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Azaziah
12-31-2010, 05:07 AM
Several weeks ago, my Better Half picked up an interesting item at a local discount grocer. It was a fourteen-pound roll of ‘shop towels’ for $13. As I am sure many of you know, these are like paper towels on steroids. Very thick and tough, you really can use them more like a ‘real’ towel; rinsing, wringing, and repeating.


My first thought was ‘Nice scrounge!’ (high praise in our household). My next thought was ‘How are we gonna deal with a 12” diameter mombo roll of paper towels?’


So the roll sat in our pantry, waiting for inspiration. Happily, it came a couple days ago. We were packing some buckets, and I had set the roll of towels on top of a bucket, out of our way. I did a double-take when I noticed the similarity in diameter and height of the roll and the bucket.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_N0p5B5W2yCY/TRqFPijUb8I/AAAAAAAABF0/bCTlMdXpRnw/s720/IMG00056-20101226-1140.jpg



A clamp, a straight-edge, and a (very) sharp knife produced this:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_N0p5B5W2yCY/TRqFOkSz29I/AAAAAAAABFw/829u4SXc_OE/s912/IMG00057-20101226-1624.jpg

The roll was about ˝” too big, so we had to peel maybe 100 feet off of the roll to get it to drop in nicely. That’s allright, we will still use what we removed, and next time we will look for a slightly smaller roll (they are sold by the pound, and vary slightly from roll to roll).

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_N0p5B5W2yCY/TRqFLoTCziI/AAAAAAAABFo/V4iLhUTN8f4/s720/IMG00059-20101226-1645.jpg



The sheets are perforated, and the roll turns easily within the bucket. The slot cut into the bucket stops just shy of the top, allowing a lid to be snapped on normally.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_N0p5B5W2yCY/TRqFMzG-aQI/AAAAAAAABFs/ibZiOvx7NS4/s720/IMG00058-20101226-1645.jpg



This is an elegant solution for our needs. The bucket can be stacked among others, is easily moved and re-loaded, and the towels are kept clean and dust-free. I do not know what the cost comparison is, but I am certain that there is a huge difference between the economy and utility of this versus conventional rolls of paper towels.


Just wanted to share!

Tooldummy
12-31-2010, 05:16 AM
Wow! That is a great idea! I buy a similar product called "Rags In A Box" but the box always gets damp and falls apart before I get them used. I will have to make me one of those, I like that.

BonnyLake
12-31-2010, 12:37 PM
Gee thanks! Now I have "paper towel in a bucket" envy LOL :p

That is a great idea - I love stacking my buckets, I have started moving them around so I can get to the ones I use seasonally easier.

Nice pantry by the way!!!!

NCLee
12-31-2010, 01:15 PM
Ditto!

That's a great idea. Love it when people put on their thinking caps and come up with a great solution to a problem.

Thanks for sharing your light bulb moment with the rest of us.

Lee

Azaziah
12-31-2010, 07:09 PM
Oh, and thanks for the compliments on the pantry (what little you can see)... when we go into the pantry, we call it 'going to the store'. LOL. Still much to do, but it is coming along a day at a time. http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/vb/images/smilies/cool.gif


As an aside, an interesting thing is that when my DW and I are in the pantry, looking around, the most common thing we say to one-another is 'praise God, He is good'.

There is such simple security in a full pantry...

NCLee
12-31-2010, 11:59 PM
There is such simple security in a full pantry...

So few words, so much truth!

With the big snow storm that just went though the east, can't help but wonder how many went hungry because the pantry was empty? Not because they couldn't do any better, but because they chose not to do any better.

Lee

Dreamin'
01-07-2011, 09:21 PM
I've added this to my ever increasing project list.