor I will say.

Back at the end of February my sister in law and I were intrigued by this post  over at Polyface Hen House blog .

We both thought, "lets give it a try".  Now at first I had my doubts with two little BOYS, but after one month I say, "NO sweat".  I immediately hid all paper towels and napkins.  I pulled out the only cloth napkins we had at the time, Christmas ones.  They were some I was not totally in love with so I thought why not.  They worked fine (and still do when needed) to start with until I purchased some for every day. 

I quickly replaced my paper towel holder by the sink with a basket full of hand towels.  Very important to have towels close by with little ones.  And having them in open view really helps. 

And for rags I cut up old towels that I was going to toss or give away.  So glad I found a purpose for them. This was a bath size towel that is now 12 rags for cleaning or dusting. So far these work really well and if for some reason I see I need more I still have another towel I could cut up.

 

 

For kitchen counters I use a super absorbent wipe I found at Kroger.  Six for $1!  In green, blue and yellow.  I loved the bright colors.  They are the ones in the bottom of the picture below. And much to my surprise I am able to wash these a few times before they completely fall apart.  These as well as the rags above I keep near by in a cabinet.  Everyone knows where these are for emergencies!

For napkins I wasn't sure what I was going to do.  Cloth napkins are an investment up front, but after that well worth it to me.  My concern was size.  Typical cloth napkins are HUGE!  In my search I found  cloth napkins come in a range of sizes. One big square ranging in size from 16 inches all the way up to 21 inches.  So I started looking at cloth cocktail napkins. And these come in different sizes too. Some are as big as the paper napkins we were using.  And I figured because the boys usually use their sleeves and pants as a napkin  rarely use much of a napkin I knew the cocktail napkins would be the perfect size.  As we started using cloth I sat back and watched us all eat.  We are not messy people. Not even the boys for the most part.  Oh sure there are times when certain foods require more napkin, but the majority of the time a small napkin works fine.  I am sure their age has a lot to do with it too.  If they were younger I am not sure I could have made this switch.

So here are the napkins. The big one is 16x16, medium 9x9 and smallest 6x6.  The smallest is small.  Almost too small for a napkin, but the perfect size for a snack.....granola bar, brownie, or piece of toast.  In fact before we went paperless I would use a paper napkin to give the boys a granola bar and for my toast each morning.  This small one is perfect for that now.

I prefer the medium size for meal times, but have also invested in the typical size as well.  I keep those for when we have guests.  We are still using the Christmas ones and the others for every day.

If you are thinking of making the switch Google paperless kitchen.  There are tons of posts out there.  Along with the link above here are a couple that helped me make the switch.......
This one and this one .  Anytime you find a link make sure you read through all the comments too.  That is where I have found great tips and ideas from those who have already made the paperless change.

Why go paperless you might ask?  A few reasons for our family. 

1. Less waste
2. Less cost
3. Less space
4. Freedom from running out of paper towels!
5. Teaches the boys to get away from disposables (Thanks to a link above. Otherwise I never would have even thought about this reason!).
6. And last, but certainly not least it makes me feel green.  Kinda like I did yesterday when I left the grocery store using nothing but reusable grocery bags!

Thinking of going paperless?  Maybe you have already.  Leave me a comment I would love to hear about it.