These Common Paper Towel Mistakes Can Cause Serious Damage To Your Home
I have a huge confession to make. I used to grab a roll of paper towels for absolutely every single mess in my house. It just felt so incredibly easy to wipe something up and toss the paper right into the trash. But I recently learned that this convenient little habit was actually secretly doing some damage around my home. It turns out that paper towels are surprisingly abrasive and can ruin some very things you might not realize. Here are a few:
Prescription Eyeglasses
When my glasses get smudged my first instinct is to just grab a nearby paper towel and give them a quick rub. But paper towels are actually made from wood pulp. That means they act like incredibly fine sandpaper on delicate surfaces. Rubbing your expensive prescription lenses with paper will eventually leave thousands of microscopic scratches all over the coating. You are much better off using the little microfiber cloth that came in the case. If you lose it, you can buy a pack of replacements for pretty cheap.
Flat Screen TVs
We all hate seeing dusty fingerprints on a dark television screen. But spraying glass cleaner on a paper towel and wiping your expensive TV is a really bad idea. The wood fibers in the paper can easily scratch the delicate plastic and ruin the special anti glare coating. The rough texture simply cannot glide safely over those sensitive electronic screens. A completely dry and very soft microfiber cloth is the only thing you should ever use.
Rough Carpets And Living Room Rugs
Spilling coffee on the living room rug is always a frustrating moment. Grabbing a handful of paper towels to scrub the spot seems like the logical next step. However the rough fibers of the carpet will instantly shred the wet paper towel into a million tiny white pills. Then you are left trying to pick wet paper out of your carpet along with the original stain. An old cotton rag is a much better choice.
Bathroom Mirrors And Clear Windows
I used to spend so much time scrubbing my bathroom mirrors with paper towels trying to get them perfectly clear. But I was always so frustrated by the annoying layer of white fuzz left behind. Paper towels create an incredible amount of lint when they get wet and rubbed against glass. It defeats the entire purpose of cleaning! Using a microfiber cloth or even an old crumpled newspaper will leave your mirrors completely streak free and save you a major headache.
Dark Clothing
Dropping a bit of lunch on your favorite dark jeans is the worst. If you try to dab the stain away with a wet paper towel you are going to make the problem so much more visible. The friction causes the paper to break down and leave a stubborn white residue rubbed into the dark fabric. You will just end up with a very obvious white fuzzy patch. Always use a damp cloth instead.
Cast Iron
After cooking a nice meal in my cast iron skillet I used to wipe the excess oil out with a paper towel. But the slightly rough surface of the cast iron acts almost like a cheese grater on the paper. It traps tiny invisible fibers of the bleached wood pulp that makes up the paper towel directly into the seasoning of your pan. You definitely do not want to cook your next meal on top of that. A stiff brush just for dishes works best.
Heavy Bathtub Soap Scum
Cleaning the bathtub is already a tough chore and paper towels just make it harder. When you try to scrub thick soap scum, the paper towel dissolves almost instantly under the water pressure. Those dissolving bits of paper then wash straight down your drain where they clump together and build up into massive plumbing clogs over time. A good reusable scrubbing sponge is far safer for your pipes and much easier on your tired hands.
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It is so funny how we get stuck in our cleaning routines without ever second guessing them. Realizing I was actually making my chores harder by using paper towels was a little bit humbling. But making these small swaps is actually saving me money while protecting the things I own. Keep your paper towels in the kitchen for simple food spills and let your reusable cloths handle the rest.
Bliss Donahue-Power
