Hand towels can be icky even in the best of situations. Drying your hand on a damp towel is counterproductive and let’s face it, even though we love our families, some of them aren’t the best of hand washers. 

I was introduced to the roll of paper towels in the bathroom by a coworker. And I thought it was genius until the sustainability shortfalls hit me, and I realized that using virgin paper to dry my hands and fill the landfill was not exactly aligned to my values. 

Another co-worker introduced me to fingertip towels. She was stylish and particular, and it seemed so *fancy* — I was sold. I also learned from her to have a separate basket in the bathroom seeded with a “used” towel, so guests would know what to do. Remember having people over? That used to be a thing.

I started with some pretty fancy fingertip towels. The problem was I couldn’t amass enough on my budget to get through a week. I eventually bought a bundle of low-cost washcloths and used those for a long time. Two downsides: 1) They didn’t have nicely finished edges, and they frayed; 2) they were also on the small side. 

I finally landed at a nice middle ground: six-packs of higher quality washcloths bought on sale–larger, softer, and finished edges.  We have about 24 for each bathroom. That’s not quite enough to get us through a week, so I will do a mid-week load when needed.

My cleaning routine: warm water with detergent plus vinegar in the bleach dispenser and an extra rinse. Move promptly to the dryer and dry using the sanitize dryer cycle.