Filth
May 12th, 2008So I’ve been using handtowels pretty much my whole life. My parents used them because we were too cheap for paper towels. I was raised with cloth diapers. I suppose that our economic standing forced us to be pioneer environmentalists. Regardless, I’ve stuck to this tradition for quite a while. I don’t use napkins, I don’t use disposable anything really (except toilet paper), and it works pretty well for me.
Anyways, we have these towels in the kitchen I’ve been using as handtowels since we moved in. They’re stained, and a little dirty at times, but the stains don’t really impact the handdrying ability, so I have no qualms. Today, I couldn’t find the handtowels…they’re usually right on the oven handle. I asked around for them, and Helen asks me incredulously “Do you actually wipe your hands with those?”. I think for a second. And then Helen bursts out in laughter, because she knows I’ve figured out what she does with them.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
i can already imagine what’s been growing on that from all the organisms I’ve been studying. Eww gross!! You better put those in your next load of laundry and hope that nobody else uses it except for wiping clean hands.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:02 am
From when I first laid step into Monsterhouse, those “hand towels”, as you call them, had all kinds of unnatural stains on them. The longer we lived in the house, the more numerous the number and more diverse the types of stains there were on the “hand towels”; some stains were light-colored, some darker colored, some the color of god-knows-what, and many of which were simultaneously colorful, AND hard as if whatever made the stain was encrusted deep INTO THE VERY FIBER CORE of the towel. So I just assumed that people probably did not entrust cleanliness to those towels as they searched for a nice dry place to soak up their wet hands. You know, just a silly thought.
Ok, so I may have exaggerated a tad on the description of the rags. But still, they’re pretty gross.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
very nice description, helen.
some public restrooms in rome (i think? or somewhere in europe) have a roll of reusable hand towels that you wipe and pull so that it rotates to a drier part of the towel for the next person. i always wondered how they clean it.
but yea, i think people are way too wasteful with napkins. i try not to be, but i’m a messy eater. maybe you should get “hand towel” embroidered on your towels so people know what they’re for.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
i usually use my pants to dry off my hands
May 15th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
hallo jimbos
i use hand towels too. they’re called my pants! (see above)
i guess its a family thing. but your post has made me think of all the napkins/paper products i throw away. i may dry my hands on my pants, but i use paper towels to heat up lots of frozen food.
yay for jimbo’s words of enlightenment!
May 16th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
if i’m in the bathroom, i use a hand towel. if i’m in the kitchen, i usually will use a towel but i’ll use it on my face too.
May 18th, 2008 at 11:32 am
gross-o.
you’re still alive though!
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:32 pm
i officially stopped using those towels like two months after we moved in because of those unnatural stains. i’ve threw them into the laundry twice and… it seems like they are never EVER clean… and they’ve sat on a floor a couple of times too.
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I never thought I would get so many comments on my post about towels. I’m glad you’re all concerned about my health. I am glad you’re all alive as well!