New to Plastic Free living? Start here!
Hello everyone!
I wanted to share a bit of my plastic free journey in order to help anyone afraid to make the jump. Living plastic free can feel scary and daunting, but I am happy to share my positive experience making one simple switch. I think that people are afraid to start living plastic free, because they can feel guilt if they mess up or if they are imperfect. Let me be the person who gives you permission to simply do your best. Every single time that you opt out of using single use plastic you are making a difference! My first real change in the way that I operated was to switch out my single use, disposable paper towels for reusable ones, and let me tell you, it has been much easier than I feared it would.
My journey begins around Christmas last year, when I was being asked by family members what I wanted for Christmas. Being fed up with having to come up with gifts, I decided to be real practical with it, so I asked my family members to buy me reusable paper towels. Boom. My journey had started and I really didn't have to do anything. Since then, I haven't bought one case of paper towels. I owe all of my success in ditching disposable paper towels to a few organization hacks:
Separate your cleaning rags from the ones you will be using as napkins (highly suggest thrifting fancy cloth napkins!)
Further separate your cleaning rags (I did by color so that I can keep anything used for "yucky" places from mixing with others).
Labeled bins!!!! I have "cleaning rags", "paper towels", and "dirty towel" bins in my closet.
Wash often. I have been doing this for five months now, and there has not been one time that I have ran out of rags. My main help is throwing cleaning rags directly into the washing machine on my big house clean days.
That system has worked for me, and when I say if I can do it, so can you, I mean it. I am a busy mom with two loads of laundry sitting on my couch waiting to be put away, but somehow I haven't ran out of clean rags in five months. It helps that you don't have to fold the rags, you can just throw them in the designated bins. It has quickly become my favorite laundry to do, and I hate laundry. Switching from single use napkins and paper towels has saved me a ton of money in the long run. I no longer have to run to the store when I'm on my last paper towel. In fact, I'm not the only person who has adjusted swimmingly. Over Easter, my six year old son was befuddled when our hosts had us using paper napkins, and didn't understand why he would throw it away once he was done. It made me realize how much we have normalized single use materials when unnecessary.
I've attached a photo of my hall closet in all its glory. You can zoom in to see my labeled bins for my rags as well as my shopping totes that I keep on the door for easy reach. The best part of my system is that it works with my daily life to make things easier, not more challenging. I urge you to find systems that work for you!
