The switch to reusable dish cloths began a few years ago, when we first moved into our current home.

As with all house moves, there is much cleaning involved; enough to make you instantly realise you need some dish cloths.

A trip to the local supermarket.

Amazingly enough, our local independent supermarket had quite a range of dish cloths and brands on offer. But the choice was simple. One brand, a longstanding brand for dish cloths, was the only one to offer real cotton dishcloths. It was the first I had seen of them: beautiful terry cotton packaged in some recycled cardboard (not even plastic, unlike every other synthetic option). We have a winner.

Our faces gleamed with hope, not just for our dish washing days, but in this small step for mankind. From a local supermarket, we could now buy a reusable, long-lasting, natural fibre cloth. An option, other than the synthetic madness that starts disintegrating its troubling fibres within a few uses, was now available…for the masses…in a known brand. It looked as though something reusable might just come back into the mainstream.

Trying to find them again.

A few years later, we finally needed to top up the supply of cloths while the older, rattier ones made their way into the rag chute to be used on non-eating surface cleaning. But alas, this is the trouble (in business) with something reusable. Perhaps there were not enough people interested in this product. Or perhaps everyone who saw them made the switch and then did not need to buy cloths again for years (as it was with us). When we went back to refresh the home and support this household brand in its endeavours, the option was no longer anywhere to be found.

Just to be sure, we tried a bigger supermarket chain with a bigger range, in spite of usual efforts to avoid it. Nope, not there either. And finally, the internet confirmed it…this product was no longer to be found anywhere. A sad day for mainstream dish washing paraphernalia brands.

Reusable organic cotton dish cloths online.

Now that there were no reusable cloths available in the local shops, it was time to venture for a similar product online. This meant the search could start out narrowed to organic cotton cloths. If we’re thinking about the what’s in the disintegrating fibres that fall down our drains, then why not also consider the chemicals that are used and added to waterways where even natural fibres are grown and made? May as well minimise toxicity there too, right?

A little searching later…one (yes, just one) product was found – Full Circle’s organic cotton tidy dish cloths.

At the time of purchasing these, I only found them available in one online shop from among Australia’s plethora. Now, you’ll have no trouble finding them from on of your favourite Australian online shops for all-things-a-little-more-consciously-environmentally-friendly if you just search their name.

It’s a loss for mainstream shops, but still a win for reusable, organic cotton dish cloths. We’ve been using these cloths for quite some time now.

 

P.S. A note for those with old towels to rag up.

A friend has informed me that cut up pieces of old towels make incredible dish cloths.

Update – Aug 2019:

We have now tried the dish cloths made from old rags. They are THE BEST. We hope to add a post on this soon.

Also, there are now a few more options that have popped up which may be of interest:

• Full circle organic cotton tidy dish cloths – now also in grey
• Full circle organic cotton plant-dyed dish cloths

 

P.P.S. Keeping the reusable dish cloths clean.

We also use my mother-in-law’s fantastic trick of boiling the dishcloths in water on the stove once they get a bit funky, before putting them in the wash. You might find that without this trick, your reusable dishcloths are still a bit greasy. Boiling them up means you’ll love reusing and reusing without that funky feeling. (Or with it if you listen to funk music in the background…a good accompaniment to any dish washing.)