6. Make reusable “paper” towels

Making your own reusable "paper" towels does require a little sewing, so if you (or someone you know) don't have access/ability to sew, this one may not be for you.  The tutorial that I used can be found here.  I found the flour sack cloth at my local Wal-Mart Superstore in the section with oven mitts and kitchen towels.  They had white, red, and black.  I went with white just because I'm a traditionalist and I like my paper towels to be white :).  As stated in the tutorial, the towels are very large.  I cut 24 "select-a-size" pieces from each towel.  The way the towels are folded, you can just cut along the creases to get this size.  24 "select-a-size" pieces x 5 towels = 120 paper towels.  I used a serger to finish off the edges so that they wouldn't fray and viola...Done!  I put a small basket that I got from a thrift store for 50 cents next to the sink and I put the towels there (right next to the paper towels).  It did take a little while to retrain the family to stop using the paper towels, but it has sunk in and is working great!  We do still use the paper towels for really bad messes (like grease) because I really don't want to have to try to launder something like that out of them.  I'm estimating that we use one roll of real paper towels about every 3-4 months.  It might actually be longer than that.  The set of flour sack towels actually made so many, that I put half the stack away.  When the ones I am currently using get torn up or stained too badly, I'll pull out the ones I have stored away.  I've been using these for over a year now and they are holding up really well.  Not only are you saving money, but you can save a tree or two as well.