Wherefore Art Thou, Towel?

Bad Housekeeping Confessions.

There's been a lot of towelessness at our house lately.

Usually I'm pretty on top of it. Towels are my favorite laundry to do because it is more forgiving. Tons of bleach means you can temporarily forget that there is a load in the washer. It takes a looong time for the towels to get that wretched forgotten wet laundry smell.

So I know that there are way more towels than people on the property. And yet I've had to resort to emergency towelling measures more than once in the last couple weeks.

I'm the big showerer in the family. Pretty much every single stinking day I take a shower. Don't want to. But it just works out that way. The rest of the hooligans in the house? Eh. It varies. And when they do finally buckle down and scrub their butts do you think they bother to make sure there are towels for the next person? Noooooo! I'm the only one to monitor the towel levels. Sure it's only because I don't want to hear somebody yelling from the shower "Can you get me a towel!?" when I'm in the middle of something, but still. Come on. Just like replacing the toilet paper roll even if you've done your business and don't need any more, lets think ahead on the towels.

So clean towel levels have been dangerously low. I find out way too late and have to improvise. Hand towels work but I only have like 2 of those for some reason. Not sure whether to blame the kids or Mark for that. Tea towels from the kitchen would work but that's kind of weird in both directions. Don't want to rub my face with the towel that might have cleaned up spilled milk or chicken blood or something. Don't want to wipe up my kitchen counters with the towel that dried my armpits. Beach towels, of course, could be a great substitute but I have a huge problem with them get worked into the circulation. They are strictly seasonal/swimming towels. Them's the rules. So more often than not (OK, like 2 times) I've simply used a washcloth.
Ya, the washcloth that's, what, 8 inches across? Good thing I'm not a real big person. But if I was? 2 washcloths.

I think one reason this works for me is because 1.) I was revelling in the huge reduction in laundry I'd accomplished just by replacing one towel with one washcloth. And 2.) I have a preference for thin raggedy towels anyway. Those giant plush fluffy mega-towels? Sure, in theory they're awesome. Bigger is better. They're colorful. They're soft. But. I'm just not into it. Too much material, too heavy, too much room in the washer & linen closet. Also, it wouldn't make any sense to pay for fluffy plush towels when their ultimate fate is heavy bleaching, kid barf, dog baths, pig births, massive honey spills, fire, lightning, earthquakes, and typhoons?

Nope. I'm going to keep on buying the bulk pack of generic hotel towels at Sam's Club. Plain white. And I'm going to use them until I can read the newspaper through them, as my Grandmother says.
Well, I'm going to use them if someone would wash them, that is.