Saturday, January 19, 2008

Fluffy hand towels

I keep a running list of things I ought to buy. Somehow, after percolating in the back of my mind, these items appear just when I need them most.

Take hand towels, for instance. The kids ruin my last two cleaning up an accident. The next day, an armload of fresh towels waits at Goodwill.

Not just hanging there all clean and white and fluffy, but hanging there at 99-cents each--and half off that price.

I don't want to seem flip, thanking a "concierge God" for sending me exactly what I ordered. Yet neither do I want to ignore His hand in the little things. So I'm saying a small prayer of gratitude as I fold the laundry. May many hands be blessed by this hospitality, Lord!

Do you have fancy towels reserved for company only, or do you manage to keep a clean everyday set for guests?

25 comments:

Kristine said...

Sweet. He's a God of provision. I love hearing your finds! Your blog is encouraging and inspiring! I have enough hand towels that there are always some on hand :), so no, I don't have fancy ones.

Edi said...

I do keep a sep. set of towels for when company comes...the towels are not fancy, but they are nice.

My regular everyday towels are mainly white - I like white b/c then I can bleach them clean!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it amazing how we always have what we NEED - and a lot of what we want. I am so happy you found towels when you needed them. And, no, I don't have separate "company" towels or anything else. There is nothing in my home - china, linens, or anything else - that is "saved". Such a small percentage of our life is spent on "special events", So if I feel like having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a limoges plate, then then why not? If it breaks, then I will have had the joy of using it rather than someone maybe sending it off to Goodwill after I am gone because they don't happen to care for it.

The Chatty Housewife said...

I have blue towels for hubby, navy blue for me and deep purple for guests. As children come along they will each get a color. I like the idea of all white, but would be afraid of stains, yellowing or greying.

Anonymous said...

I do not have special towels for guests as we very seldom have guests. I do have a rather huge stack of hand towels (and good sized ones, not puny fingertip towels- who needs to dry their fingertips only??) probably 10 or 12 of them, so I can change them out 2 or 3 times a day as my children filthify them :) I like to have a clean towel hanging up all the time and they like to keep a dirty one laying in the sink. We're trying to come to terms with that difference in our standards.
We currently only have one very [very small] bathroom so this may change when we build a house with 3 or 4 of them. Then we will probably have nicer towels in the guest bath simply by virtue of their being used less often.

Anonymous said...

My mother kept a lot of stuff for "special occassions." It almost never got used. When she died, I threw out all of the everyday ratty stuff and vowed that I would see every as special and use my good stuff.

Anne said...

I don't have any "good" towels. Seeing that I needed more hand towels, I cut in half some old bath towels that were a little small and fraying on the edges. After hemming the three raw edges, I now have "new" hand towels and moved the threadbare, old ones to the cleaning stack.

Anonymous said...

I, too, like to keep a list percolating in my mind and wait for the right deal to turn up! It's a real lesson in patience and want vs. need for me.
I have white towels that I gently bleach and usually dry in the sun. Going on 8 years and they look good. I don't have separate handtowels for guests - I wash my handtowels often and keep them nice (these are not the original ones from my going-strong bathtowel set - handtowels take a beating in my house!).

Anne Marie@Married to the Empire said...

I have several sets of towels that match each bathroom. No special ones just for guests; just the regular ones that match that particular bathroom.

That system would potentially change, though, if we had children who were especially hard on towels.

Goodness, now that I think about it, I even have 4 sets of towels that are used only for youth camp and retreats.

mama k said...

God does provide even for the little things.

Do you have any tips for keeping white towels bright? I thought that by buying all white I'd be able the match them easily and bleach them occasionally. But they just look dingy all the time instead. Maybe I should go with off white next time?

Sharon said...

I only have 3 right now for our 3 bathrooms and have not found a good deal like you yet. When/If I do I will put out nice ones for company just because I like everything all nice andclean looking. Not to say they aren't normally clean, but I like them very fresh and extra clean for guests visiting. :)

Anonymous said...

I have all white towels, because of ability to bleach and also because white is serene and doesn't fade; same grade for family and guests alike.

However, the guest set has a different dobby weave than our family set for quick identification. As soon as they are used and washed, they go in a special bottom dresser drawer no family ever looks in. This little tucked-away knowledge helps me feel ready for impromptu company, no matter what state our family laundry is in. dmeyers

Anonymous said...

Our Lord does meet all of our needs and most of our wants..I do not think you 'flip' at all. I know that your heart is full of joy for the little things as well at the big things that our Lord does.
Your blog is always a blessing. Thanks for sharing. Roxie

Anonymous said...

It is always "RIGHT" to give thanks.....always....all things...Pam, South Bend

Robin said...

I keep a pile of folded white wash cloths in our guest bathroom. I fold them in thirds and stack them up. There is a basket on the top of the toilet tank for used cloths. Each guest gets their own clean hand towel.

Betty Canuck said...

God has always been good at providing all kinds of needs and wants in our family too. I think its the small wants that give him great pleasure in filling. I imagine him having great joy in our joy in the small blessings.

As per hand towels, I have a large stack of every day 99 cent white ones from Ikea.

I try very hard to live by the rule that every day is special, and at least once a week is extra special and we need to use the special linens, cups and doilies. My kids love this and very carefully and craftily set the table for those times. Now, I only have one set of dishes, but I augment them with fine china mugs, special serving wear, and pretties for the table.

And we use this time as impromptu etiquette lessons. For example: "Hmm, I bet the Queen doesn't use her fingers and shove the whole piece of cake into her mouth... see that pretty neat fork?"

Only, now we're on 'napkin folding' as we followed a link to a butler site one day and the kids love the ways you can fold the napkins.

Tee said...

The Lord is so faithful. He provides in all areas of our life. As for the towels. I have all white for guests, because I can bleach them to keep them nice and white. I bought a dozen white hand towels from Wal-Mart to use as my kitchen hand towels (I have separate towels for drying dishes) that way I know which towel is for drying hands and which towel is for drying dishes. :-)

inspired said...

I have a set of guest towels that stay in the guest room folded prettily for anyone who stays with us. I started that in this house. I keep them in the drawer until the day they come. Then they do not get dusty!

Stephanie
www.homeschoolblogger.com/inspired

Mary@notbefore7 said...

God is so beautifully seen in the way that He does provide exactly what we need. We have had similar experiences and I often wonder how many I miss when I am just providing "my own way" instead of waiting on Him.

Tubo Family said...

I love it when you end a post with a question! We have different colors for each bathroom; the one set that is white is very dingy despite bleaching, I've finally figured out it is the "hard" water here so will stick to colors in the future.

Amy said...

Great find! I love to have a good set of towels for our company. Our downstairs bathroom is technically the guest bath and I keep a nice set down there.

Our towels all were pretty much ruined because we rented for awhile and shared a community laundry facility. People would leave bleach in the bleach dispenser or in the washer itself and all of my towels had become discolored and some even have holes in them now. I am going to hang on to them for awhile longer, but would eventually like to replace them.

Anonymous said...

We never have overnight guests, but when visitors use the 2nd bath, they will always find a clean (colored) hand towel hanging from a wreath-hanging hook on the door! (That bath is half-remodeled, so until it's finished, I do what I can.) I like the look of all-white, but these were inherited when Hubby & I married. They'll be replaced with white ones eventually.

Toni_KY

TJ said...

God is good, and does provide.

I see that I'm not the only one without good towels. I'm happy to have 1 (one) gray hand towel that we received second hand, that is NOT stained or full of holes. So that gets put out when company is coming, provided it hasn't already been used. Then I put out the really ugly second hand orange towel, that is somewhat faded and a bit ratty, but free from major stains.

When you visit our house, we make no pretensions. And we do our best to be gracious and welcoming with what we have. That's what counts right? If we had nice towels, we'd put them out, but since we don't you get what we have.

Kimi Harris said...

I really, really, need to invest into some hand towels. The ones that we got when we were married are in bad shape now!
My mother always kept nice ones for company, maybe I will have to do the same, since we seem to be rough on towels!

Anonymous said...

Thanking God in the 'everyday' is such an humbling praise -

When I find a large serving silver spoon for a quarter at the salvation army "thank you Lord" -

Or an almost new quilt at the goodwill for 2.00 - Thank you father.

When I can find $.39 pound bunch of bananas, "You're awesome, God" -

Or 2 percent gallon milk for 1.89 -
"you're a great provider jesus..."

I feel exactly where you're coming from Meredith -
Our jobs/incomes/stipends are not our source that sustains his children -
It's totally allll him. He's our source for everything we need and little bit of what we want.

giving thanks -
latrice - working mama in the nw!