Oh the three year old definitely  is the most willing to help but I think she makes a bigger mess when she does.  I usually do morning dishes and wash whatever is in the sink while I cook dinner. My two older kids (16 and 12) rotate doing the dinner dishes.

 
 

Dear Helen, I found in a thrift store once a brush dedicated to cleaning mushrooms -- it's printed on top.  It's very soft bristles with a handle flush to the bristles & easy to hold.  You just brush off the dirt over the sink.

Dear All, My city, San Francisco, CA, just passed an ordinance/law that as of 6 months from now, no supermarket or large store is allowed to give out plastic bags.  People will have to bring their own cloth bags.

Deb, the only real down side I see to that is I reuse the plastic bags for other things like free garbage bags.

 

Yes, Brandy, I, too, use grocery plastic bags to line wastebaskets.  My aides, though, are willing to dump teh contents of a wastebasket into the large garbage can lining bag, so at least there is almost never the need to get new plastic bags from the grocery store for the wastebaskets.  I do find it unsettling to buy garbage can lining bags, but have not been able to see an alternative.  Does anyone have any ideas?

I hope someone has some ideas for alternatives to wastebasket bags and even larger trash bags too.

 

I defintely use paper towels for greasy and messy jobs- greasing cookie sheets, wiping up after kneading- I would include wiping out the cast-iron if I still had one- I don't want all that grease and mess in the washing machine with my stuff- washing clothes is diluting the nasty stuff, but not getting rid of all of it, I would be careful about esp. grease.

I keep a stash of special rags just for yucky things so I can throw them away. It's material that isn't absorbent enough for good cleaning, but it will wipe up grease and messy things.

You know, I've read that the whole grocery bag thing is a bit of a 'red herring' - in the real scheme of environmental problems, it is TINY. and it annoys me that they are being *** over it. (someone mentioned sales clerks not knowing what to do with BYO bags... I found that years ago when I tried using cloth, they just had no idea! So I gave up) A lot of the things they make a noise about are creating the illusion of doing something green when the real problems: overconsumption and waste, use of petrochemicals - aren't dealt with because the multinational power-brokers don't want people to stop consuming.

Re plastic baggies - we still use a few; its hard for the kids as they aren't allowed back in the class to return their playlunch boxes, and they don't want to carry them around the playground. But for sandwiches I bought some Tupperware sandwich keepers that I've been using for years, easy to open and easy to wash. I did buy a fancy compartment lunchbox but I had to wrap the sandwiches and they were ridiculous to wash.

That's the big problem with reusables: you -have- to wash stuff, and sometimes it does get too much. I think there's no way I could have coped using 100% cloth nappies, and forget washing cloth wipes!  With such a hectic life and so little time at home, I don't see how you can get around using bags for lunches. It might be something to consider for later though (when the dishwasher is working, or when you have more time.)

A woman I spoke to the other day uses newspapers to line her garbage bin - a couple of layers stops the rubbish from sticking to the sides, and she just hoses it out often. I don't buy newspapers but it might be useful for some people.  

Brandy:

I hope someone has some ideas for alternatives to wastebasket bags and even larger trash bags too

For dry waste, like paper and office trash, use a cloth liner, or just dump the wastebasket directly into the garbage. You can make a cloth liner out of almost anything by cutting the bottom to fit the wastebasket, then measuring around it. Cut a length of material as long as that measurement plus an inch for the seam, and as high as your wastebasket, plus an inch for a hem. Sew it together and thats about it.

I have used all sorts of bags and plastic bags for wet garbage, then put it in the big trash can, anything from small frozen vegetable sacks to dog food bags. I hope they don't do away with plastic grocery bags, though. They're handy for a lot of things.

Pat, I am not concerned about the bags leaving anytime soon in my area. I think recycling would have to catch on first.

 

Same here, Brandy. People talk about it, but no one seems to actually do much about it around here. Plastic bags are one thing I'd miss, though. I use them for a lot of things.