To paper towel or not to paper towel?

This blog just keeps getting more and more exciting. First an entry about milk, now paper towels, where will it end! Or more importantly, when will it end?

Yesterday I was just going about my day and then by reflex reached out for a roll of paper towels because I'd been careless enough to spill some milk. Don't worry I didn't cry or anything, I only got a little misty eyed. This made me wonder who the heck had bought paper towels. Really, I can't for the life of me remember when I bought paper towels.

I grew up in a house with lots of paper towels, everywhere you went there would be paper towels and you'd hear "grab some paper towels for that" and I learned just how much you can't live without them.
Then I moved out on my own and one of the first things I bought was paper towels. Because "you just can't keep a household without paper towels" and then I learned the true value of money and stopped. They just weren't worth it to be honest. My mother frowned upon my choice and thought it downright wrong not to have paper towels in the house. Still I insisted I'd much rather spend the little money I had on more important stuff. Like going out, champagne, cocktails or other fabulous things such as a £60 vinyl record.

Then I moved here and decided to invite my parents over to stay for a while. I was working every day anyway.. How bad could it be? Ahem, you have no idea, but that's another entry entirely and I may have to write it for the therapeutic reasons alone. Well in the wake of their departure I found my kitchen completely rearranged and a pack of 6 rolls of paper towels. What are those for, I asked my mother immediately after discovering them. She replied "for emergencies". Still the only time I've used them was this once cleaning up the milk, and they were quite handy.

My question is this, why is it even necessary with paper towels? Just use a dishcloth I say. I know I'm hardly known for my environmentally friendly attitude but this is one way I'm helping the environment I suppose. Just remember if you wiped up milk you need to rinse it REALLY thoroughly otherwise it'll be really disgusting. Back to the paper towels though. Why would you want to waste your money on it? Especially when it's such a two-fer or maybe even more-fer. One, you save money and two, you are helping the environment and maybe you are even saving the rainforest.

Did you think about that? You may be saving the rainforest if you don't use paper towels. Ok, this is provided paper towels were made from trees from the rainforest which they may very well not be. I don't know, I'm not a member of the tree hugging society. They could very well just have used rainforest trees for your new special wooden flooring or my parents rubber tree kitchen. Or maybe they don't have rubber trees in the rainforest or there are rainforest safe rubber trees or rainforest safe paper towels, much like dolphin safe tuna, I don't know. Still, I wonder.

In any case, the damage is done. I've got paper towels so I might as well use them. Do you, or why do you use paper towels?