A Tale of Two Sponges
By Karina | August 10, 2009
Sometime last year, I was kind of wandering around Whole Paycheck and came across a couple of sponges that I’d heard of before. I had heard a compelling review of the Twist brand sponges from Not Martha, and when I saw them, I went ahead and picked some up. This was shortly after the Great Sponge Discussion of 2008, if memory serves me right.
I purchased the Loofah Sponge and the Euro Sponge, and for sure, the best part about them is probably the amazing packaging. It’s super cute! There was instructions for making a mobile and a bird feeder included with my sponges, which was really charming.
The sponges, on the other hand, I am still not sure about - I used them for a week or so, then set them aside and have recently started using them again. The Euro Sponge is a large and awkward size - I’m thinking of cutting it in half, to make it easier to use. The loofah sponge was both great and weird at the same time - the loofah is really firm, and the sponge is really soft, so it creates an imbalance in the two sides. On the other hand it’s biodegradable and I really do love the idea of using a loofah to clean my dishes. Maybe I don’t need one sponge to do everything? Maybe I should be happy having a loofah to scrub dishes, and a dish cloth to wash dishes?
I will confess that my favorite tried and true sponge remains the pop-up sponge from Trader Joes. They’re very similar to these, and are super cheap with very small packaging. Plus it’s just plain neat to put it in water and watch it pop up! Jenn did gift me with a lovely scrubby that she made… but I’m kind of a sap, and I am afraid to ruin it. Isn’t that a mess? I should just use it in the spirit it was gifted, and be happy while it remains with me. (These days, though, we use a dishwasher mostly at my new home, and there will be a much longer post about THAT later!)
How are you washing your dishes these days?
[[Photo from Flickr user latca via creative commons license.]]
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For dishes, I don’t use a sponge (they get icky), but opt instead for handknitted cotton dishcloths — they are awesome, and I have enough of them to use a fresh one each day so they don’t get germy! I love the idea of using a loofah for super-scrubby jobs; might have to look into that.
Oh my gosh that’s the cutest thing in the whole world, that you’re too sentimental to use the dish scrubbie I made!
The funny thing is that I just wound up more old scratchy acrylic yarn from the old-yarn stash you gifted to me, to take with me on my upcoming trip, so I can make more scrubbies for gifts. :) So the timing is right to put yours to use, my awesome friend, as there is a backup on the way…
You might not like it (not sure how, but it’s possible), but you should at least try it!
Also, for what it’s worth, I’ve been using my homemade scrubbie since I wrote that post a year ago, and it’s still going strong. Long live (vintage) acrylic yarn! I just toss it into the wash every few weeks and it’s good as new.
A few months ago I found and purchased the twist dish dumpling. I use it for the baked on goodness, sometimes with some sea salt or baking soda (and then I add some vinegar for volcanoes! okay, I really don’t do that But I want to.)
For general purpose, I have a reusable dish cloth made by the food network that has a cloth side and a scrubby side (that is likely some polyester based something or other.) I purchased this almost a yea ago, as it was the only reusable option I could find at the time. It came in a package of multiples, so the stripped ones are for dishes and the white ones are for counter and other clean up.
after checking them out for awhile, i finally bought one of those same eurosponges a couple of weeks ago. i agree it’s too large and, for some reason, it didn’t occur to me until the second i started using it that white is the worst color possible for a sponge. it looks filthy after cleaning the counter once. i was hoping it’s thin size would let it dry out faster and keep it from getting stinky like my traditional sponges keep getting (my husband refuses to use them and keeps driving me nuts by using paper towels instead).
Hey Beth! If you replace the paper towels with reusable rags, that’s one way to subvert your husband’s habit. :) I’ve stopped using paper towels altogether except for the emergency recycled-content roll I keep around for hairball-related emergencies. Cause, yuck.
we do use them for our toddler to clean up food and his face. i think i’ve felt guilty about using them for other things because hubby does the laundry and is already swamped with it (family of four with one in cloth diapers and our community machines are expensive). i’m not sure if he would go for it or not. we also use too many paper towels on cat puke (four cats… why do they throw up so much?!) and i don’t know that i can stand the thought of trying to clean that up and try to get the chunks out.
and, even though i have a supply of washcloths just for cleaning up the bathroom, i still see him using paper towels. i have no idea why. when i tell him there are cloths, he just says okay and then doesn’t use them.
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