I recycle old dishcloths, socks, etc for my cleaning rags. If you don't have any, you can get cheap white washcloths at dollar stores or WM.

ETA: I cannot stand microfiber!

Old terrycloth washcloths - another microfiber hater1

I buy bar mops in bulk, from Sam's Club. I have noticed they're not

as thick as they use to be.

Cotton rags.

Old clothes - mostly t-shirts and undies, and also worn out towels and sheets. I can throw them away after using since there's always plenty more.

I use cloth diapers, the ones that are sewn down and slightly thick. They last a long time, but I did buy a new set when others finally got worn out. I like having a uniform size, & “ stack” on a laundry shelf; can also bleach them. Great for bathroom cleaning as I can use several & not cross- contaminate. Good for hand- cleaning floors.

I also hate the feel of microfiber but keep a few for some things.

I recently bought some flannel cloths to use for dusing and furniture polishing from GinasSoftClothShop on Etsy. She sent me a sample of her birds-eye cotton paperless towels that are thin and absorbent. I'm contemplating buying some for the kitchen.

Microfiber is good for polishing (cars, furniture) but not much else. In my grouchy opinion.

I've never bought a cleaning cloth..but the day may be coming. Two senior adults generate mostly lightly worn clothes that go to charity, but fewer rags. Also, too many clothes today are made of synthetics to be useful for cleaning.

Our wash cloths become dish cloths, then cleaning rags. A threadbare towel gets torn up for rags.

Thanks for the bar mop idea -- ideal fabric and size.

Bar mops and old washcloths for me, too. I do use lots of Swiffer Dusters since they’re handy for our plantation shutters.

I"m not microfiber fan either. I have a huge stack of old 100% cotton washcloths - ..all clearly marked with a black sharpie X since DH folds much of the laundry and can't seem learn from a rag to bathroom use quality😊- in both the laundry room and in the garage. Some of the rags newish but those are purchased in bulk at Costco. We accumulated a large amount of old towels too from the 30 years he reffed basketball. I think I have an old gym towel marked with the school emblem from every high school in 3 counties. Those are a better size for bigger jobs, car washing etc. Never a shortage of cotton rags here. His sister owns three homes and is very particular about matched guest ready towels with as often as they entertain, If a towel shows the slightest bit of wear she replaces them and the old come here. Really, there are towels on a shelf in my garage that are almost in better shape than some I have inside in bathrooms if we only just liked the same colors. I've even given some to our clothes bank - they take clean usable towels and bedding too.

My fave 'rags' are old dishtowels.

And I find microfiber towels very good for dusting.

I also buy the bar mops from Sam's/Costco and I use them for everything, including occasionally for potholders and always for dish towels. They wipe up every mess we make and I wash them in hot water and bleach and start over. When they get so bedraggled that I just can't bring myself to use them in the kitchen, they become garage rags, barn rags or dusting cloths. I also use old ragged bath towels and wash cloths as well as an occasional ripped up t-shirt. Barbed wire will do that to you, so they get a second life as dusting cloths.

MY favorite dish towels are old surgical towels that Ashley used to bring home from the hospital. If there was a procedure a package of blue towels would be opened and many times they were not all used. Instead of throwing them away, she brought them home with the hospital's permission. No fuzz or lint, super absorbent, I only have a couple left and I'm kinda sad as Ashley is no longer working there and I have no mechanism to get more. I did order some on line and they are not the same. Not free either, LOL.

Annie

@Fun2BHere I've had a dispenser of birdseye "paper towels" for over a decade. I'm guessing they're 8-9" squares, with serged edges. They're very nice, but we don't use them a lot. Most of the small spills get cleaned with a sponge that sits ready on the edge of the sink. Bigger wet areas take a bigger towel, which is easier than a handful of the little ones. When I do use a paper paper towel (we go through a roll every six weeks or so), it's because I really want to throw it away.

That said, they're just the right size for wiping little hands and paws, and their attached little faces, and they're soft. And, come to think of it, I tend to keep a couple of different kinds of tea towels going, one for hands and one for drying dishes. The little birdsye squares would be perfect for drying a single cup or piece of fruit or fingertips you keep rinsing while prepping.

The minions like ribbed microfiber cloths. They hurt my fingers, but do get less painful (perhaps less effective?) when they've been washed dozens of times. The first time I had to buy rags (mine used to be cut from old sheets, towels and clothes, as others have described, before we were fewer and wore through things more often), the first bought ones were double squares of diaper cloth (not quite flannel, but that soft) that were two layers sewn together. They were the best rags!! But I haven't seen them since, and I'm m not so enamored as to make my own.

I use Swedish dish cloths and packs of cheap wash cloths from the Dollar Store. At my house, old towels get recycled for dog use :-)

At work we used cloth diapers on our furniture. At home, we use old T-shirts as rags, and I wash them so that I can keep reusing them. I also use the paper shop cloths that I buy in a box at Home Depot.

I happen to like microfiber cloths, even though I hate the way they feel. They do the best job for dusting, and I also use them to clean my glasses without any water or liquid. Nothing else cleans eyewear glasses better than microfiber.

We use old towels for mopping up large spills, but I attach microfiber cloths to my sponge mop with diaper pins so that I do not have to buy replacement sponges. I wash the microfiber cloths after mopping, and the only time I have to touch them is when I put them on and take them off. They very much improve the sponge mop.

Thank you for taking the time to post your experience with birdseye cotton, @plllog. The size is one reason why I've been hesitating. Hers are 11" x 12", but because they are so thin, it would take several to mop up a spill of any size. My kitchen is small, so trying to store even more cloths in addition to dish towels would be difficult. On the other hand, my thin bar towels are not as absorbent so maybe I would like replacing some of those with the birdseye.

You're welcome. Slightly bigger sounds better, but if you don't have a convenient place for them, they're useless at any size. One of the things, though, about birdseye is that it gets better and better the more it's washed. Half of my dish towels are birdseye. The old American ones with the occasional red stripes were even better. The current white birdseye is much thinner and lesser…but it does improve. Though I also have some natural (rather than bleached/white) ones which are thicker and really really absorbent, which someone here or in KF recommended—but they're so absorbent, they're instantly sopping. They think they're diapers—or, that is the maker does, but they're just finished quarters, however you use them. I do use birdseye a lot, though for drying dishes there's nothing better than Ritz Wonder Towels, which I also learned about in GW. And, of course, all the old holey ones get cut up for rags.

either old towels/wash cloths or occasionally i will pick up a few washcloths at the dollar store.

the absolute BEST thing i've ever found to clean windows is flour sack towels. i once had a cleaning service come in and do a deep clean. i was amazed at how streak-free my windows were and when i asked, one of the workers told me to use flour sack towels. i picked up a few at walmart and have never used anything else since.

@plllog, I found some never-used-but-vintage birdseye kitchen towels on eBay. I'm going to try those and see how I like them.

I bought a bunch of plain cotton washcloths (Costco I think) and that initial purchase of 25 are still all here 4 or 5 years later. I paid about $1 each; I use them for cleaning in the house and projects in the garage.

My hand towels are all 90% cotton. I have a cupboard full of towels that are not up to snuff to be out on display. That is what I use to clean with. I prefer kitchen hand towels as they aren't as thick and fluffy.

I ended up buying some birdseye cotton towels from Etsy, they're 11.5" x 11.5", which is the same size as my microfiber cleaning cloths, and I like that size -- not too big, not too small. I'll see how I like this birdseye stuff and go from there. Thanks for all the suggestions.

BTW: I do have a stash of old cotton bathtowels that I use to wipe paws and mop up big spills and such. They sure do come in handy.

Link to hand towels I buy black hand towels. They're a great price and very absorbent. Dust sort of sticks in the raised nap of the terry.

I love the microfiber that you find in the automotive department at Walmart for dusting and also use them wet for cleaning mirrors. I have a large one (maybe 3' x 3') that is great for drying off my car after I go thru a car wash-kind of like a chamois.

For other cleaning rags I use old white t-shirts or cut up old towels. For dish drying I love the all cotton flour sack type towels.

I had bought a quantity of commercial quality microfiber cloths plus mop and various mop heads, etc. some years back but got rid of them all more recently after learning of the problems from microfibers in the environment. I buy cotton clothes, no polyester, etc. and now use cut up cotton underwear and other clothes for rags.

Microfiber poses a significant environmental threat as it sheds tiny fibers during washing, which can't be effectively filtered out by wastewater treatment plants, leading to widespread pollution in waterways and oceans where it can be ingested by marine life, causing harm to their digestive systems and potentially entering the human food chain through seafood; additionally, microfibers can absorb toxins from the environment, further impacting ecosystems and potentially human health.

I had the birdseye ”paper towels” in mind since we'd been talking about them. New trick: Washing a handful of sugar snap peas for a sald or sandwich gives one wet peas. Turns out my small, but well washed, cloth paper towels are perfect for drying them. Extend the idea to a personal sized bunch of grapes, single apple, or hanful of anything. Really good!