Thursday, June 25, 2009

Rich in Rags

I'll admit at the outset that this is not likely to be my most stimulating post of all time. I mean, I'll do my best to employ the gifts of florid prose and rapier wit with which I have been endowed, but just how exciting can a post about dishrags be?
Here at my parents house, there have always been several drawers chock-a-block full of rags of every variety, from pristine waffled dish towels to ripped up old t-shirts. But I've noticed that in more modern households, people seem to replace rags with paper towels, which are less absorbent and gentle, and so much more wasteful (even though they're better, don't fool yourself with those Seventh Generation ones- just 'cause they're brown doesn't mean that they're green).
It's time to load up on rags- quite possibly the most versatile and reusable household tool you can buy. Here are the ragtag kinds that I use:

Williams-Sonoma striped dish towels, $16 for a set of 8. Perfect for drying plates and glasses without linty residue. Or tuck one in your apron while you're cooking to serve as an impromptu potholder or non-slip base for a cutting board. As an added bonus you'll look so sharp and chef-y.




ProForce Terry Towels, about $20 for 60, from Sam's Club, Costco, or AllmartShopping.com. You'll want to buy these suckers in bulk- I bought one pack at Costco when I first moved to New York six years ago and I still use the same ones every day. They are perfect for sopping up spills, wiping off countertops, dusting, drying off dogs, strapping to your feet to dry a mopped floor... pretty much anything you can think of. And they're cheap enough to use for cleaning up paint and stain spills and other messy home improvement projects. A real rag of tricks.

1 comment:

Nelly said...

I like the idea of getting cheap towels for cleaning, because most of the people uses paper towels which creates a lot of garbage, and terry towels saves a lot of money as well.
Nelly