I live, write, and garden in the PNW with my husband of 28 years, disabled daughter, adult son, and my 84-year-old mother. We have paid off $250,000.00 worth of debt (if you include the interest) in the last fifteen years and as of 6/12/2020 are 100% DEBT FREE!!!!There is a quote that goes "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." Lately I've been having to make do or do without paper towels. This wasn't an actual choice on my part, I just apparently get a brain cloud whenever I go to the grocery store and keep forgetting to get paper towels. This probably has something to do with having a case from Costco that lasted a year so I never even had to think about it for months.
I don't use them too much, just mostly to drain food that has a bit too much oil on it or collecting out the hamburger fat. We use wash cloths or linen napkins at the table. For a while now I've been using napkins instead of paper towels for draining food. We don't eat out that much here, but there is a drive-in we go to about twice a month and they give us enough napkins to clean a small country.
Well, I finally made it through my stash of those napkins and I've been looking around for what I could use in place of paper towels. It needed to be something absorbent and that got me to thinking. Flannel. I had a small stash of flannel that had never been used left over from my mother's cloth diaper making years ago for my sister's last child. They had been cut to diaper size but never hemmed. I took one and cut it in half, did a couple quick hems, and washed the two pieces. I tried it out when draining my homemade French fries. It works very well. And once used can just be tossed in with the towels to be washed.
I'm not sure I'm ready to switch completely away from paper towels just yet, it's one of those non-frugal things I've held onto, but until I remember to actually buy them, this is working out fine. Plus I had a lot of fun teasing my kids when they asked what I had drained it on and I said, "Oh, just some old diaper...material." They totally freaked with my pause. But once they realized the material had never been used as a diaper they were fine. Yes, sometimes Mama has a slightly twisted sense of humor.
I think once the flannel sheets go on clearance this year, I will pick up a twin top sheet, and make it into non-paper toweling and we'll give it a shot for awhile. I need more practice hemming anyway.
What do you make do with when you find yourself without a convenience item easily at hand?
Make it Do or Do Without--A Little Weird, but Whatever Works
January 5th, 2013 at 05:19 pm
January 5th, 2013 at 06:10 pm 1357409407
January 5th, 2013 at 09:30 pm 1357421409
January 5th, 2013 at 11:07 pm 1357427260
January 6th, 2013 at 02:57 am 1357441022
January 6th, 2013 at 03:40 am 1357443613
A make do tip .. probably one you know -- make buttermilk by adding a tsp of vinegar to milk. (I haven't tried this trick with my rice milk - wonder if it would work the same?)
January 6th, 2013 at 02:12 pm 1357481527
January 6th, 2013 at 03:14 pm 1357485267
January 6th, 2013 at 04:15 pm 1357488931