Making Cleaning Rags from Old Shirts

I consider myself to be a very frugal person. I avoid disposable products whenever possible. However, for sanitary reasons I will never give up toilet paper; and, I will probably never give up paper towels either. Sorry, I'm just not comfortable with cloth napkins. But I also use paper towel to do a lot of my cleaning and I'm trying to cut down on that.

So, I made some rags from my sons' old shirts. I have 3 sons so by the time my youngest has grown out of the clothes they are too thread bare to donate. I was throwing them away. But then it dawned on me that the t-shirts would make excellent cleaning rags. Here's how you do it.

Lay out the shirt on a flat surface.

I remember buying this little shirt from Goodwill when my oldest was 4 years old. He is now 13 and my youngest is 4 and just outgrew the shirt. How time flies!

Use pinking shears - if you have any - to cut the fabric. That way there is no hemming required. Well let's be honest. I wouldn't take the time to hem a rag anyway.

Put the pinking shears underneath one of the arms and cut straight across.

I discard the top part of the shirt. Maybe one day I'll figure out a use for it.

Then cut up one side.

And then up the other.

And voila! I got 2 reusable cleaning cloths from one toddler size 4 shirt.

I have made several of these to keep underneath the bathroom sinks. The children or I use them to clean the sink, the tub, and finally the toilet. Then we toss them in the laundry. Hopefully, I'll see a drop in the amount of paper towels I use in month.