Home Hacks: 7 Ways to Reuse Old Towels

Blossom Lady

Mar 27, 2021 04:51 AM

No matter how faithful your favorite towels have been, they won’t last forever. Whether your towels were built to last for years or only intended to last for a few months, they will eventually wear out. When that happens, what should you do? The most straightforward answer is that you can just throw them into the garbage. This might be the best choice if the towel is extremely raggedy and holey, but in many cases, there’s still plenty of good towel material left to save. In cases like these, there are tons of ways you can recycle this material and put it back to work for you in a new role. Today I’d like to share with you a few ideas for reusing old towels. You’ll be amazed at what the humble towel can be turned into, if you use a little imagination.

Cleaning Rags

Every household needs a few cleaning or dusting rags. Washcloths are perfect for dusting the surfaces around your house once they’re too ratty to use for washing up. Old hand towels make terrific cleaning rags, and you can use them for cleaning everything from the car to the patio furniture. Even bath towels can take on a second life as a rag, and they’re great for lying down underneath a painting project or any other surface that you want to protect from a mess.

Dish Towels

Even if your towels are growing so thin that they’re struggling to dry you, they may still have a life left as a towel. Dish towels don’t need to be as thick and fluffy as hand towels and are often made from a thinner material anyway. Could you repurpose your thinning or fraying hand towels as dish towels? You may find that even though they’re showing their age, they’re still perfectly capable of drying off your dishes or wiping down counters. You can also reuse bath towels this way. Cut them down to size, and you can easily make more than one dish towel out of a full-size bath towel. If you do cut them, make sure to hem the edges to prevent fraying.

Dog Toys

Does your family have a four-legged friend? If so, you can repurpose your towels to make them a chewing toy. The process is extremely simple. Just cut the towel lengthwise into regular strips of about five inches. Then, tie knots all along the length of the towel using these strips. Your dog will have a great time chewing on it.

Baby Bibs

Your towels might not be up to drying anymore, but they’re perfectly capable of catching food splatters. That’s why they make the perfect material for baby bibs. If there’s a little one in your family who likes to make a mess when they eat, try repurposing your towels in this way. Just cut the bib shape, hem the edges to stop any fraying and sew ties on to hold the bib in place.

Shower Pouf

Those plastic shower scrubbers that come with so many toiletry gift sets make me cringe with horror. Not only do they end up being mouldy and stinky, but they cannot be reused, and so end up going to the rubbish heap. These shower poufs are made from old towelling, can be washed, and are compostable at the end of their life… Plus they look pretty!

Swiffer Mop Covers

Why buy endless disposable Swiffer mop covers when you could reuse your towels for the same purpose? Only instead of throwing these away when you’re finished, you can just run them through the washing machine and use them again next time. To make your Swiffer pads, just take an old hand towel and sew two side seams on it. Make a stack of these reusable pads and enjoy how much you save on these cleaning supplies.

Wash Cloth Soap Holders

I love using shower bars instead of shower gel in plastic bottles. But hate the way the bars go mushy straight away. These wash cloth soap holders keep your soap or bar secure and create a great lather in use. Plus they are a great way to upcycle old towels.

repurpose ideas, home hacks, old towels

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4 comments

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Candace Davila

Sep 03, 2021 06:03 PM

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Using a towel as a dog toy is a terrible idea. They cant tell a good towel from an old towel and if they swallow pieces they will require surgery.

Janice Pierce

Jan 18, 2022 12:11 PM

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plastic plastic shower scrubs do not get moldy or something else you said. They are completely machine washable just put them in an old sock and tie the end. I have cut slits in the top of a sock and ran a shoe lace through. Old nylons are the best. Jan

Mary Barnes

Jan 20, 2022 11:19 AM

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shower puff dirctions