Green Living Blog: Purging paper towels

After reading this post, don't forget to enter our contest – you could win a new dishwasher. Plus, do you have your own story to tell? Send it to greenchallenge@canadianliving.com (no more than 300 words, please), and you could win one of 30 daily prizes.

Today's winner is Linda Morehouse of Keswick Ridge, NB.

I must admit that going green is often not as challenging as I once thought, except when it comes to paper towels. Yes, I am a paper towel addict. First of all, we have enough paper towels in our home to eventually black-market them once the last tree is gone. Paper towels are so easy to use and then toss that I can go through a roll a week. I grab some when I want to wipe up a spill, wash windows, use as a napkin or placemat, and/or polish "something." So I decided this week to challenge my paper towel addiction. The first thing I did was to use newspaper to wipe the kitchen window dry after cleaning it. It worked! No streaks! Then I bravely entered the world of spills. I grabbed one of my many recycled rags and wiped up the spill. Tah-dah, it worked too! Now I'm on a roll. I start looking for something to polish. But where? I head into the bathroom and begin cleaning the toothbrush holder, the soap dispenser, and anything else that doesn't move. Success again! Instead of tossing a paper towel away, I toss the cloth into the laundry hamper to be washed and used again. Insofar as the napkin and placemat challenge, I purchased some cloth ones. Will my home ever be a paper-towel-free zone? Probably not, but I am giving it a try.

Thanks to Linda for sending in her story – and don't forget, if you still haven't entered, there's still time to send your own story to greenchallenge@canadianliving.com.Linda wins a set of five fab books from Random House, including the following:

The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen