How To Keep A Cleaner Kitchen With This DIY Rag Storage Hack

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Kitchen towels (or rags, depending on how frequently you use them) serve several vital roles in the cooking process. From handling hot pans to drying dishes to mopping up spills, they're a universal tool that many of us can't do without. That said, it's easy to go through them fast, so you may find yourself with a problem: too many cloths to store sensibly. Sure, you could follow Martha Stewart's towel tip to free up drawer space, but if you, like us, find yourself with a dearth of free time for folding, you may simply toss them into a drawer and go — praying you can finagle it closed. Good news: You can make your own kitchen rag tree out of things you likely already have on hand.

We're assuming everyone has (or can easily acquire) empty toilet paper rolls, and the only thing you might need to purchase for this is glue. Yes, if you want to make it feel a little nicer, you can grab some paint, but that step is entirely optional. You can also just "paint" the insides with glue. This not only lends a glossy finish, but also adds a light buffer against moisture (though not much, unless you use a silicone type like Alecpea).

Once you've built your little hanging towel tree, you can place it anywhere you think you'll need lots of towels. We suggest not too close to the sink (to avoid water splashes), and definitely not above the stove, in case it — or a rogue rag — falls.

Our queen of the kitchen, Ina Garten, has some fabulous organizational tips, and Marie Kondo offers a simple folding technique to prevent towels from falling over, but storing them is a-whole-nother animal. A Reddit thread in the Frugal subreddit had some clever ideas for cheap solutions: One person mentioned using two baskets — one for clean tea towels and the other for cleaning rags — kept within easy reach on a kitchen island. Better still, you can snag some cutesy Dollar Tree baskets as an inexpensive option.

Another Redditor replied that they took an old shopping bag holder and turned it into a rag dispenser instead. If you don't have one on hand but like the idea, you can get them relatively cheaply online in a variety of colors and designs. If you want to replicate the feel of paper towels (or just love the practicality), one commenter suggested wrapping towels around an old paper towel cardboard insert and storing it in a kitchen drawer. That way, you can simply unroll one rag at a time as needed. If you have a walk-in pantry, you can even slide the tube onto an expandable curtain rod, then just unroll towels one at a time. Easy peasy, inexpensive, and out of sight!