Condo Blues: 20 New Ways to Use and Repurpose Old Towels

Monday, September 11, 2017

20 New Ways to Use and Repurpose Old Towels

I swear the amount of towels in my linen closet magically doubles or triples on its own. I bet it is some relic from a science fiction universe (or that I live in a small house with a small linen closet but I’m still blaming aliens because it is more fun.)

If I don’t clean it out my linen regularly the towel population grows to the point it is so large I can’t close the closet door. Which given the size of the linen closet, it doesn’t take a huge towel population to achieve this.

But it also means that I regularly have old towels with a worn spot or edge but overall fairly usable and as such, something I don’t want to send to landfill hell if I can get another reuse out of it.

Luckily, old and worn towels are one of the easiest things to reuse and upcycle to save a little money, the environment, or better yet – time.

Pin these creative reuse ideas for later!

20 Genius Ideas to Reuse Old Towels You Have to Try!




1. Wash the Dog – I keep a few old towels as Dog Towels when she needs an at home Spa Treatment after a messy good fun adventure.

Lacey definitely got a bath after playing in the lake! I don't care  that she can home wet and muddy because she had so much fun. Just look at that smile! 


2. Stuff a Molly Mutt bed with soft towels to make an nontoxic dog bed you can easily wash!

I’m always thinking about my amazing readers like you and that's why I share ideas like these. When you get this goodie, I might get a few coins thrown my way that keeps me supplied with enough coffee and household electricity to keep bringing YOU free DIY ideas like this every week. Thank you for your support!

3. Cut 100% cotton towels into small pieces and add them to your compost bin.  The small pieces will decompose faster than it will if you chuck the full size towel in.

4. Cut and sew the unworn parts of a bath towel into a bath scrubby poof.

5. Use old towels as insulated lining to make pot holders or an insulated casserole dish tote.



Old bath towels are my favorite plastic free insulating fabric!

6.Donate your old to an animal shelter. Most shelters have an ongoing need for old towels.

7. Cut old towels or use old wash clothes to replace disposable baby wipes or, if you are bolder than me, family cloth reusable toilet paper.

8.  Make reusable makeup remover pads from old towels.



In the tutorial I used scrap terry cloth to make my makeup remover rounds because I didn’t have any old towels at the time.

9. Keep a few old towels in a garage or laundry room to use to clean up accidental water leak flooding and plumbing emergencies. Or if you know a plumber ask them if they need old towels to take with them on jobs. Chances are, the answer is yes!

10. Fold and cut old bath towels into 8ths to use as reusable cleaning cloths and to replace paper towels. You can run a quick zig zag stitch around the raw outer edge to prevent the cut towel from frying with wear.


I still keep paper towels on hand to clean up bodily fluids and such (I’m a big ol’ baby about that kind of stuff) but rarely use them because the cleaning cloth towels are much more absorbent and are easy to pop in the wash.

11. Fold and cut old towels and use as reusable workshop, car, or garage cleaning cloths. I kinda cheat on this one because once my reusable cleaning cloths get too stained, I put the clean but not great looking towels into a container in the garage to use as shop towels. By the time they are ready for the trash can after a painting, staining, or other DIY messy project, they have lived a multi-purpose life cycle.


12. Use old towels to line and make an insulated ironing board cover or pad.

13  Use a rolled towel to make a door draft blocker.

14. Cut the unworn and usable part of a bath towel down to size and hem it to use as a kitchen dish towel.

15. Use two towels to make the outside of a washable dog crate pad.




16.  Sew an old towel into a soap saver or travel soap pouch

17. Sew old towels into fluffy and cozy terry cloth slippers.

18. Make car seat covers from old towels to keep your car clean during trips home from the beach, gym, or anywhere wet and muddy!


19. Use old towels to make a soft and absorbent rag rug bathmat. There are two types of DIY towel bath rugs:






20. Make an easy baby bib from a repurposed towel 

How do you reuse old towels?

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