I know what you are thinking, “stop using paper towels…are you crazy!”.  Really, it is not that crazy at all.  You may be addicted to the convenience of the paper towels you have hanging in your kitchen, but really, do you know how many tree’s were cut down just so you can have the convenience of wiping up some spilled juice off the counter?  The reality is that about 90% of households use paper towels on a daily basis and that produces 3,000 tons of waste each day in paper towels alone.  That is 3.4 million cubic feet of landfill space and 864,000 trees per year.

If you could replace your paper towels with a paperless solution such as cloth wipes, cloth hand towels or even just a kitchen sponge you would be helping to save the planet and the tree’s as well as saving some money.  The average cost of a roll of paper towels is $1.50 and if a household uses approximately 2 to 3 rolls per month that is on average $3.75 plus tax per month, not to mention all of the tree’s that were cut down and all of the waste you are sending to the landfill.  That is $45 per year in paper towels. Now, if you purchase cloth towels such as the Twist paper-less towels here they will cost only $4.50 plus tax and will last for many years to come, not to mention they also look pretty cool and they can absorb 10 times their weight in any liquid. Each day I use 1 cloth kitchen towel to dry my hands after a wash or to dry a dish.  At the end of the day that towel goes into the hamper.  I really only need 10 towels on hand for cleaning up messes and spills and for drying my hands.  When I do the laundry the towel goes right in with it, easy as that.

There are many options for paper-less towel solutions such as:

Organic Cotton Kitchen Hand Towels

Organic Cotton Kitchen Wipes/Swiffer Pads

Modern Kitchen Towels

Really, any kitchen towel, cloth wipe, handmade towel or rag that you have will work to replace a paper towel.  You can have custom kitchen towels made to match your home decor or you can buy pre-made towels at local stores such as The Christmas Tree Shops.  I just bought 2 sets of hand towels from the Christmas Tree Shops for $4.oo per set (5 Towels) and they have great designs on them and work great.

Try the Paper Towel Challenge and see if you can lower your paper towel usage today.

Some interesting articles about using less paper towels:

Blisstree.com
eHow.com
One Drop of Rain Campaign
Little Green Blog

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If you have not done so yet, you MUST get a home energy audit.  There is no fee, no charge and it can save you money!  You may even qualify for a Brand new Fridge, Furnace, Insulation and more.  I found out about the home energy audit when I went to an event called “Making Ends Meet” at a local elementary school this past fall.  The Cape Light Compact had a booth there where they were giving out FREE CFL light bulbs and asking people to sign up for a FREE home energy audit.

When you have your audit, someone will come to your home and walk through your house with you and ask you several questions regarding your electrical usage.  You will be told how energy efficient your home is and what you can do to make it better.  In some cases your home can be perfect and in other cases your home may be energy inefficient.  Either way, there is no cost and it is worth doing.

I just had my home energy audit yesterday and it was very informative and I learned a lot about my home and my energy usage.  I was told that some areas of my home need to have more insulation while others need to have less insulation.  I was also given tips on how to save money on electricity such as: using the microwave more than the oven, turning the heated dry OFF on my dishwasher and double spinning my clothes in the washer.

During the audit they look for things such as a fridge that is older than 13 years and if you have one, they will replace  it at no cost to you with a brand new fridge.  They also give you all new CFL light bulbs to replace all of your Incandescent light bulbs.  That in itself can cost up to $100 and more if you had to buy them yourself.  Plus, using the new CFL light bulbs you will save money on your electric bill.

At the end of the audit they printed out a graph and information about MY energy and electric usage so I could see what it is costing me per month and year.  I noticed that I use my computers more than the average household which in turn uses more electricity.  I can compare my usage with the average usage to see where I can try to use less energy and save more money.

The phone number to call to sign yourself up for an energy audit is: 1-800-797-6699

Here is a web page that talks about what the energy audit covers and why you should have one: http://www.capelightcompact.org/home_energy_audit.html

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