16 June 2008

PTC (Paper Towel Challenge) Update

Yesterday was the best father's day ever, because my kids spent the whole day with their father so I got the whole day off. Unintentional on his part, sure, but still glorious. Anyway, I went to Target and I got 1 pack of bar towels, 1 pack of "multipurpose" rags (these look like washclothes) and 1 pack of scrubbing dishclothes, which are the coolest things I have ever seen. (Okay, not really, but they are very cool). Basically, they are like washclothes on one side, and have a mesh sown into the other side, for scrubbing. The total for these three things was $15.00.

My sponge is really new, so I am going to finish it up before switching over, but I used the rags for cleaning the counter and that worked out well.

I did have to use paper towels, though, when my three year old peed on the floor this morning. He's potty training, and apparently terrified to point his penis down. I mean, I *guess* it's better to pee on the floor than to be a 3 1/2 year old who wears pull ups... I'm not sure who it's better for, though. The environment? Bounty? Sigh.

A quick garden update: broccoli is ripe, nearly overrips, and I can't stop eating it. Rhubarb is yummy, I made the rhubarb crisp recipe from You Grow Girl and it was really, really good. My Early Girl tomato plant has a tiny green tomato, and my eggplants have purple flowers. And I apparently grow basil really well, as I have A. TON. of it. Yum.

4 comments:

Misty said...

I found your blog from BBC- I'm seroiusly considering the PTC. I just bought tons at CVS, but I hate seeing them wasted all the time. Now if I could only convince my DH. And I'm really jealous of your garden. I NEED a garden!

Lesley said...

We haven't used paper towels in over 2 years. Our solution to the potty training issue was to buy a few "pee/barf" towels. We got them at Goodwill and those towels are only used to clean up pee or barf, whether it be from a child or a dog. Then I throw the towels in our high-efficiency washer on a sterilize cycle.

Anonymous said...

Old clothing can be turned into rags, esp. old worn out kids clothes.
I don't understand why you didn't use your new rags to clean up your kids pee, that's what they're for isn't it?

Jaime said...

I want to respond to the last comment. I could give you a lot of reasons why I didn't clean up the pee with a rag, but the truth is, I didn't want to. I have a very old washing machine that doesn't get hot enough to sterilize, and I didn't want to wash a pee-filled rag with the ones I wipe off my kitchen table with.

As for the old clothes, my kids are so little that their outgrown clothes are still in perfect condition, so I give them to friends.

I guess what I'm saying is there is always a MORE frugal or MORE green way of doing things, and everyone has their own level of comfort on those things. For me, a pick-a-size paper towel was a necessary evil on this day.