Dishcloth. Easier to get thoroughly clean.

For going over dishes, pots, and pans, we use a refillable dish wand and replace the head very often.

I generally reach for a scruby-type sponge for dishes and pots because, as you say, the rough texture is good for cleaning. I use thin dish cloths more as reusable paper towels...great when cleaning counters and the stove...then I throw them into the wash.

Ida......where do you put the dish wand when not in use?

Well, I often have to fish it out of the sink where DH tends to leave it, but ideally we place it on the drying rack that we keep out.

I use a Chore Boy Golden Fleece scrub cloth, plus a sponge.

Like IdaClaire we use the fillable wand. I keep it in a little metal spiral with suction cups to the interior of our sink. Works beautifully. Something like $3 at Walmart. Out of the way and out of sight from the room.

I was raised with sponges but switched to a dishcloth a few years ago. I like being able to throw it in the wash and bring out a clean one and not having to worry about it getting yucky. I still have sponges for wiping up, and a Dobie scrubbing pad for tough cleaning. Even when I used sponges for washing, I had a separate sponge for wiping surfaces (know in my house as the "yucky sponge").

I use both a sponge backed with a green scrubber and a dish cloth. Depends on the what I am doing. Mostly, I guess I use the sponge for rinsing dishes before putting in the dishwasher or for dishes that I handwash. The dish cloth, I use for cleaning off kitchen countertops and wiping down kitchen cabinets.

Adding to say that I do put the sponge in the dishwasher for washing and sanitizing. Tina, do you think that routine is enough to remove the bacteria the sponges gather.

I love the Libman Power Dots sponge for dishwashing. The dots don't really have much power--they won't scratch--but the other side is microfiber and great for wiping countertops. They last for months. I put it in the DW every night.

For cooked-on food, I use Barkeeper's Friend for stainless and Bon Ami for baking pans.

https://libman.com/products/336

No sponges on dishes because they hold too much bacteria. I use similar to the scrubby cloth shown (they can be washed). Microfiber and another type cloth (similar to a dishcloth) that can be washed, for my counters, appliances, etc. Dishcloths are used and then go to the laundry basket daily. I use a magic eraser a good bit for cleaning (not dishes of course) too.

Sponge with the scrubby side. I may have to rethink the a dishcloth though. But I like the idea of the scrubby side of the sponge for my pans...hmmm. I guess we can do both. I also keep brush handy too at the sink also for pans and dried on stuff my kids don't rinse!!

I use a dish brush, which goes into the dishwasher for cleaning.

Only dishcloths. Have a scrubby sponge for pans and it goes into the dishwasher immediately after use.

I have an irrational tactile aversion to sponges. I hate the feel of them, especially older ones both wet and petrified. Even brand new, there's just something wrong about them. (I'm sure there's a name for my sponge dislike, lol) I use cloth towels for drying and a heck of a lot of paper towels. (I try to be green in other ways)

Jo

Oh, before anyone thinks it's that phobia of holes, it's not. I have no problem with objects that seem full of holes. Or hole patterns. It's just slimy sponges that gross me out.

Both. We use a sponge for washing dishes, a dish rag for wiping counters and such.

I use a Dobie pad like my mother did for washing dishes and most pots and pans. I run the pad through the dishwasher top rack. For counters and table clean up, I have dish cloths.

Does anyone use a stainless steel scrubble? I received one as part of a kitchen themed gift and used it for the first time the other day and liked it.

I prefer dish clothes because I can wash them in very hot water in my front loader with an onboard heater. But we moved to an open floor plan house and my sink is on an island visible from the front door. So I sucumbed to a sponge because I can hide it in one of those things that suction cups to the side of my sink. I throw them in the dishwasher often and pitch them frequently.

For stuck on food, I find baking soda and dishsoap paste works wonders.

(And we use cloth napkins for all of our meals and rags for most cleaning because I really try to minimize the paper towel usage.)

Scrubby sponge for pots and pans and counters. The same one. Don't let them get gross. No poriferaphobia here.

(We compost paper towels and napkins to be half-green. :P )

Dish clothes for everything that is not stuck on. I probably use 3 different ones a day, (Once they are used on the floor for a wipe up, they are thrown in to the laundry.) Easy to wash.

@happy2b, I do use the stainless steel scrubber but prefer the copper ones. It is not that easy to find the copper ones in the grocery stores - used to be that that was all that was in the stores. The stainless steel ones just seem to start disintegrating much faster than the copper ones. I use them only on my cast iron ware, never on the stainless steel. On the stainless steel, I use Barkeeper's Friend or Bon Ami.

I use clothes. I use the Mu cloth with a scubber or the cloth with a grid scrubber from Crate and barrel or william sonoma. I buy them whenever they go on sale. Like Maddielee, I use about three or four clothes a day. I also don't use paper towel but cotton towels so there is a load to wash every two days or so. I also use the Fine grit japanese scrubber if things get really grubby. These also go in dishwasher after each use.

Good luck!

Norwex has a cloth that is more of a heavy mesh than solid cloth. It's especially designed for scrubbing dishes. It's great for scrubbing and I also like it b/c it never gets smelly. Never been a fan of sponges.

Not a cloth or a sponge, but I have to give a shout out to whoever recommended the Lodge cast iron pan scraper. I love my cast iron pans, but cleaning them made me crazy until I got one of these cool scrapers. Never in a million years would have found it if someone here hadn't recommended it.

I have two different scrub sponges-one type is a woven nylon bristle type on one side and a microfiber covered sponge on the other-that is for when I was the pet food and water bowls. A blue scrub sponge (sometimes I get the green and yellow ones) for pots & pans and general washing off before things go in the dishwasher-I also throw both of them in the DW once a week or so. And cloths for counter tops and general kitchen cleaning.

I was at a craft show and a woman was selling a roll of reusable 'paper' towels-they're terry on one side and cotton on the other with snaps on the ends. They're rolled on to a plastic mesh roll and I keep them on a paper towel holder and use them in place of paper towels and sometimes as napkins. I love the idea! I think there are 15 on the 'roll', it does take a little work to get one, you have to unsnap it from the next one, and vice versa when it comes time to put them back on, but I have cut down on paper towel and napkin use tremendously.

Today must have been reading our minds (or the board LOL):

sponges

That Today piece makes me want to ditch sponges....I like the idea of the all in one mu cloth....think I'll give it a try.

eta....just checked out the CB and WS cloths...they look good too. Also like those Libman Dots. Thanks for all the great options!

I use Dobies too. Mine go into the dishwasher almost every day.

Glad you like all the options Joanie. Check out Marshalls or Home Good for the mu clothes. I also found them on clearance on a few websites in the past.

A slightly more in-depth article about sponges from Ars technica.

I've mentioned this before, but since I'm so anal when it comes to germs, and wanting a clean kitchen counter, I use Handi Wipes. No generic brand. I buy them in bulk from Amazon.

Three things I keep in my sink, Handi Wipe, scrubby brush or Scrub daddy, and the dish wand filled with Dawn.

A single Handi wipe can last several days. If I'm cleaning the sink with a cleaner, it rinses out beautifully. They're great for washing the counters, and drying with a dish towel. They never touch grease.

I use a clean one for the whole bathroom, and then I throw it away. :)

The scrubby brush/Scrub daddy is for pots and pans only, then it goes in the DW.

The wand is for washing a tiny load of dishes.

Have you all tried Scrub Daddy? I think that's the name of it. I love them! Much better than the scrubby brush and they can also go in the DW. Takes up less room in the sink too.

For those of you who use sponges ~After cleaning microwave for 1 min.

4boys2, if you read the Today article, you will see that a certain bacteria that can make you ill, is still found on a microwaved sponge. The dish wand thing looks neat, but the end on it is a sponge too, so not going to go there. I do want to check out some of these other cloths. I use handy-wipes too, we don't use alot of paper towels. I have a scrub daddy but it's not used on dishes.

Dishcloth-never a sponge. I think they are unsanitary.

And from the New York Times today:

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/science/sponges-bacteria-microwaving-cleaning.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2F

"Stop. Drop the sponge and step away from the microwave.

That squishy cleaning apparatus is a microscopic universe, teeming with countless bacteria. Some people may think that microwaving a sponge kills its tiny residents, but they are only partly right. It may nuke the weak ones, but the strongest, smelliest and potentially pathogenic bacteria will survive.

Then, they will reproduce and occupy the vacant real estate of the dead. And your sponge
will just be stinkier and nastier and you may come to regret having not
just tossed it, suggests a study published last month in Scientific Reports.

Bacteria are everywhere, so it’s no surprise that a kitchen sponge would be full
of them. But previous research had underestimated a sponge’s quantity
and range of bacteria. By looking at the DNA and RNA in samples from 14
used sponges that may be as dirty as the one sitting in your sink right
now, Markus Egert, a microbiologist at the University of Furtwangen in Germany, and his
team identified 362 different species of bacteria living within them.

And the scientists were surprised to find how densely microbes occupied
such close quarters: About 82 billion bacteria were living in just a
cubic inch of space.

“That’s the same density of bacteria you can find in human stool samples,” Dr. Egert said. “There are probably no other places on earth with such high bacterial
densities.”

The sponge attracts bacteria — which arrive via food, the skin or other
surfaces — with the perfect living conditions. There is lots of warm,
wet and nutrient-rich space for them to thrive.

And among those taking advantage of these amenities, the scientists found,
was a microbe called Moraxella osloensis. It is widespread in nature and
lives on the human skin. It can cause infections in people with weak immune systems, although the risk posed by the bacteria found in sponges is hard to assess.

Moraxella osloensis is primarily responsible for the stench of dirty laundry, and it may also be the reason that your sponge eventually emits a funky odor.

The odor is a compound produced by the bacterium’s metabolism. It eats fat. It excretes fat. And that fatty excrement stinks.

The thrifty among us may try to clean a sponge that starts to stink, but
it’s probably time to let it go. Disinfecting it, as many have tried,
does not necessarily work. You can microwave a sponge, throw it in the
laundry or dishwasher, douse it in vinegar or other cleansing solutions
or even cook it in a pot. But the researchers discovered more of the
potentially pathogenic bacteria, like Moraxella osloensis, on the sponges collected from people who said they routinely disinfected them.

“When people at home try to clean their sponges, they make it worse,” Dr.
Egert said — similar to how people can encourage antibiotic resistant
bacteria if they don’t follow the doctor’s orders. He says if you can’t
clean it perfectly, it may be best to replace it with a new one every
week or so — especially “if it starts to move.”

But if you would rather not create that much waste, run it through a
laundry machine at the hottest setting using a powder detergent and
bleach and then use it somewhere other than the kitchen that is less
hygiene-sensitive, like the bathroom.

“Now I’m an expert in how to clean sponges,” said Dr. Egert, who wants to
compare disinfection methods in a follow-up study. “I’m waiting for the
sponge industry to call me.”

Dishcloth that I change daily. I think sponges are gross. I don't mind using them if they're brand new but not after that. And I don't want to use them if I'm at someone else's house. How long have they been there? I always think that about hand towels too.

And I'll never use one again after reading what Cindy posted. (I didn't read the rest of the thread but I'm sure there's other stuff that would make me cringe. )

So if your wash rags start smelling funky I suppose it's pointless to try and remove the smell from them too huh?

OK....I decided to try and ditch the sponge. I was placing an Amazon order so I ordered some dishcloths by Lunatec. Also, I was at Target yesterday and they have some with a rougher side. I don't live near CB so I may have DD pick those up for me.

Got to thinking.....I have always been susceptible to little stomach bugs. I'm now wondering if they are from the sponges....I do dishes and then eat something or wipe my mouth? Hmmmmm.

lso, I was at Target yesterday and they have some with a rougher side.

Hmm. Are those the ones that are microfiber with an open-weave mesh scrubby sewn in as a back layer? If so, I made the mistake of buying some of those once and they get as nasty as a sponge in a few hours after the first use in warm, humid FL. Stuff gets trapped between the layers, so unless you throw them in the wash as soon as you use them, ick.

I find what works best for me is a good ridgy weave. Those will tighten up and harden somewhat with washing till they scrub nearly as well as a green sponge.

Well, up until I read this we used a sponge. But I've just tossed it and am headed out to buy dishcloths!

Joanie,

It would be interesting to see if your stomach settles down over the next month or so. I forgot to mention one thing, I have an open weave basket under my sink that I put all the wet and used kitchen dish clothes in (I have something like this under the sink. I use these in the bathrooms where I use re-useable face towels as hand wipes.). Even in an enclosed cabinet, they are out easily. Granted, I don't like in Florida or Louisiana but DC area humidity is pretty bad too. I wash my kitchen towels and dish clothes two to three times a week. I tend to use as many dish clothes a day as I need. I change them out almost with every use. I have accumulated dish clothes over the years so I could go almost a week without needing to wash dish clothes. I have a washer that gets up to 200F with a hot wash and I use this cycle on the dish towels and sponges. If your washer does not get that hot, bleach the dish clothes with each wash and always use hot water.

I have had great luck buying handmade woven or crocheted dish cloths from people on Etsy. Lasts so much better than the ones you buy in stores and some are woven with a rougher pattern, good for scrubbing/picking things up.

I also use sponges, but mostly for cleaning my glass top stove. I usually throw in the wash soon after using - in with whites that I bleach, hot water and hot dryer. I don't have any worries that anything has survived that treatment. I never felt confident about the dishwasher or microwave methods.

I use sponges and soak them in undiluted bleach to sanitize. Never had a problem. Been doing this since the 70's.