Fired and Frugal Fridays: Say Goodbye to Paper Goods, Here’s How

no-paper-goodsThink you can’t get along without your paper plates, napkins, and paper towels? Think again. You most definitely can… and probably should try it. I know it’s possible since we’ve been doing just fine without them! Well, most paper goods, that is. Here’s what we’ve done thus far…

Paper plates, bowls, and cups

By and large we rarely used paper plates around our house unless we had friends with messy kids over. These days they never see the light of day anyway. Regardless, any and all paper plates (and bowls) we had lying around have been rounded up and saved for a real emergency. These days it’s reusable plates and bowls at all times.

The same can be said for the few plastic cups we occasionally used. Honestly, there’s no reason to use them around the house anyway and since we have plenty of reusable cups it was a no-brainer switch. The only other thing we’re thinking of implementing was some sort of a daily tag that says who’s cup it is as we’re inevitably washing perfectly good cups for no reason because nobody can remember whose cup is whose. This certainly adds to unnecessary dishwasher cycles.

Paper towels and napkins

Paper towels quickly got put away and saved for another day since 99% of the time we can just use dish towels. Fortunately, we have plenty of towels to use and since they’re easily added to any load of laundry it’s no big deal to use them at will.

Napkins, on the other hand, were a bit more difficult to get rid of, but mostly just because I was wholly accustomed to paper napkins. That said, we did have a dozen or so cloth napkins (I have no idea why) and so we started using them.

I should note that the cloth napkins get used fast and since we don’t do laundry everyday now we’re finding that we try to reuse napkins where possible. There are occasional meals, however, that don’t lend well to cloth napkins, such as BBQ meals (not like we get many of those these days) and so paper napkins still find use on rare occasion. I’d imagine we’ll eventually phase those out but since we still have several packages… we can splurge.

Facial tissue and toilet paper

These we have yet to give up. I just don’t see myself ever wanting to use a family cloth. And, even though I tried to keep a decent stock of toilet paper around the house, that stuff goes quick and as luck would have it we were “low” when our personal SHTF occurred. Let this be a reminder to you fine folks: STOCK MORE TOILET PAPER THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE USING!

You know how they say you should cut as much wood as you think you’ll need to keep your fire going all night and then double (or triple) that? Well, it’s equally good advice where toilet paper is concerned.

As for facial tissue, we don’t use that very often and we already had several boxes of kleenex as it was so we’re ok here for a while. That said, it *may* be worthwhile to look into purchase a dozen or two handkerchiefs in the future. In a pinch I guess we could use a cloth napkin, towel, or bandanna but we’re not there yet.

Final thoughts

Overall, I’d say we’ve had some easy successes here. Most of the paper goods you think you need to live are simply unnecessary. Use my experiences and reconsider your own needs… you may find a few things you can do and even save a few bucks. If you have any good suggestions, I’m all ears. Thank you.


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Comments

9 responses to “Fired and Frugal Fridays: Say Goodbye to Paper Goods, Here’s How”

  1. Rev. Dr. Michael E Harris

    I do use a ‘disposable’ cup in the bathroom for my use, but I can use it for two weeks before it becomes unusable. The bathroom is small (house is circa 1971) and there is no SAFE place for glass or plastic. I do have lots of paper towels on hand for nasty spills; most of the kitchen cleanup is done with sponge or the dish towel that hangs from the handle of the oven. I have two sponges in the kitchen–one is clean while the other one is in use, but I pop the ‘in use’ sponge into the dishwasher every time I use the dishwasher; I change the dish towel almost every day–I changed it three times last Saturday as the ‘cook’ was a bit messy.

    I have seasonal allergies (year round), so facial tissues are a must; I take a pill every day and use a nasal spray every morning, but I still need lots of tissues.

    I cannot imagine not having toilet paper. With a grown female in the house, the TP goes quickly.

    I suppose that cloth napkins would be useful, but I have not tried that yet.

    The nurse in the house is used to using one towel and one washcloth (at a minimum) each day, so the washer/dryer get a real workout.

    Olivia: facial tissue and toilet paper may not be of comparable softness for our use. I buy the tissue that works best for me, but we are using (until gone) the TP that she likes (disgusting stuff).

    It may take a bit more water to wash dishes in the machine than by hand, but we both hate diswashing. If we had a double sink, I would rethink this issue. I hate the thought of using a handkerchief for my nose and then folding it up to put back in my pocket.

  2. Dan

    The farmer down the street uses a great method for not having to use tissues. He puts a finger on one side of his nostrils to close it off and then blows out the other side, he then reverses the procedure for the other side of his nostrils and then uses the back of his hand to clean up what’s left over.

    1. The most brilliant method ever invented. 🙂

  3. ecomum

    The only paper goods I use is toilet paper. I’ve always used cloth napkins, and if you buy the type made of seersucker, they don’t need ironing, (same goes with tablecloths). I don’t use paper plates, etc, as I prefer to eat and drink from china or glass, as well as it being more eco-friendly and frugal.

    1. Good to know you’re doing your best to avoid paper goods. It’s been a relatively easy transition all things considered. The cloth napkins aren’t all bad… just don’t seem to have enough of them.

  4. Al

    How about being frugal by washing dishes by hand not using a dishwasher!! clothes washing by machine is easier but dishes!

    1. We still go through plenty of dishes, especially cups. That would be a serious change in habits! I would like to cut back on the amount of dishes we use and if we washed them by hand that would be a serious motivator. 😉

  5. olivia

    We don’t buy facial tissue….we just grab a piece of TP.

    1. I’ve never done the math but I wonder which is truly less expensive? I’d imagine TP but it’s easy to rip off a handful of sheets without thinking whereas you usually only grab just ONE facial tissue at a time. Thanks for the suggestion, Olivia.

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