Paper towels: Not necessary

My third "Sustainable Tip" for Growcology's March newsletter:

With paper towels, "disposable" is an understatement. Their purpose is to be used once and discarded. Many things you do with a paper towel (mop up spills, wipe counters, clean kids' faces, dry your hands) can also be taken care of with a cloth. What's stopping you? Using cloth instead of paper saves both money and trees.

To get started, collect your cloths. You'd be surprised how many cloths you have within reach. You can use stained table napkins, worn T-shirts, clean cloth diapers, old dish towels or pretty much any fabric items that have run their course. Keep a clean stack or two of these in a drawer or under the sink -- possibly separated into a "nice" stack for drying/wiping things and a "yucky" stack for big messes. (You'd wipe your hands or face with cloths from the "nice" stack, but not from the "yucky" one.)

After using a cloth, either rinse and line dry it or rinse, wring and throw it in the washing machine until your next wash. Soon enough, you'll be weaned off your paper towel habit.

Awards for 2010

Baby steps in green became great strides for me this year. Here is a Top 3 List of green actions I tried, followed by an Honorable Mention for something that was not quite so successful:

1. Planting a community garden bed. Not only did this succeed wildly in saving me money and giving me peace of mind about where my food comes from, but I ENJOYED the activity immensely. With very little start-up cost and minimum upkeep (I visit about every other day for 5-10 minutes), my 4-by-8 raised bed has already given me loads of lettuce/arugula/greens and promises tons of peas, carrots, onions, radishes, broccoli and strawberries within weeks. The garden also inspired me to start coursework in October 2010 to become a Master Gardener with UCCE.
Awarded the NEVER TOO LATE Green Trophy.

2. Using nontoxic cleaners. Some of the first baby steps I took in this blog were to begin employing vinegar, baking soda and my own safe mixtures to clean around the house. The house remains just as clean as before (wink, wink), yet now I don't put any bleach, Tilex, Drano or other toxic chemicals down the drain or into my family's bodies.
Awarded the NEVER TOO LATE Wreath of Health.

3. Drying clothes on the line. Personally, this project seemed the most unlikely to succeed due to the time expense and the weather conditions. Yet, I was both able to find the time and endure the desert heat for months, which saved me money and gave me some much-needed meditation minutes while hanging clothes.
Awarded the NEVER TOO LATE Cup of Sustainability.

And an Honorable Mention goes to the attempt at diapering my youngest in cloth. She didn't go for it, and I couldn't seem to find the right wrapper. She will soon be toilet trained.

All in all, a successful year. Tentative green plans for 2011 include making a worm composting bin (!), canning some of the abundance from my garden, volunteering locally with the Master Gardener program and using Craisglist and Freecycle instead of buying new.

On board

Hooray, I found a store that actually sells cloth diaper products and was able to discern what will work -- I hope -- for us.

Somewhat back on track

Doing laundry today, and though it is humid, I will hang what I can to dry outside.

The borax/baking soda mixture in the dishwasher started not working anymore--there was a film on everything. It was wonderful for a couple weeks, and I was prepared to never buy dishwasher soap again. But it began creating a buildup on glasses and wasn't cleaning anymore. In the future I will use it in a pinch (like for a few days when my soap runs out). It may be best just to clean and freshen up the dishwasher every month or so. My current experiment with that is to use a cup of vinegar in the dishwasher and see if it cuts through the film. Stay tuned ...

So that diaper experiment ... when I am prepared to write about it, I will. As of this posting, I am still in the weeds with it.

Backsliding

Today, I just threw all the wet, clean towels from the July Fourth holiday right in the dryer.

Bought a bunch of fruit and vegetables today and didn't even look at where it was from.

Dreading the diaper experiment.

Still cleaning with vinegar and baking soda though! And heard of a new way to make dishwasher soap. Two teaspoons borax and two teaspoons baking soda. Hope springs eternal!

This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy ...

I feel like Clark Griswold from "National Lampoon's Vacation" did as he clapped his hands together right before diving in the pool (skinny dipping).

I just had a wonderful (awful) idea.

After watching a YouTube video of a baby dancing in his diapers, I remembered that at one time I'd wanted to diaper my children in cloth. The hopeful plan soon fell by the wayside--it didn't quite stand up to the reality of an infant's 10 to 12 changes a day.

Reminded of this good intention gone awry, I thought, "Well, it's too late now."

But wait a second. This is called NeverTooLateToGreen, right?

You see where I am going here ...

My daughter Charlotte--17 months--still wears diapers. And though she occasionally uses the potty, she generally goes through 3 to 4 diapers a day.

The challenge: Once the diapers I have are used up (maybe about 25 left) we are going cloth! For real this time.