How To Combat Teenage Towel Waste

Here’s a surefire way to combat teenager towel waste.

MOM LOGIC  | Have you ever experi- enced Dis- appearing Towel Phenom- enon? This occurrence is not to be confused with Disappearing Object Phenomenon, a docu- mented paranormal event where random objects mysteriously disappear and then inexplicably turn up later. In the case of Disappearing Towel Phenomenon, the objects are neither random nor their whereabouts unknown. Parents of teenagers know precisely where to look for their vanished bath towels: in multiple soggy piles on the floor in their offspring’s bedrooms.

Combatting this waste is a nightmare, not to mention uneconomical. How many towels must a parent wash and fold every week and how much water and electricity must be squandered in the process? The answer is, not many, or much, if you adopt the Frugalbits solution.

You will need to replace your large cache of bath towels with just two—one for body, one for hair—per family member (pack away your extras for company). To eliminate potential thievery, assign each person towels in a specific colour with their name monogrammed on them. If you don’t have enough doubles in different colours, buy extras on sale like I did at The Bay where I paid under $7 each. As for monogramming, expect to spend from $10 to $20 per name per towel depending upon the size of the lettering. That may seem like a lot, but when you amortize the total amount over a year or two, factor in soap, water, wear on equipment and personal effort expended, it isn’t that much for a system that works.—C. Rule

Look for towels on sale ath The Bay and HomeSense. The Dog’s Ear T-Shirt & Embroidery Co. does monogramming. Visit dogsear.com for locations.

Photo: C. Phaisalakani