Frugal Friday

[ecosophia]

Welcome back to Frugal Friday! This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which may change further as we proceed.

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc.  I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #4: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

With that said, have at it!

Comments

Cheap Towels

[kylec]

Soon I'll be moving into a new place and I don't have any towels or cleaning rags to take with me. I am probably going to get myself a nice bath towel, but I need guest towels, cleaning towels, and rags and want to cheap out if possible. Of course I can go to the thrift store or cut up old t-shirts for cleaning rags, but I wanted to check here to see if there are any other great tricks for getting a bunch of decent usable guest bath towels, or sourcing cleaning rags outside of cutting up old clothing. Thoughts?

Re: Cheap Towels

[(Anonymous)]

For guest towels look to sales, and this is a great time of year. It used to be the online store Sierra Trading post had such, I find them hit or miss since COVID, but worth a look. RIghtnow Coyuchi is having a sale, these are organic grown cotton items, and right now there is a 4 piece set, in the choice of a couple colors, for $60, which is exceedingly frugal for organic cotton towels, I bought a set of their from SIerra Trading post years ago, a yellow color they were discontinuing, and they are holding up well. https://www.coyuchi.com/products/air-weight-organic-towels-set-of-4?variant=50114097414436 $60 is halfoff, no idea how long that price holds,today and this weekend are high sale days.

For rags, so if one of your local thrift stores has abuy by the bag day and get t shirts and horrid patterned sheets to rip up

Atmospheric River

Re: Cheap Towels

[teresa_from_hershey]

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.

Re: Cheap Towels

[jenniferkobernik]

Commercial restaurant supply stores will often sell bulk cleaning cloths for much cheaper than you can get them at home goods stores. They are usually only available in white since they are meant to be bleached by the restaurants and hotels, but if you don’t mind that I quite like them. They are usually a more absorbent cotton terry cloth like you would use to wipe up spills rather than a thin t-shirt type material like you would use to say clean a window, and they will produce some white fuzz so careful what you wash them with (not dark colored clothes!). They also usually sell plain cotton hand towels that are not fuzzy, but again only in white.

Re: Cheap Towels

[mistyfriday]

IKEA has a $30 dollar bathrobe and $5 bath towels. They're utilitarian, but they'll get the job done.

As for cleaning rags I suggest getting a bag of shop cloths. I started stocking my z-fold paper towel dispenser with them folded together in an interlocking zig-zag pattern and they're better than paper towels. It takes a couple hot wash/high dry cycles before they reach peak absorbency.

Re: Cheap Towels

[(Anonymous)]

My first suggestion would be the thrift shops, but maybe you can find some empty nesters who are downsizing and don’t need as many towels? They might be glad to have them taken off their hands.

Re: Cheap Towels

[kallianeira]

Hi Kyle,

ways of obtaining these could be:

a) join a freecycle group and ask for what you want

b) seconds or clearance stock from online homeware sellers - I found towels for half retail price this way, limited choice of colours of course

c) thrift shops sometimes designate used towels as pet bedding and sell them very cheaply. I owned a leaky car and used them to mop up water from the floors and boot. Hand towels and face washers do for smaller jobs. I wouldn't cut up towels though as they will shed thread everywhere. Some of those "pet" towels were good enough to be suitable for their original purpose as well. Shops in more affluent areas are likely to provide stock of better quality and in better condition.

- iridescent scintillating elver

Re: Cheap Towels

[linden_matryoshka]

Hi Kyle,
You probably know that, but just in case... Before you buy old t-shirts for rugs go through your own closet and ask yourself, "Do you really need all this clothes or some of them are just rugs in disguise?". Also, you can ask people you know if they have some clothes they don't need.

Re: Cheap Towels

[kylec]

Thanks yall, great tips!

[prayergardens]

Also, Etsy.

If you don't mind a longer shipping time, there are Turkish and Eastern European textile manufacturers selling direct on there. I like that they use 100% cotton. They are often running sales this time of year. Another trick is to favorite something on Etsy or leave it in your cart and then wait 24 hours. Sellers can choose a setting to give you a discount in those cases after 24 hours. Usually 10-20%.

A few years ago I got a set of giant cotton bath sheets that can double as beach towels for maybe ~$30 for a set of 6-8 towels. They are still going strong.

There will also be a lot of red and green towels on clearance everywhere in about 3 weeks. :)

Re: Cheap Towels

[chickadeevt]

Hi, Kyle. I don't know if this is the type of place you shop, but I've gotten really nice towels at Costco for under $10 (bath, hand, washcloths, even kitchen towels). The ones I've gotten were 100% thick cotton in nice colors that wear well but if you go you might want to check the fabric type. They've started replacing a lot of their nice sheets and towels with synthetic blends, which I dislike. YMMV. There are often good deals to be had with all kinds of home goods there.

For cleaning rags I usually use the cheapest washcloths from wal-fart, they were around $1 each when I got them a couple years ago.

Good luck with your new place!

Re: Cheap Towels

[(Anonymous)]

I second the Costco. Affordable quality.

Re: Cheap Towels

[(Anonymous)]

You could try online estate sales and online estate auctions. Back when estate sales were live rather than online, I bought some excellent bath towels and a large number of white washcloths at a nearby estate sale.

Re: Cheap Towels

[(Anonymous)]

If you use Facebook, see if there is a Buy Nothing group in your area. In such a group, you can ask for towels and people will certainly offer some up. I even got flooring this way.

Re: Cheap Towels

[(Anonymous)]

Why do guests need special towels? Just have towels. I guarantee you when they come out of the shower, they're not going to care how fancy they are, as long as they're dry and clean.

Re: Cheap Towels

[randomactsofkarmasc]

Do you have overstock/liquidator stores in your area? We have a place called Ollie's. You never know what they are going to have, but when they have something good, it is usually a very good price. (But they also have some garbage.)

Also, when you are shopping, always make sure to check the clearance section. Tuesday Morning used to be my favorite place to get towels. They are out of business now. Home Goods does not have as good as prices as Tuesday Morning, but ours lets you buy towels and such in sets or by the one-sies.

Re: Cheap Towels

[mskrieger]

Hi Kyle,
You got plenty of replies already, but I'll chip in with one more:

Cloth diapers (the old fashioned ones) are cheap, absorbent, and last a long time. We use them for everything. They make especially good dish towels, but you can also use them as bath towels. They dry you off just as handily as terrycloth, but are enormously more compact.

Online vendors like Green Mountain Diapers or Granola Babies are currently selling prefolds for about a dollar each--those are extra thick and absorbent diapers, so called because you don't have to fold them in thirds to diaper baby.

The really old school birdseye cotton ones are similarly priced. Useful for everything. Highly recommended.

-Ms. Krieger