Say Goodbye To Traditional Paper Towels: This Eco-Friendly Alternative Spares Your Wallet

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If you use paper towels, odds are you've cringed at the price tag. They might be useful in the kitchen, but they also might be doing more harm than good. Paper towels cost a fortune, and they're not the most eco-friendly, but there are plenty of ways to spare your wallet and your environmental footprint. If you've got a sewing kit and know how to use it, all you need is an old bath towel and some additional fabric to craft your very own roll of eco-friendly paper towels.

To start, you'll need about 1 yard of old bath towel fabric for the absorbent side, 1 yard of patterned cotton for a decorative backing, interfacing, fabric scissors, an iron, and a sewing machine. If you've got a serger, even better, but a sewing machine works just fine, so long as you can sew close to the edge.

Once you've gathered your materials, layer the patterned cotton on top of the old bath towel and cut out 8.5-by-11-inch panels. If you decide to use snaps to attach them, cut 1-inch squares of interfacing to fit between the two fabrics in each corner of the towel. Next, iron the pieces flat and sew in a zigzag pattern around the edges of each panel. Then, if you so choose, attach metal snaps to the corners, clicking all of your paper towels together and rolling them up into a good-as-new roll that prioritizes sustainability.

If you're skilled at sewing, you might prefer to make your own eco-friendly paper towels from scratch. If so, you'll want to use 100% cotton flannel fabric, since this material is super absorbent and perfect for cleaning up spills and stains. For the simplest towels, cut out 11-by-14-inch squares of your fabric. Again, a serger, like this one, is ideal for this project so you can get clean, professional-looking edges. However, a traditional sewing machine will do the trick here as well.

Whichever way you decide to make your roll of reusable paper towels — or unpaper towels, if you will — you're guaranteed to save quite a bit of money. A 2020 survey suggested that the average American will spend $10,518.82 on paper towels in their lifetime. That's a lot of money to spend on a single-use item. If you're looking to be more sustainable in the kitchen, sewing a handful of reusable paper towels is a great way to start.

Not only will you save lots of money long-term, but your weekly grocery bill will lighten up a little, and if you're on a tight budget, cutting just one item can make a big difference. According to Walmart's website, paper towels can cost between $2 and $40, depending upon the brand, number of rolls, size of the rolls, and level of absorbency. But if you're buying $10 worth of paper towels a week, then using reusable towels means you could save $520 per year. That's money you could put towards an item or experience that won't just be thrown in the trash.