I haven't gone paper free but I've cut down quite a bit on paper. Recently at Target I saw that they had microfiber washcloths in their dollar aisle. Bright colors (pink, orange, blue) but two to a pack for just $1 so I loaded up on those and they're fantastic. Since they're the weird microfiber fabric, they are very absorbant so they clean up messes very well but they also dry very quickly so they don't smell mildewy like other washcloths tend to do after a while. I use a new one every day and I go through far far less paper towels than ever before.

I've been working really hard on having a paperless kitchen (I don't have any kids, so you think it would be easy enough to get just me and my fiance on board...haha). We're doing a pretty good job, but I feel like I go through A LOT of clothes. We drop off our laundry and don't have a washing machine. I wonder can I just wash with a little bleach water and baking soda in the meantime? I also wonder how much water I'm using washing all of these dish towels. I wonder about that with the arguement for our against cloth diapers. Are the water and soap we use to clean these things just as unproductive as tossing a seventh gen papertowel? I'd love to know more about this if anyone can point to a useful article!! Thanks!

I had a paperless kitchen before having kids, so I was never used to being able to use paper to clean kids' messes; I think that helped me a lot, actually. I have a toddler and a preschooler, and they find paper napkins at restaurants to be a novelty. My best advice is that switching one thing at a time is a lot easier than just going cold turkey (first napkins, then sponges, etc.).

Also, I'd like to second the microfiber cloths. I was recently given some as a gift, and I thought I would hate them because I don't like the texture. I still don't like the feeling of them, but they do dry incredibly quickly and end up feeling much less gross and slimy than washcloths.

microfiber towels are great for most anything your kids can dish out.. theyre usually softer than the standard towel/fabric and dry faster after use and in the dryer as well. :)

All or our flannel burp cloths have been reborn as cloths for cleaning up toddler messes. We keep a stack of them handy, on a shelf where they can be easily reached from the kitchen or dining table. I just rinse/wring and hang them over a line in the shower (actually a second tension rod we put inside and a bit lower than the shower curtain rod, so you can't see it when the curtain is closed). Then I just throw them in when I do laundry (with two 2-year-olds I do a load most days). Or I'll throw them in with the other dish towels when I get a load of those, and add vinegar. Since they get washed with vinegar every couple times, stinky cloths have not been a problem. The key is having a lot of cloths so you always have a some clean ones available.

Oh, and we had already been using cloth napkins and dish towels for years before the kids came along.

On a related note, I've been trying for a while to find substitutes for plastic dish brushes, Tuffy scrubbers, etc. I had already switched to biodegradable sponge cloths but my husband just couldn't part with his Tuffy. Then I found a little plastic scraper that he says almost makes up for the loss of the Tuffy, which I banned. And recently I found a biodegradable brush at my local hardware store. It's made from bamboo and a plant-based plastic. Next I want to get some crocheted (washable) dish cloths and get rid of the biodegradable sponges.

Just chiming to agree that have A LOT of cloths makes all the difference. I bought a big box of flour sack dishtowels on eBay. I dedicated a kitchen drawer to them and use them instead of paper towels (I had already stopped using paper napkins). They don't add that much to my laundry load and store easily.

I only have three categories of paper replacements. Cloth napkins, rag type dish towels for wet messes and small pieces of receiving blanket that were surged to washcloth size.

Under my kitchen sink I have a two tiered basket holder on the top I keep clean towels and rags and in the bottom I throw all the dirty ones to be washed. Its such an easy system for us.

We keep a roll of paper towels hidden for some really gross jobs though. We go through a roll every 3-6 months.

I just went paperless last month, and I have to say it was really really simple. I only spent $2 on some reusable cloths (they were $1 for a pack of 6 very large clothes that I cut in half). I use those instead of sponges or paper towels to wipe up, and we use the cloth napkins that we use to only take out on special occasions for mealtime. My husband squirmed at the thought of change, but is really excited with how easy and great it is. My kids don't mind at all, and they benefit by being conscious of their impact. Five thumbs up for paperless kitchens - I can not tell you how much paper we wasted before!

we are paperless with a toddler. We wipe noses with cloth diapers or flannel pieces I've cut up. We also keep a basket in the kitchen for dirty bibs,napkins- linens etc. It takes a little getting use to but we love it!

We aren't totally paperless yet, no, er, "family cloth" here. But we are pretty close. The baby is in cloth diapers, the toddler potty learned pretty early and is in training pants, we have a million dishclothes, a good supply of cloth napkins, and everything else gets picked, up, wiped, or sneezed into little cheapo washclothes from the baby section. They do everything. Washing ever week is minimal.

I do keep a roll of brown 7th Generation papertowels. That color makes me feel much guiltier than white.

I know this isn't the answer to the paper problem, but I feel very lucky to live in a community that has curbside composting. All of those paper towels and used dinner napkins (of which there are few) can go right into the compost bin and back to nature where they originally came from. I too use a variety of dish cloths, microfiber cloths, and cloth napkins. My children have cloth napkins in their school lunchbags as well. But you can't beat the ease of an old fashioned paper towel for that quick clean up!

i was on the road to no paper towels untill i realized that my husband was cleaning dog pee,pooh and barf with our towels. not reaching for news paper or a mop but our cute dish towels were cleaning pooh!!! horrified we have paper back. i am slowly breaking him of the stryophome cups ,plates and plastic ware he seems to be so fond of. its hard when one spouse dosent think twice and the other feels the guilt of the hippy on there shoulders!

I think the hardest part is that, in our house at least, the used cloths and towels pile up on the counter. I have a laundry bag for them but I never seem to be able to keep up. Not such a huge deal though.

We also must keep a combo because of the pet issue. I don't like to wipe anything from the floor with a cloth. And since we have both a dog and toddler I won't be giving up the paper for floor spills anytime soon.

@tisdella -
We are mostly paperless (puffs plus tissues are my guilty pleasure, everything else is cloth).

I don't think the washing is bad as we are very conscious about HOW we wash. We use a biodegradable soap and cold water for just about everything except poopy gdiapers (better than total cloth, IMHO!) and especially dirty kitchen messes. I only do one hot load per week with a 15 mo old in the house!

Its the bleach, chemicals and energy to make the water hot where we loose our environmental gains in using cloth. (Though I am aware that water is precious, I would use some grey water if I could but living in the city in rentals we are just not set up for it.)

We aren't too far from paperless, but my husband starts tweaking out when we don't buy paper towels for awhile. We use cloth napkins for dining, cloth diapers, and lots of dish towels for general purpose cleaning... but he still feels funny about not having paper towels around. I just keep adding to our cloth stacks and hoping he'll catch on soon. If we have paper towels around I also find myself using them, but if we don't have them around I don't ever miss them. He does, though, but I think we can work through it.

The environmental costs of cleaning cloth towels, napkins, handkerchiefs, and diapers (even with the use of bleach and soap) comes no where near the environmental costs of their paper counterparts. Most home paper products are chemically pulped, bleached, and have chemical additives that improve the strength, fragrance, and design. Not to mention that these products are made from trees, use large amounts of energy in their production and transport, and end up in a landfill after one use. My mother came from a poor family, so aside from toilet paper, everything else in our house growing up was cloth. I do the same with my family now.

We only have fur kids so far, but I have a paperless kitchen simply because paper towels are kind of ugly! I found big, white flour sack dishtowels at Walmart (I know, but come on! 5 for 6.99 can't be beat!) and I dyed them pretty colors.

Whenever they start looking spotty, I redye them. I keep them in a basket on the counter and they take up little space in the wash. And yes, the spouse uses them!

I find making cloth napkins a great way to use up extra yardage of fabric, too! Nothing matches, but they are adorable!

A batch of flour sack towels and a stack of retired cloth diapers (you can purchase them from a diaper service) and dye them different colors for different purposes. icky pet mess never need touch your kitchen towels again :)

I cut up my old towels, hem them, and use them as kitchen 'mop up' clothes. Obviously I've heaps from re-cycling old towels so when I have a big pile I toss them in the washing machine and 'boil wash' them about once every three weeks.

This sterilises them AND is good for cleaning the goo (fabric conditioner and laundry detergent) out of your washing machine pipes to keep your appliance in tip top condition (I've the same washing machine for over 12 years!!)