Kitchen Towels on the Cheap

Hello All!!! Let me start off by saying how pleased i am you stopped by to give me a read. I assure you, it really makes me happy and for that: I Thank You.
Now let me just ramble on a minute here and see if i can clear the cobwebs a bit. It occurred to me the other day my kitchen towels looked like hell or "Aych-ee-double hockey sticks if you prefer. In fact they were so bad that had i been so inclined to sew them all together, i'd have made a reasonably functional sieve for tennis balls. Though i will admit, there isn't much of a demand for such an item; So, i threw them out. Well, i did keep the best of the lot for working on the car or grill or what have you and threw the worst of those away as well. Before i get on to these towels, let me set this up a bit. This is something of a philosophical thing and you might glean something of value in a different aspect of your life if you knew the rationale behind this.
I want to talk about purpose and re-purpose for a minute. I'd be willing to bet you have at least one thing in your home that started its life as one thing and has now been given a second career or even a third. Those things that have taken on a second life, doing something other than what they were made to do originally is a re-purposed item. Don't get me wrong here. I'm not talking about reusing butter tubs for leftovers, but that is a re-purposed item. Surely, i'm not the only one who's done that. In fact, i can think of a few things right now that have been re-purposed around this house that i can't imagine what i used before. For Instance: I water my lovely babies (house plants) with a U.S. Marine Corps sports bottle that the guys quit using because it didn't seal when closed, I keep my 25lb bag of flour in an old fashioned sealed lid diaper pail that never was used, My eggs are in a small basket i got with a bath set years ago (dreadful stuff, but a great basket), and my liquid dish soap is in the empty bottle of Hummingbird Farms Lavender Lotion from the first time we got some. You see, re-purposing stuff isn't so horrible you just have to have the right item for the right job. Which brings me to the kitchen towels.
After i threw all the old towels out, i needed new ones. I knew had i not thrown them away, it may have been months before i got new ones. I don't know if you have checked the price of them lately, but to me it seems like a terrible waste of money for something that's inevitably going to get dirty, stained, and tossed. I was going to mention something about paper towels and their cost here too, but you may find you no longer have a need for paper towels at all after this.
Here is what i do. Instead of going to a department store, or Target, or the devilstore and pay a couple bucks or more each for towels to clean up, wipe down, and dry my hands on, I go to the auto parts store. Yes, you heard me correctly on that; the auto parts store. nearly all of them sell white cotton terry cloth towels for working on your car. I'm talking cotton, white, terry cloth, not some synthetic, microfiber, or the red mechanic rags (that would just be too disturbing). They are usually sold in bundles, for instance i got 24 towels for 14 bucks. What is that?? 60 or so cents each?? Now that's a price i can live with and not care how long they last. The terry cloth will seem a bit thin and open woven, or cheap, but that's because they are cheap. Here's the thing though, when you get them home and start using them, after about four washes they really plump up and work very well. I know you are probably reading this and saying "So What". Well, the "So What" is that they are cotton. You can bleach the hell out of them and toss them in the dryer. For instance, today i was baking a Cinderella Pumpkin and the cake pan i had it in overflowed with liquid from the squash. The bottom of my oven was a swamp and i had to soak it up quickly and let's face it, paper towels would have fallen short of the optimum result. I tossed them in the washer with some soap and bleach and they were as good as new. I do keep a few of them nice and white just in case we have company. I'll admit that one, but the cutsie hand towels on the refrigerator and oven are as clean as day one. One last thought, i haven't bought a roll of paper towels since i started doing this 7 or 8 years ago. I bet if you added it up, the savings from that would be worth a look.
Next time, i'll show you why not all pumpkins are created equal.

Until then, May Peace be with You, D