Save Money While Cleaning Up

In my experience, the job title "Stay at Home Mom" is synonymous with "Cleaner of All Things Dirty."  One way I have learned to "earn" money by saving money is by cutting back on my paper towel usage.

It is easy to whip through several rolls per week without even thinking about it.  Is this mindless wiping?  In search of MY most favorite paper towel, I would have to say the quicker-picker-upper Bounty wins.  One does lasts through several wipes and you can rinse it out and use it again.  I couldn't believe how sturdy this paper towel was! You simply save money by not using as many.  I like to use the select your size type so you can use the smaller ones for little messes.

Which leads to an additional way to save money and "earn" yourself a little extra cash:  use cloth napkins and kitchen towels instead of paper towels. I try not to use paper towels unless it is obviously something that needs to go straight in the trash cash or will completely ruin my kitchen towels.

Let's start with the cloth napkins.  There are several ways to save on these if you don't already have some.  You can buy them from a consignment store or garage sale, buy them in bulk, or make your own all you crafty ladies.  If there are several people in your family, you can do something so everyone can tell them a part and use them more than once if possible.  I've tried several ways and all of them work great:  have a different colored napkin for each person, or a different napkin ring for each person, or have each person keep their napkin at their usual seat at the table, or have the names put on them. You can get white ones and have the family decorate their own with Sharpies!  At Linen Table Cloth, you can buy napkins in sets of twelve for as low as $6.69 for a dozen.  I've also purchased mine at Target  and Home Goods when they are on clearance.  BTW: I never iron mine!  What's the point?

Use your kitchen towels for everything else until you drive them into the ground! By far, my most favorite type of kitchen towel is the flour sack.  It is big, absorbent, sturdy, inexpensive, and I can bleach them.  I have about 2 dozen and use them to pick up spills, dry hands, as place mats for the kids, for washing and drying dishes, and cleaning off counter tops and out refrigerators---just about anything I would use a paper towel for.  I purchased mine on clearance at Target about two years ago and they are still ticking!  I also just found a set of a dozen for $16.99 at Amazon and they come with free shipping for a purchase of $25, so it is a good deal if you buy two sets.  (I have not tried this specific brand, but it has a  4 1/2 star rating).

Once you wade all through that, here is your total yearly savings on papers towels:
A bulk roll of 12 costs on average (without tax) $14, so each roll costs $1.17.  So, if I cut back and only use 1 roll per month instead of 10, I would save approximately $140.40 per year!