忘掉那些花哨的清潔布吧，試試用破布來清潔

忘掉那些花哨的清潔布吧，試試用破布來清潔

Over the course of my adult life so far, I've spent far too much money on specialized cleaning cloths. I have gone to cleaning parties hosted at friends' houses where packages of fancy microfiber cloths are sold for what I'd prefer to spend on a pair of very nice shoes. I have struggled to understand which color is meant for which room, which dusting mitt goes on a specific surface, and what cleaning products I can and cannot use with the various cloths – details I suddenly care about because of all the money I've spent.

到目前為止，在我的成年生活中，我花了太多的錢在專門的清潔布上。我參加過朋友家里舉辦的清潔派對(duì)，在派對(duì)上，一包包精美的超纖維布料被出售，而我更愿意花這些錢買一雙非常漂亮的鞋子。我掙扎著去理解哪個(gè)房間應(yīng)該用什么顏色，在特定的表面上應(yīng)該用什么除塵手套，以及我可以和各種各樣的衣服一起使用什么清潔產(chǎn)品——這些細(xì)節(jié)我突然關(guān)心起來，因?yàn)槲一四敲炊噱X。

A basket of cotton rags.@peekies via Twenty20

Because I swore off paper towels nearly a decade ago, I felt obligated to splurge on these cloths in an effort to keep my house clean, but recently I've discovered that they're really unnecessary. There is a much simpler and cheaper solution for dealing with every single mess created by a busy young family, and that is the untrendy, old-fashioned rag stash.

因?yàn)槲以谑昵熬筒皇褂眉埥砹?，所以我覺得有義務(wù)在這些布上花錢來保持我的房子干凈，但最近我發(fā)現(xiàn)它們真的是不必要的。有一種更簡(jiǎn)單、更便宜的方法來處理一個(gè)忙碌的年輕家庭造成的每一處混亂，那就是不時(shí)髦、過時(shí)的收破爛的地方。

That's right. All you need is a heap of clean absorbent cotton rags, made from old bath towels, hand towels, or tea towels cut into halves, quarters, or eighths, and you'll be able to clean anything. You'll never notice the lack of a microfiber cloth or a roll of paper towel because the rags do it all. They may look tattered, but they get the job done. I keep some in the kitchen and some in the bathrooms. I use them to wipe spills off the kitchen floor, to clean sinks, to wipe down the toilet, to dust surfaces and eliminate fingerprints. I grab those rags to deal with everything from sticky hands to upset stomachs to muddy footprints to pet messes.

這是正確的。你所需要的是一堆干凈的吸水棉，用舊的浴巾、手巾或茶巾切成兩半、四分之一或八分之一制成，這樣你就可以清潔任何東西了。你永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)注意到?jīng)]有超纖維布或一卷紙巾，因?yàn)槟ú伎梢越鉀Q所有問題。他們可能看起來很破舊，但他們能完成任務(wù)。我在廚房里放了一些，在浴室里放了一些。我用它們來擦廚房地板上的污物，清潔水槽，擦馬桶，除塵表面，消除指紋。我拿著這些破布來處理所有的事情，從黏黏的手到不舒服的肚子，從泥濘的腳印到寵物弄臟的東西。

I tend not to use spray-on cleaners, but prefer to fill the sink with hot water and Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap to do my house-cleaning. Then I swish the rag around, squeeze it out, and wipe everywhere. Depending on what I've cleaned up, the rags get tossed into the dirty laundry basket before getting added to the washing machine. I always hang them out to dry, usually in the sun to help disinfect them further, then they're returned to the under-regions of the sink for another round of use.

我傾向于不使用噴霧清潔劑，但更喜歡用熱水和Bronner博士的castile液體肥皂裝滿水槽來打掃房間。然后我把抹布甩來甩去，把它擠出來，到處擦。取決于我清理的是什么，這些破布在被放入洗衣機(jī)之前會(huì)被扔進(jìn)臟衣服筐里。我總是把它們掛在外面晾干，通常是在陽光下進(jìn)行進(jìn)一步的消毒，然后再把它們放回水槽底部進(jìn)行另一輪的使用。

I prefer the rags because I can use soap with them (it always felt weird using water-only microfiber cloths) and because they're easy to handle, at least compared to some of the large, unwieldy cloths I purchased. Knowing they're not made of synthetic material also alleviates any concerns over microplastic particles being released into the water when laundered. And because they're made from discarded towels, I essentially have an unlimited supply.

我更喜歡這種抹布，因?yàn)槲铱梢杂梅试聿?用純水的超纖維抹布總是感覺怪怪的)，因?yàn)樗鼈兒苋菀滋幚?，至少和我買的一些笨重的大抹布相比是這樣。知道它們不是由合成材料制成也可以減輕人們對(duì)洗滌時(shí)微塑料顆粒進(jìn)入水中的擔(dān)憂。因?yàn)樗鼈兪怯脧U棄的毛巾做成的，所以我的毛巾數(shù)量是無限的。

Trent Hamm of The Simple Dollar has a similar technique to mine, using cotton cloths to replace paper towels and stashing the dirty ones in a basket under the kitchen sink until there are enough to justify a load of laundry. He recommends buying decent cloths in bulk: "This system really depends on having good absorbent cloths to use. I just find that cotton washcloths and shop cloths tend to work the best for most tasks that I would use paper towels for." For me, old towels (and sometimes flannel sheets) do the job just as well, but if the point is to get away from single-use disposables, anything you get and keep for a long time will do.

Simple Dollar的特倫特•哈姆和我有類似的技巧，用棉布代替紙巾，把臟的放在廚房水槽下的籃子里，直到有足夠的東西可以洗一堆衣服為止。他建議大量購(gòu)買合適的衣服:“這個(gè)方法真的取決于有好的吸水布來使用。我只是發(fā)現(xiàn)，棉質(zhì)毛巾和購(gòu)物用的毛巾對(duì)大多數(shù)我用紙巾做的事情都是最有效的。”對(duì)我來說，舊毛巾(有時(shí)還有法蘭絨床單)也能起到同樣的作用，但如果重點(diǎn)是要遠(yuǎn)離一次性使用的一次性用品，任何你得到并長(zhǎng)期保存的東西都可以。

Give it a try. You'll quickly discover that needing fancy cleaning cloths and paper towels is a myth.

試一試。你很快就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，你不再需要昂貴的清潔布和紙巾。