Marley's Monsters UNpaper Towels - 24 Count roll, Reusable Paper Towels, Paperless, Cotton, Tree Free (Bees ans Plants)

So I bought these because when I went to go order my favorite paper towels on amazon (viva) and got a bit of sticker shock. If I recall rightly, it was something like $40 or $50 for an 8 pack of paper towels. I know I could get them cheaper in the grocery store, but for some reason paper goods is the one thing that always slips my mind when I'm there, so my TP and my paper towels and kleenex all get bought off Amazon. When I saw these suggested as an alternative my thought was "Well, it's expensive, but it's worth it if it works, and if not, I haven't wasted a ton of money." These are GREAT! I ended up buying 1 roll in solid colors (blues, greys, browns) and 1 roll in some goofy prints. I use the solids for cleaning up people things (kitchen messes, etc), and the prints for cleaning up dog messes.For people use (my pretty solid color towels):I've washed this roll twice now. I've used this to clean up some messes that I was pretty sure would stain (including wiping up a little tomato). Your mileage may vary, but at least for me, so far...I haven't had any staining of these towels (and this includes letting the towels sit in a waste basket for a week or so until I was through with the whole roll so the whole roll could be washed at once). I have ZERO trouble getting these to roll up onto the roll and they stay put on the roll without falling off. I was also afraid of their potential lack of absorbency, as other people had left bad reviews on that. When using them to dry my hands after dishes, the absorbency wasn't great the first time I used them, but it wasn't terrible either. Less absorbent than a GOOD paper towel, but definitely better than some bad paper towels I've bought in the past. Absorbency does seem to be improving after subsequent washings.For Dog Use (my patterned towels):About a month and a half ago, I adopted two wonderful little rescue dogs. They're both potty pad trained, but they were new to going on walks (their previous owner used to just let them out in the back yard). One of my dogs goes potty outside successfully. The other one, for some reason, just....refuses. She's good about her potty pad, but even trying her best, she occasionally misses. Here was where I was REALLY worried about the absorbency of these towels. These were going to be useless to me, if they didn't do a great job at soaking up pee. But lo and behold, they have been FANTASTIC. I DO have to press the towel hard into the pee spot, but I was doing that with paper towels too just to make sure I got up all the mess I could before applying Nature's Miracle (that stuff genuinely is a miracle but that's for a different review). These towels are seriously a champ at soaking up the dog mess. In order to keep my small apartment from stinking, I store the used ones in a draw string trash bag until it's time to wash. If you're going to use these for animal mess, check and make sure your washing machine has a sanitize function first. I only wash the dog mess towels with each other, and then I run the sanitize function on the washing machine after, so germs aren't transferred to the next load.If you're having trouble with your towels (or just want some tips):* Follow the washing instructions. In case you've thrown them away, wash them without fabric softener (which impacts their absorption). When you dry them, use the lowest heat setting your dryer has (in order to not shrink the cotton fabric).* Take them out of the dryer and put them on their roll right away. I have to admit as someone who is a bit flighty, this has been the hardest part for me. But if you leave them in your dryer too long, wrinkles will set in and it will make getting them to stick on the roll more difficult.* Make sure each towel overlaps the previous when you're rolling them on. Making sure they overlap means they're less likely to fall off the roll.* If you have ANY mess on your towels that could include dangerous germs (not just dog mess, but if you're only using them in the kitchen, and you use them to clean up after raw chicken or other things that could spread salmonella) be sure to practice good food safety. Keep them in a container where you're not going to spread the germs until it's time to wash (I'm using a draw string garbage bag that I throw away when it's time to do laundry), wear gloves when handling them, and make sure to run an empty load on the sanitize setting of your washing machine so you don't spread germs to the next load.These steps probably sound like more of a pain in the tush than they really are. I'm remarkably lazy and bad at housekeeping, so if I've found it all manageable, then they're easy to use. These were a VERY pleasant surprise for me, and money well spent.

I came back to this page to order more of these. Looking at my purchase history, I ordered them in June of 2021, so about 17 months ago. I am ordering more because we've had several get lost (or perhaps accidentally thrown away), as happens with a product that gets regular, daily use in the household. I really like all the fun prints, and everyone in the family has "favorites" that get traded around at the dinner table. A few have also gotten resigned to the rag bin because of things that are just impossible to wash out that they helped clean up. While I had some qualm about their absorbency at first, the more they get washed, the more absorbent they are and the "rolling" method works better the more the towels have been washed as well. We've only been even reaching the bottom of the roll recently and have several towels that are hardly used still (that's what prompted me to count and realize that we have around 15 towels in regular rotation right now, instead of the original 24... I knew I hadn't seen my favorite in awhile!), but I thought I'd better order so we weren't "breaking in" more than a few at a time!

These are my first reusable bamboo towels. They work as advertise, are easy to use to clean up, get soft after they get wet and are easy to wash, too. I have not used a full roll of paper towels since I got these. Added bonus- it’s therapeutic to roll them up after they are washed.

I’m new to the “sustainable home” so I bought a few things to get me started minimizing waste and these are great! Easy to use. In just a few days I have significantly reduced the amount of paper towels I would have normally used.

Update: Marleys Monsters did reach out as a result of this review. It took a number of email exchanges & I did watch a video on how to roll these UN paper towels on the roll (see my 2nd picture). I still think this is a lot of effort & the absorbent issue was never addressed so I did ask for a refund & returned the product and they accepted & refunded my money. So because they stood behind their product I gave them 4 stars. The end……I was really excited to try this paper towel alternative. I heard about them on an Earth Day show. I ordered the Solids Sprout 24 pack. They are not good for what they are made for. Not absorbent, they don’t sit nicely on the roller (very saggy). The directions say they become more absorbent after they are washed. What? So use more water to save on paper (landfill)? That makes sense. I wish I could return them. They are very very expensive cleaning/dusting rags.

These things are amazing! They are the perfect size, absorb liquids fantastically, are hearty enough to scrub crud off of the counter, and are reusable!

We use it as an alternative to wipes after meals - wipe them throw the towels in the washer and run it when full. They have lasted well and helped us create less paper waste.

I'm trying to use less paper towels, and save a few trees. I use these soft flannel cloths in the kitchen for wiping everything except greasy things. I used to use 10-15 paper towels a day to wipe hands clean. They are extremely soft, and clean up in my regular wash just fine. I would like them just a slight bit bigger. They met my goal of using less paper.