In Praise of Rags

Sorry I have been so lax on posting lately. Seems like I have not had alot of creative energy for writing, but have been busy cooking, cleaning and getting a few Christmas gift ideas together. With all the cleaning, I started thinking about how I love my rags.

Some of my friends have said I have the nicest rags in town. Guess that is my claim to fame, albeit not a very distinguished one.

I am from the era before paper towels. When did paper towels show up in kitchens and cleaning buckets anyway? When I was growing up we did not have paper towels because we had hand towels to wipe our wet hands on, dishtowels for drying dishes and rags under the sink for cleaning and absorbing spills. They were changed and washed regularly. Yes paper towels are a convenience, although… one I have never really gotten into using, except for an occasional bit of cat barf or dog poo.

One rag will do the job of 4-5 paper towels. If you do not have old towels or clothes to make into rags you can buy a pack of cheap wash cloths or shop rags and they will last you for years. In my way of thinking paper towels are an unnecessary item and extra cost. It is like throwing away money. I have heard you can shred or wet them and use them in compost, but have not tried it.

My rags are mostly from terrycloth towels which no longer matched my décor or became too worn and tattered for daily use. They were cut to a manageable size, which means small enough to wring out, but large enough to do the job. The edges are zigzagged on my sewing machine. Over the years I found that if they were edge stitched they lasted a lot longer. Then I did not have to untangle them when the edges became frayed and wound their raveled strings to other pieces of laundry. Then they have a new home in my rag hamper in the laundry room or under the bathroom and kitchen sinks.

I have rags that are used exclusively for certain purposes, like those I will use with furniture polish, which are kept in a metal coffee can, as they could be flammable. Floor cleaning or bathroom cleaning rags are only used for those purposes. Then they are washed with bleach or soaked in bleach before washing. The rags that are very worn out are used to polish shoes, clean the dogs muddy feet or clean up nasty messes and then are thrown out. My old cotton dishtowels which get stained and grubby looking are saved and used when I clean mirrors, glass top tables and do windows.

So what does one do with a dirty rag? Rinse them out, let them dry and wash them with other grubby laundry. The ones that are used for heavy duty cleaning are washed with rugs. Like when we used cloth diapers you can put them in a bucket of water with soap and a bit of bleach until you are ready to wash them.

I have never kept sponges, as I feel they breed germs, although I have read you can microwave them a few minutes and kill anything living in them.

In my kitchen I have a terry cloth hand towel for wiping my wet hands on and a dishtowel for drying my dishes, as I do not have a dishwasher. (Usually the dishes are not wiped but air dried.) They are changed every few days and all washed once a week. It is still possible to find the nice cotton muslin dishtowels at Wal-Mart. Gone are the days when the young ladies embroidered the days of the week on the dishtowels for their hope chests.

When walking down the cleaning supply aisles in the stores I am amazed what people pay for all the new cleaning gadgets and stuff, when a rag would work solve the cleaning problem. They are fun to try, but I always go back to my old rags and not continue to buy and buy.