Hand Towels. Paper Towels. Germs!

[itlw8]

Ok, maybe this is a dumb question....

Do hand towels really spread germs? Aren't their hands clean when they wash them (well, when you help them wash them). And don't you lose a lot of profit by going through tons of paper towels?

Related question, what do you all use to wipe up counters, tables, etc, etc. I've used clorox wipes which I love, but too expensive. Sponges, but dirty? Paper towels and spray seems time consuming and wasteful of resources and profit. Thoughts?

Legally unlicensed, so I don't have to worry about regulations, I'm just looking for common sense and best tricks of the trade!

Thanks!

I health classes they teach us that there are still germs hiding in warm moist places like between the fingers and when you dry with a paper towel some germs will be on the towel you toss in the trash. It is supposed to be better to dry with a paper towel than an blow dryer.

I bought a dispenser and use C fold towels from SAMS

[Thetotspot]

I have a couple hundred wash rags i bought at walmart for about 4 dollars a dozen...usually on sale at end of summer for kids moving into dorms. I have a basket on the counter full of them and i refill several times a day. The kids wash their hands and we dry with one and throw it in the laundry basket. I wash them and start all over again. I love doing it this way because then we can wet them to wash faces. The kids go grab them to go wash off thebwhiteboard and tables and basically anything. We dont have paper towels anymore because kids would grab the roll and contaminate it all. This works great for us.

[MissAnn]

I have a couple hundred wash rags i bought at walmart for about 4 dollars a dozen...usually on sale at end of summer for kids moving into dorms. I have a basket on the counter full of them and i refill several times a day. The kids wash their hands and we dry with one and throw it in the laundry basket. I wash them and start all over again. I love doing it this way because then we can wet them to wash faces. The kids go grab them to go wash off thebwhiteboard and tables and basically anything. We dont have paper towels anymore because kids would grab the roll and contaminate it all. This works great for us.

What kind of rags? Washcloths? Do you fold them? I used to do this but got tired of folding them. I am very earth friendly in most areas so I feel bad to use all paper towels.

[Abigail]

I LOVE how I do mine!

I have been using this for the bathroom. It's from Sam's Club and was only $20. Mounted very easily to the wall and I actually drilled my own holes to make sure it wasn't going to fall off or get bumped with 10+ people using it. It is not automatic so it doesn't use a battery or need a plug-in. It's only a few inches thick so it's very space efficient too! My only concern was that paper towels would fall out of it or come out in multiples but they don't! The paper towels only come out one at a time and the kids know to only use one. I have 18months-3 year olds using it.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/marathon-folded-towel-dispenser/prod2200179.ip?navAction=

The refills are only $24 for 16 packs of 250 so that is 4,000. With 7 full time kids and we wash our hands many times a day I estimate I will go through 4 boxes this year. http://www.samsclub.com/sams/gp-sign....ip?navAction=

We have the kids wash their hands:
1. At Arrival Time
2. Before Breakfast
3. After Breakfast
4. After Art
5. Before Snack
6. After Snack
7. After Playing Outside
8. Before Lunch
9. After Lunch
10. Before Snack
11. After Snack
12. After Any Potty Break

So yeah having so many kids use 12 paper towels a day costing only $100/year is not bad at all!



I don't use paper towels for myself or my employee. We use handtowels and change it daily or more as needed. My changing table is not in the bathroom, it's in the main room. We have all white wash cloths from Walmart to use to clean just the changing table. If we see any poo we use a wet wipe first. We use two wash cloths for each sanitizing "session" for soap water then bleach water solution. The wash cloths are all white because they are identified as changing table towels and also can be bleached if needed which I've never done all year. The regular price at Walmart year round is $4 for 12 rags. I bought about 8 or so and they need to be washed a few times before they "absorb" much and then the strings I took time to cut them from the initial washings so they do look nice and work well. We have a small basket on the ledge we put the cloths into once used. The clean ones are folded in quarters and stacked on a shelf in the other room by the bathroom and we just grab one tall stack each day. We have enough white wash cloths to go M-F and toss them in the wash together. During nap and at the end of the day we dump our small basket in the main room of the used ones into a big basket in the laundry room until wash day.

For our daycare tables and counters we started with some blue rags (until I learned to use a different once each time, ) but ended up buying a lot of the white dish clothes with the colored stripes on the ends. These came from the dish cloth area at Walmart and were about $6 for a pack of 12 and I have 4 packs that last a week. These are nice ones because we use them upstairs in our own kitchen as well so I spent the extra few dollars. This way these clothes are never mixed up with the the changing table white cloths. We use a spray bottle that is kept in the kitchen for soap water and another for bleach water solution just like the main room. We spray it down well and use 2 cloths, one for each bottle and they are used once and tossed into the tub. We use the bathroom tub to toss any used cloths from kitchen cleaning, hand towels from the bathroom, art smocks, or any "dirty" yet washable items from the playroom like soft blocks that were slobbered on or blankets that were chewed on from the toy dolls etc. It works well. I have a separate daycare bathroom downstairs so we do this so everything in the bathroom at the end of the week can be washed together.

I end up doing one load of white wash cloths, one load of kitchen/play room items from the tub collection, and one load of all sleeping blankets each week. I like what I have for right now.

[melilley]

Ok, maybe this is a dumb question....

Do hand towels really spread germs? Aren't their hands clean when they wash them (well, when you help them wash them). And don't you lose a lot of profit by going through tons of paper towels?

Related question, what do you all use to wipe up counters, tables, etc, etc. I've used clorox wipes which I love, but too expensive. Sponges, but dirty? Paper towels and spray seems time consuming and wasteful of resources and profit. Thoughts?

Legally unlicensed, so I don't have to worry about regulations, I'm just looking for common sense and best tricks of the trade!

Thanks!

The three step system: Soap water, rinse water then non scented chlorine bleach water. Simple and cheap. You are supposed to leave the bleach water to air dry and like someone else said, the bleach water has to be made everyday or it looses its effectiveness. There is also a proper ratio to mix it so that the bleach doesn't fade or ruin things. 1 teaspoon to one tablespoon per gallon of water. You do have to buy paper towels, but soap and bleach are cheap so it kind of evens out. Or you could use wash cloths, but you would have to use a different one each time.

[Crazy In Mo]

The three step system: Soap water, rinse water then non scented chlorine bleach water. Simple and cheap. You are supposed to leave the bleach water to air dry and like someone else said, the bleach water has to be made everyday or it looses its effectiveness. There is also a proper ratio to mix it so that the bleach doesn't fade or ruin things. 1 teaspoon to one tablespoon per gallon of water. You do have to buy paper towels, but soap and bleach are cheap so it kind of evens out. Or you could use wash cloths, but you would have to use a different one each time.

I test my bottles periodically with the test strips and have never had a bottle "go bad" before I used it. My sanitation inspector did say it could happen if the bottle sat in direct sunlight for an extended period of time. I do not mix a new bottle everyday.

[mema]

I buy the select a size Sam's Club brand. I just rip a few off and have them on the counter. I only have a few kids, so after each potty break/hand wash time, I just check and rip a few more. I use to have 2 that would use half the roll to dry and 1 of them also used them as toilet paper. When they were here, I only left 1 on the counter at a time and the rest outside of the bathroom and would have to replace them every.single.time.

[melilley]

I test my bottles periodically with the test strips and have never had a bottle "go bad" before I used it. My sanitation inspector did say it could happen if the bottle sat in direct sunlight for an extended period of time. I do not mix a new bottle everyday.

I don't think it goes bad, it just looses it's effectiveness.

[MarinaVanessa]

This is what I use. I chose this because I wanted something that didn't look so "industrial" like what you would see in a public bathroom. It works well, I wall mounted it and would take it down when I had company over but I stopped doing that after a while and would just put a cloth hand towel in there for looks when people came over but even they preferred to use the paper towels instead of the cloth one. With mine you load it from the top and pull the paper towels from the bottom. They come out one by one.

[kitykids3]

I have one of these mounted just above the sink. I only use disposable paper towels for the kiddos. I order refills online. I couldn't imagine using cloth towels - no where to put them all, plus I don't see it as sanitary.

[DaisyMamma]

This is what I use. I chose this because I wanted something that didn't look so "industrial" like what you would see in a public bathroom. It works well, I wall mounted it and would take it down when I had company over but I stopped doing that after a while and would just put a cloth hand towel in there for looks when people came over but even they preferred to use the paper towels instead of the cloth one. With mine you load it from the top and pull the paper towels from the bottom. They come out one by one.

Where did you buy it?

I have one of these mounted just above the sink. I only use disposable paper towels for the kiddos. I order refills online. I couldn't imagine using cloth towels - no where to put them all, plus I don't see it as sanitary.

Where do you get the refills?

[LaLa1923]

I have one of these mounted just above the sink. I only use disposable paper towels for the kiddos. I order refills online. I couldn't imagine using cloth towels - no where to put them all, plus I don't see it as sanitary.

If they are used like paper towels and washed in bleach I don't see why not.,


It costs about .15 to wash a load of laundry, that's less than $6 a year! I'm not cheap but considering switching to cloth and then toss them in the basket.

[youretooloud]

I don't like to use paper towels, but, I do buy tons of washrags and each kid dries with one towel, then throws in in the vicinity of the basket below the sink. (heaven forbid they try to aim)

I just throw them in a load of laundry every few days. I don't wash them special...but, they get washed.

[itlw8]

I test my bottles periodically with the test strips and have never had a bottle "go bad" before I used it. My sanitation inspector did say it could happen if the bottle sat in direct sunlight for an extended period of time. I do not mix a new bottle everyday.

Same for me they used to make us make new daily but now just test. I used to keep mine in the window so the life was shorter. I only test every 3 or so days and it is always fine.

Most states do not use test strips so mixing new is the only way to know if you do not test. Plus in MO we use a much lower concentration except for blood than other states.

I love the washcloth idea Thanks ladies. Especially the different colors for different jobs. I do have old ones in the table area in a basket and the kids are fast to wipe up spills now.

[DaycareMama]

I also got a dispenser from SAMs club and use the three folded paper towels. I love love love it. At first I thought ugh what a waste. So I put an extra paper towel only can in the bathroom and recycle. I used wash clothes for years. Each child had their own new one everyday. But that was just to much. I love this now. A box of 4000 for $25 last me at least 3-4 months and I use them in the kitchen and bathroom