I used to -- back in the early '80s -- work at Woolco in the domestics department. I've also been shopping secondhand for decades.
1) Thrift shops, relatives, and yard sales are still your best bet for cheap but usable towels. You'll have to search for bath towels because most people don't donate them until they're threadbare. Hand towels and washcloths are more likely to show up.
2) Estate sales are a better bet for linens (all kinds) because you can get an entire houseful. Good bath towels and bath sheets? There are piles.
3) The best cleaning rags are 100% cotton and the cheapest source is thrift shop T-shirts. If you can sew, double them up, and stitch all over. Similarly, dying towels can be cut to size and hemmed for a new life as a cleaning rag.
4) Ask friends and relatives for bath linens for gifts.
5) If you want good bath linens to last the rest of your life, you'll probably have to buy new. Sales are frequent. Never buy anything that's not on sale or clearance.
6) Whatever bath linens you buy or ask for as gifts or pass-alongs, choose white if you have the option. Every hotel in the world uses white towels because they can be bleached clean. To the untrained eye, all white bath linens match.
7) I mentioned Woolco. I learned that towels come in lines of plushness, price, and quality but that different stores sold the identical lines at different prices. Thus, we sold Cannon Royal Velvet bath towels. So did Penney's at the other end of the mall. Identical towels. The difference was the price: Royal Velvet was Woolco's high-end towel and Penney's mid-range. Yet Penney's charged a buck more per towel than we did. When we ran a sale on Royal Velvet, we were several bucks less than Penney's. If you don't comparison shop, you won't realize this fact.
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branchandroot
Re: Cheap Towels
Date: 2024-11-29 11:09 pm (UTC)1) Thrift shops, relatives, and yard sales are still your best bet for cheap but usable towels. You'll have to search for bath towels because most people don't donate them until they're threadbare. Hand towels and washcloths are more likely to show up.
2) Estate sales are a better bet for linens (all kinds) because you can get an entire houseful. Good bath towels and bath sheets? There are piles.
3) The best cleaning rags are 100% cotton and the cheapest source is thrift shop T-shirts. If you can sew, double them up, and stitch all over. Similarly, dying towels can be cut to size and hemmed for a new life as a cleaning rag.
4) Ask friends and relatives for bath linens for gifts.
5) If you want good bath linens to last the rest of your life, you'll probably have to buy new. Sales are frequent. Never buy anything that's not on sale or clearance.
6) Whatever bath linens you buy or ask for as gifts or pass-alongs, choose white if you have the option. Every hotel in the world uses white towels because they can be bleached clean. To the untrained eye, all white bath linens match.
7) I mentioned Woolco. I learned that towels come in lines of plushness, price, and quality but that different stores sold the identical lines at different prices. Thus, we sold Cannon Royal Velvet bath towels. So did Penney's at the other end of the mall. Identical towels. The difference was the price: Royal Velvet was Woolco's high-end towel and Penney's mid-range. Yet Penney's charged a buck more per towel than we did. When we ran a sale on Royal Velvet, we were several bucks less than Penney's. If you don't comparison shop, you won't realize this fact.