Somewhere in a self-help book I read over the years said that we should not tolerate things. It drains our energies, and for me, my creative energies. It happens without you even noticing. You know – that squeaky door or loose floorboard type of thing.
One of those things for me is my bathroom towels. Once the thought entered my head, I realized that by eliminating this one physical item, I can remove many tolerations and all while reducing my carbon footprint.
My bathroom towels are at least ten years old. They are thick and wear well. But yesterday I realized how much they annoy me.
First, living in an RV means the bathroom is very small, as is storage. Three of those thick towels hang on hooks on the door, which take up at least five square vertical feet. The one on the end closest to the door handle is always landing on the floor. Two spares take up a cubby in my closet because we need to switch out often, as you will read next. That is toleration number one.
Whether in the desert, as we are now, or in the Pacific Northwest, those towels never dry before the next shower. This means they get smelly, and I must wash them more often. (Most RV parks don’t allow you to hang laundry outside.) Toleration number two.
And since they are so thick, they take the entire hour at the laundromat to dry after everything else is folded and packed. Toleration number three.
I was watching a YouTube video yesterday hosted by a solo RVer who showed her great storage ideas. In one tiny bin, less than a square foot, she had six Turkish towels rolled up. So, I was off searching for information about those towels.
She claimed they dried fast, so that will take care of tolerations one and two. And since they are so thin yet absorbent, toleration one will also be eliminated.
A quick search found a wide variety of options and I narrowed it down to organic cotton with organic dyes. The weaving is quite nice too.
My current towels will go to the textile recycle bin because I already have at least 25 rags (another project).
We will have more space in the bathroom, the new Turkish towels will dry faster, and I bet they will come out of the dryer in 10 minutes versus 60. I’ll reduce my energy consumption, water consumption, and gain some much needed creative energy.
