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5 Easy Ways to Start Your Paperless Kitchen

February 26, 2020 By Lisa Sharp 12 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Click here for full disclosure and privacy policy.

Do you want to make your kitchen more eco-friendly and save money? Use these suggestions to start a paperless kitchen today!

retro housewife at sink cleaning with a sponge and rag

Having a paper-less kitchen may seem like a new eco-friendly concept but really if we think about it, it’s a very vintage idea.

Women in the past had less disposable options and were also interested in saving money and resources, especially during the Great Depression and WWII.

Being wasteful was very frowned upon until the post-war area when convenience becomes more popular. This concept came from marketing aimed at making people better consumers.

Now we know all of this consuming is having a harmful impact on our planet and our pocketbooks. However, we are now so used to the convenience of these disposable products we aren’t even sure how to stop using them.

Several years ago I started learning about being more aware of my impact on the planet. I also wanted to save money for my family. To help with both of these things I have made my kitchen basically paperless.

retro kitchen sink

Is a Paperless Kitchen Really Possible?

When people learn I don’t keep paper towels or napkins in my kitchen they have many questions and concerns.

Doesn’t it waste water to use cloth napkins and towels?

Not at all. Water is used in the making of disposable products so even if you do need to do an extra load of laundry you are still better off but I personally haven’t had an increase in laundry. My rags and cloth napkins go in loads I’d be doing anyway.

But the cloth napkins are so expensive!

They can be but I only have one nice set I save for rare occasions, otherwise, we use cheap cloth napkins I got on Amazon. You can even make your own very easily. Using dark colored napkins are a good choice because they don’t show stains. 

What about really gross messes?

If I need to use a rag to clean up something really gross I either use one that is full of holes and is on its last leg or just soak it in some hot water and vinegar for a bit when you are done before putting it in the wash.

Trust me, your family isn’t going to die from that dirty rag!

What about greasy food?

Interestingly this is just about the most common question I get. I take a splatter screen like you would put over a pan while frying something and just put the food on there for a bit with a plate on it. Most of the grease will drain off.

Really the hardest part of a paperless kitchen is getting into the habit of reaching for cloth napkins and rags. Once it’s all a habit it’s simple.

We do keep a roll of paper towels in the house but I very rarely use it. If it was just me it would last me at least a year. My husband uses them a bit more but we still don’t buy them often. Other than the random napkins that end up in the house from other places we never buy paper napkins.

Have I convinced you to give it a try yet?

Five Easy Steps to Get Started with a Paperless Kitchen

retro housewife at sink cleaning with a sponge and rag

Put Disposable Products Away.

If I have paper towels on my countertop I will use them. It’s too easy and tempting. So take that roll and store it where it’s not so easy to get to. I keep one under my kitchen sink.

You may have thought I was going to tell you to not have any at all but there are some messes you may really want some for. I try to use rags that are ready for the trash first but if we don’t have any or whatever, it’s nice to have a backup. That roll should just last a very long time.

Put Cloths in Easy to Find Places.

Now you need to make your reusable products easy to reach. I keep a clean rag on my sink for spills and cleaning up. I have cloth napkins in a drawer that is easy to access and organized.

Extra tags and dish rags are in a drawer near the sink and cleaning rags are under the sink. I also keep two clean hand towels out at all times so no one has trouble finding one to clean their hands or dry something.

Have a Basket for Dirty Rags in the Kitchen.

I have a bin under my kitchen sink for dirty rags. You do want to make sure to use clean ones every day or after big messes (or raw meat). Having a place to put your dirty rags just makes it easier and keeps a paper-free kitchen convenient.

laundry in whicker laundry basket

Skip Buying Paper Products.

Keep a roll of paper towels but otherwise, stop buying paper products. Until the habits are broken it’s best to keep them out of your house. Once you are in the habit of using reusable products you can keep somethings on hand for emergencies but let yourself get out of the habits first. It’s too easy to slip back into your old habits if the products are on hand.

Stop throwing out old cotton t-shirts.

These are by far the best rags you will find. And when they start to wear out as rags, throw them in a bin for those really gross messes where you just can’t make yourself keep the rag.

Bonus Tip

Talk to the older women in your life. They likely have great tips for how they used to do things before paper towels and napkins. We so often forget to go to our elders for advice, yet they often have some of the best advice. I wish I had asked my great-grandma these questions while she was still alive.

Sometimes new isn’t better and we can always learn from the past. Just remember to take this all slowly, slow and steady wins the race.

Recommended Products

There are some great products out there to make a paper-free kitchen easier. These are some of my favorites from amazon.


 



I also love all the microfiber cloths from Grove Collaborative. I use the All-Purpose Microfiber Cloths in the kitchen and bathroom. I have different colors for each room so they don’t get mixed.

And another option is to make your own unpaper towels. They work like paper towels and can even go on a paper towel holder but they are reusable. 

More Green Living Resources

  • Green Tips from 1950s Housewives
  • Why We Need to Bring Back Victory Gardens
  • 10 Ways to Make Everyday Earth Day

Filed Under: Green Living, Homemaking

Previous Post: « Glamorous Fitness Routines from the 1950s
Next Post: Retro Jello Recipes That Are Actually Delicious »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. green diva meg

    February 13, 2017 at 2:30 pm

    great post. i’ve been 90% paper free in the kitchen for many years and i too love the William-Sanoma dishtowels. The only reason i have recycled paper towels is for the cat puke… 😉

    Reply
    • Lisa Sharp

      February 15, 2017 at 7:54 pm

      Aren’t they the best? And yeah ours mostly seem to be used for things in the garage that can’t really go in the washer.

      Reply
  2. Mikki

    February 15, 2017 at 3:53 pm

    What a great post. We are just finishing up a kitchen remodel and I am hoping to have a more green and paper free kitchen.

    Reply
    • Lisa Sharp

      February 15, 2017 at 7:54 pm

      I’m glad you enjoyed it! This would be a great time to make the switch.

      Reply
  3. Shannon

    February 15, 2017 at 9:01 pm

    Great tips! We have a ton of dish towels and cloth napkins that we rotate through on a regular basis. The only problem is that it ends up creating a lot of laundry. Still haven’t figured that one out!

    Reply
    • Joanna

      April 11, 2017 at 12:58 am

      I keep a basin in my bathroom (with water that came up to temperature for my shower) and I usually wind up tossing a stained dish towel in there to soak along with my cold water detergent.

      At least the item is pretreated without using any extra water and you don’t have to toss a dirty or sticky dish towel in with your regular laundry.

      Reply
      • Lisa Sharp

        April 11, 2017 at 3:56 pm

        Great tip! I haven’t found an increase in laundry but I have a very large capacity washer.

        Reply
  4. Kayla

    June 6, 2017 at 5:01 pm

    These are great tips! I’m going to definitely try to implement more of these!

    Reply
    • Lisa Sharp

      June 6, 2017 at 7:15 pm

      Glad you enjoyed them!

      Reply
  5. Jackie

    October 7, 2017 at 2:46 pm

    Great tips! I’ve been working towards paper-free, and these tips will really help! I have a splatter screen and had not thought to use it that way. Brilliant!

    Reply
  6. Suzanne

    February 16, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    This was a great read! I found that once we stopped purchasing the paper products, we were much more resourceful about what cloths items were around.

    Reply
  7. Vanessa

    February 16, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    Thanks for sharing! I love the idea of the splatter screen! That’s the once place I hadn’t given up the paper towels!

    Reply

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Welcome to my blog! My name is Lisa and I'm the Retro Housewife trying to live a greener life. I share my love of all things vintage, homemaking and green living here on the blog. To read more, click here.

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