Thrifty Thursday: Using Old Clothes for Cleaning Rags

A long time ago, I started trying to get my husband to give up his old t-shirts for rags but he declined.  He said that they were just soft enough and perfectly worn to be comfortable.  Luckily, shortly after that he ripped through a few and they ended up in the rag pile.  We also had some socks that were wearing through and getting holes which had the same fate.  I don't know if you can see but there is a hole near the gray heel in this sock so it ended up in the rag pile.

Often when I did the laundry, they ended up back with clothes to put away because it was hard to tell the different right away.  I wanted to let you know that there is a really easy fix for this problem.  Cut the items to make them rags!!! Whether it is a t-shirt or a sock, they are really easily cut so that you can use them around the house for cleaning.  No one will confuse this with the socks that need to go back in the drawer and it gives you more surface area to fold and clean with.

On the t-shirts, I cut off the arms and cut down the side seams and end up with two big rags.  If you prefer smaller rags, you can easily cut this in half and make four rags instead.  These are really great for surfaces that need a soft touch like your TV or computer because they have already had years of washing wear them down.

Of course, we also use the socks uncut for dusting and other cleaning where it is more fun for your whole hand to be covered.  I usually pick my husbands socks because they are the biggest in the house and I can clean something really gross and nothing touches me.  I can then throw out the sock without feeling really bad if it can't be cleaned since it was headed there in the first place.

We also have a few towels that have worn spots which are kept as rags.  They used to make it back into the closet a few times but now I can tell which towels they are and they end up in the rag pile to clean up spills and leaks in the basement.  They are currently helping our leaking air conditioning while we are waiting for a replacement to be installed!! 

Hope you can organize a rag pile in your basement or laundry room so that you have cleaning rags from any clothes that are too stained or hole ridden to be worn again.  We store ours in a trash can that was never used so they are all together and easy to find.  Find something that you have around that you can store your growing rag pile in!!  Most importantly, make sure you make a few cuts so that they don't sneak back into drawers and closets without your permission and you will be very happy with the results.