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Post by dtesposito on May 2, 2014 11:08:54 GMT -5
For those of you who use and re-use rags for cleaning instead of disposable paper towels or Swiffer pads, etc., how do you deal with them? In other words, do you do all your cleaning on one day, use a bunch of rags and then do a separate load of laundry to wash them? Do you hand wash them out each time? Do you rinse them out and put them in with your regular laundry? Or do you put them aside as you use them to be washed later all in one load, if so, how do you keep them from getting moldy and smelly until you wash them?
Diane
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Post by Jannie on May 2, 2014 11:37:48 GMT -5
I have an older house with a big old fashioned sink in the basement next to the washer and dryer. I drape wet rags over the sink to dry, then wait till I have enough to do a load. I will throw them in with a load of towels but not with clothing. I don't like the idea of raggy grease and dust in the wash with my clothes.
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Post by sue5000 on May 2, 2014 12:21:29 GMT -5
Diane, I like to use rags. I often use them with an ice cream bucket of warm soapy water when cleaning. When I'm done, I just dump the dirty water down the sink and rinse my rag then. Then drape over something to dry outside if it's not raining. Yes, sometimes I do a small load of 'just rags' in the washing machine, then hang em out on the clothesline. If they are really  yukky, I just let dry them in the sun somewhere and then throw them away, cus I have LOTS of rags! I have a box of rags in my laundry room cupboard, and another boxful out in my garage. But I live in a house, with a garage and a yard, so it's easier for me do/ keep some things out of sight. Not so easy if you live in an apt. edit: I have kind of a mold/mildew 'phobia' ... so anything that's wet, I try to make sure it dries as quickly as possible. I hang it outside, hopefully in the sun, somewhere (fence, railing, side of a bucket, what have you...) even if I'm not going to wash it right away. |
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Post by wind on May 2, 2014 12:41:15 GMT -5
I do laundry every day, so I just toss them at the top of the dirty clothes hamper (sometimes draped or hanging off the side of the hamper), or right in the washer if it's empty. If I'm about to run a load of bleach whites, I don't bother rinsing them first. Otherwise, I rinse and ring them out in the sink first.
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Post by dtesposito on May 2, 2014 12:46:07 GMT -5
Mold is my concern too--in summer, it wouldn't matter if I hung up the rags to dry, they wouldn't dry! It gets so humid in here that my regular clothes that I wash and hang up don't dry--they actually start smelly mildewy, which drives me CRAZY! That's why I was hoping to get a new dryer before summer, it would be such a luxury to just wash and dry clothes again like "normal" people do! But even if I had a dryer I'd still have to figure out a system of dealing with the rags in the meantime. In winter I guess I could dry rags on the radiators, but I'd still have to wash them out a little first because otherwise the radiators would get dirty. If I have to be washing them out in a bucket I might as well wash them all the way in the bucket, which just seems like way too much work. I used to have a plentiful supply of rags (especially since I don't clean that often  ) but they're dwindling and I no longer have a good source of them, plus I'd like to save money and not waste paper products. But I'm being realistic of my limitations--it's hard enough to get myself to clean without adding an extra unpleasant task to the job--that would discourage me even more. Oh well, I'll have to give this more thought. Diane |
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Post by wind on May 2, 2014 13:04:02 GMT -5
It doesn't really matter if your rags get "bad" as long as they don't touch the other laundry. You could just wash them with bleach whenever you do a bleach load.
We usually don't have paper towels and I almost never use them for cleaning. Rags really are easy and, IMO, work better for most tasks.
Do you have an old, deteriorating towel you could cut up for rags?
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Post by dtesposito on May 2, 2014 13:13:09 GMT -5
Wind, I still have a bunch of rags to use, but just can't figure out the washing logistics. The only time I do a bleach load is when my washer starts smelling bad, which is only a few times a year! And I really, really don't want moldy rags sitting around, or to have to pre-wash them. I should probably just give up and use the paper towels, but they're so expensive. Does this count as a first world problem?  No--first world problems are when you can't decide whether to buy a porsche or a mercedes. Maybe this is a second world problem! Diane |
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Post by sue5000 on May 2, 2014 13:48:04 GMT -5
Diane, is there a fence or something around back? Can you hang them there to dry between uses or washings, just for a few hours on a sunny day? When you have enough dry, dirty ones saved up (in a bag) that really need washing, do a small load with a little bleach, then dry right away. You won't be doing it that often, will you? Yes, in my opinion, paper towels are expensive, esp. to just throw away! I think you'll figure something out.  |
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Post by joyinvirginia on May 2, 2014 13:48:33 GMT -5
I use rags for some things, paper towels for others. If the rags end up really dirty, greasy, I throw them out. Just some dirt, I throw them in with towels. I bought a pack of ” shop towels” at Costco, they sell them at home depot, Lowes, hardware stores . Designed to wipe up after grease, good for other cleaning. Inexpensive and easy to toss. The pack I bought is like white tshirt material cut up into smaller cloths. The dh has a bag of old worn out socks that he uses to clean the chain on his bicycle. I toss that stuff, I am not washing a bunch of greasy things!
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Post by sue5000 on May 2, 2014 13:54:05 GMT -5
Me neither! Really YUKKY rags get thrown in the trash. If they are wet, I'll let em dry somehow first, or put in a sealed plastic bag and then into trash. That's rare tho that I'll have something real yukky.
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Post by wind on May 2, 2014 14:13:34 GMT -5
Maybe, as an experiment, you could get a spray bottle, fill it with a water/bleach mix, keep it by the washer, and squirt a bit of that on the rags before draping/hanging wherever close by to quasi-dry before washing them together with some bleach?
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Post by papermoon on May 2, 2014 14:56:03 GMT -5
I used to do a separate load of laundry for rags, but now I just throw them away. I only use rags for applying polishes... furniture, silver, copper, shoe polishes, etc. That stuff doesn't wash out well enough to merit re-using the rags. I have an endless supply anyway... old socks make great polishing mitts.
I dust with microfiber cloths, as they're so easy to wash in with a load of dark laundry like jeans. I keep several rolled-up microfiber dusting cloth tucked into various corners around the house, so if I spot something dusty, there's a handy cloth right nearby to swipe up the dust. The cloth grabs the dust and holds it, so I can roll the cloth back up and tuck back in the corner. When I do a dark load of laundry, I gather up all the dusting clothes and toss them in.
Otherwise, I use paper towels, but the trick is to buy the kind with perforated half-sheets. For most cleanups, a frugal half-sheet is all that's needed. One roll lasts me a week.
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Post by sidestep on May 2, 2014 15:01:06 GMT -5
I picked up a roll of heavy duty blue shop rags. Unfortunately my cat likes them too!  Regular clipping & a cat tree is just not enuff for her!   (One day I'll get Soft Claw Caps!) |
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Post by dtesposito on May 2, 2014 15:30:19 GMT -5
Well, now I know what to get for my next cat toy!
Diane
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onmyway
New Member
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 42 
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Post by onmyway on May 3, 2014 8:54:26 GMT -5
Paper towels ARE expensive. Try this: get a bucket or tote or something with a lid. Fill it partway with a bleach and water solution. Then toss your dirty rags in there until it is time to launder them. This will keep them from getting mildewed and funky, and the lid will keep the bleach smell in. Let me know if you decide to try this!!  |
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