Shop Towels vs. Dish Rags

When the children were smaller, I always had an issue with finding the dish rag in the sink all wadded up into a ball and smelling so very soured!  No matter how many times I would ask them not to do this, it was an everyday occurrence.  I think my husband was probably guilty as well! (In fact, I am sure he was!!)

We had a very hectic schedule with so many living in the house (as most people do).  What with scheduling basketball games, fundraising, driving to the games, homeschooling, music lessons, youth group, etc., at times the rinsed, dirty dishes were left in the sink. (GASP!)  They were awaiting placement in the dishwasher and the dishwasher was probably awaiting emptying.  Haha.  Invariably, at the bottom of the dishes was a wadded up and smelly dish rag!

I tried the rags called Handi Wipes, but they were a bit on the costly side and I did not like the larger size of them.  It was much cheaper to use a cloth dish rag and wash it out.  But, oh, that smell!  I was just absolutely fed up with using them and most of them were stained. Scott Shop Towels to the rescue!  They are those blue shop towels that are usually in the automotive department!  I started using them.  They were so cheap back then.  Of course, it was a little difficult to find them at first because most contained oil, now most do not! In fact, I do not remember seeing any that do now.  I do not know what they cost then, but now they come to about $.30 a towel.  This was, I thought, a fantastic idea of mine!  Just toss them after you use it and no towel left in the sink!  No nasty smells! You never had to worry about stains on your dish rags and trying to wash those stains out.  I was so proud of myself!!

My son, Cody, however was not so proud of me.  We had been using them for quite some time and I never had any idea that he was actually embarrassed by this.  Our house was always open to the youth and Cody and Shelby’s friends.  We were always feeding a group of people and having game nights, etc.  It was great to have everyone at our house and know where they were than to have them running around town looking for something to do.  My husband and I loved this . . .  All of the people popping in and out and feeling welcome, never having to be invited,  all of the laughter in the house, we loved all of it!  We miss all of this now that the children are grown.

I was serving snacks and cleaning the kitchen.  The children were at the table playing games.  I do not know what came over Cody this night, but he came up to me and stood beside me at the sink.  He very softly whispered to me, “Mom, are you embarrassed that we cannot afford dish rags like other people?”

I immediately laughed and continued to laugh.  I do not know what he was thinking about my outburst of laughter, but you should have seen his face.  Haha!  I leaned over to his ear and said that of course we could afford dish rags!  It was my choice to NOT use them.  Then I explained my reasoning to him.  My poor children, I did not mean to embarrass them.  It never occurred to me that they may have thought we could not afford them.  I do not remember if I asked how Shelby felt about our use of them.  I was merely getting rid of an issue that I had, solving a problem, alleviating a reason for me to harp on them.

However, to this day, I still use them. I still feel pretty proud of myself for coming up with the idea.  Haha.  My husband, at my request all of those years ago, even made me a handy, dandy holder and it is on my counter at this moment!  In fact, I jumped up and took this photo.

I do not think I have every seen Cody or Shelby use them for dishes though!  I do take them some rolls occasionally but I think they never use them, period!  Pretty sure they were embarrassed.  Haha.  Shop towels are great for cleaning as well.  You know those special microfiber towels that people sell that you only use water?  Well, a wet shop towel and a dry shop towel work just as well!  I love them on glass.  I use them for all cleaning chores.  Keep in mind, they are only $.30 each.

As you can tell, I am still just pretty darn proud of myself!!!  Ha! Ha!!