The Smart Trick To Hide Used Kitchen Towels Before Laundry Day

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Kitchens create a surprising amount of laundry. From wiping up spills to drying the dinner dishes, towels are the workhorse of the kitchen. And if you're cutting back on paper towel use or using cloth napkins at mealtimes, the to-wash pile easily increases, leading to an unexpected problem: Where are you supposed to stash all these towels until laundry day?

Sure, you can make collecting dirty kitchen towels easier by keeping them in a designated hamper or in a basket on your washing machine. But these solutions create visible clutter and are constant reminders of that dreaded laundry day looming closer and closer. What if we could use a smart trick to hide used kitchen towels before laundry day instead? That's where the rag bag comes in. A simple (typically cloth) bag can be hung pretty much anywhere in your kitchen, making it easy to tuck away out-of-sight until you're ready to tackle the household laundry. Plus, rag bags make laundry day easier because those dirty kitchen towels — the ones the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends are washed in hot water — are already sorted for you. Simply empty the bag into the washer, turn it on, and you're good to go.

Like every type of storage, rag bags only work if you use them. So how can you make sure you use it? Find the right location so it naturally fits into your nightly closing duties that keep your kitchen functional. For example, if the last thing you do every night is wipe down the kitchen sink, then an under-cupboard rag bag like this Handmade Natural Cotton Vintage Rag Bag from Etsy may be the best fit. Simply open the cupboard, drop in your kitchen towels, and head to bed. Or, if you wipe down the counters before you walk past the pantry and head upstairs, hang a larger bag, like the Resdenio Hanging Laundry Hamper Bag, in your pantry. Command hooks are a great choice for this since many can support 10-15 pounds, but check the label before installing.

Worried about a mildew smell? The key is making sure only slightly damp or completely dry rags are added to your rag bag to make sure bacteria doesn't have a chance to grow. If you often have soaking wet kitchen towels and no space to dry them out, consider getting a wet bag, like OTracki Waterproof Clothes Bag, instead. Originally created to contain wet cloth diapers, wet bags have a polyurethane laminate fabric lining, using the waterproof textile to keep soaked items contained. While we did find that some homeowners use wet bags as rag bags, we recommend not storing wet rags in here for more than a few days to prevent mildew from developing.