This is my new favorite thread!
I have one color of dish towels for hands and one for dishes.
My old, weary towels get demoted to floor duty. I use them to clean the spots on the hard wood floor before (or between) bona moppings.
This thread takes me back to my childhood when my mother used butcher cloth; she’d use it for days (weeks?), and once in a while, boil them stovetop - ugh, the smell!!! Even thinking about it now, makes me gag!
“Don’t be wiping your hands on my dish towel!”
That made me laugh!! My dish towels are for drying clean hands, not wiping dirty or sticky hands! I go crazy when my H uses a perfectly cute and clean dish towel to swipe at a mess. Luckily, he rarely touches anything in the kitchen besides his plate of food, so the dish towels are generally safe.
If my dish towel touches anything but a clean item, it quickly goes into the laundry bin. ? I got 3 packs of dish towels from Costco. Enough to last a week. I demote my ratty dish towels to outdoor and floor cleanup duties. 
I am not afraid of sponges. I never use a sponge without soap to wash anything… If anyone wants to be really traumatized, google biofilm formation in dishwashers and washing machines. Germaphobes will never be able to use those machines! ?
^^ I can’t doubt you on the dishwashers/washing machines!
I buy Salux Japanese washcloths at an Asian grocery store. We use these mesh cloths in the shower, as intended, but one day it occurred to me that they would make effective dish- and pot-scrubbing cloths, too.
The cloths are quite long, so I cut them in 4. They don’t scratch my dishes, they rinse out easily, and dry quickly (I put them to drain in an Oxo sinkware caddy). They can be safely cleaned in the dishwasher’s flatware basket. Eventually they become frayed, and then I toss them.
I also use these Norpro plastic scrapers to get stubborn foods off pots and plates. https://www.amazon.com/Favorite-Nylon-Pan-Scraper-Set/dp/B00U93NU3W/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=plastic+dish+scraper&qid=1574923118&sr=8-3
I grew up using dish rags and brillo pads to hand wash dishes. The rags were wrung out well and hung on a towel rack. They didn’t seem to get smelly–maybe because mom changed them out frequently.
In my kitchen with my 7 kids I could never seem to prevent smelly wash rags, so I banned rags many years ago. I only use brushes now (never liked sponges) and occasionally put them through the dishwasher–probably not as often as I should, but I’m not a germaphobe. I also have half a dozen towels hanging on all the drawer handles. These towels are supposed to be for clean dishes and hands only. I also am a big user of paper towels–a habit that’s hard to break.
I’ve never hand washed a dish. This to the dismay of my mother in law who was adamant that are gold rimmed plates would be destroyed in the dishwasher. 25 years of holidays later she’s still sure it will happen even though the dishes remain pristine.
I’ve also followed this thread with amusement and interest! dH and I just downsized into a condo and one thing I’m annoyed about is where to put my dishcloths and even the towels. I use them, and used to wash them in the laundry after every time them got somewhat dirty or wet—we had a separate basket to toss them. Now we only have one laundry basket and I don’t like to use it for everything. I’ve tried a number of things but they stay wet. I must say I have been using sponges more.
I use paper towels to clean up little messes with more than spills, like crumbs or errant coffee grounds. I don’t think we ever had paper towels when I was growing up. My husband’s family, however, used them for everything.
My mom used dish rags; first thing I did when I had my own kitchen was get scrunges. One for dishes, one for other jobs. I tend to use bleach spray with paper towels on counters and tables.
I prefer to hang it on my husband’s hand. Works for me.
Has anyone used Swedish dishcloths? I have gotten a couple as gifts and they are great - they don’t smell at all. I use them mostly for hand washing dishes, with a scrubber sponge when needed. I don’t know if they are readily available in stores in other parts of the country (I’ve seen them mostly in local gift and Scandinavian shops) but they are available online - either plain or with cute sayings or designs. Would make a great stocking stuffer!
Funny thread! I grew up in a house with sponges and i use them. I use scrub daddy brand and they never seem to smell. I do wash them when needed but I’m not a germaphobe so perhaps not as often as I should.
My MIL used a rag and I was always pretty grossed out when I offered to do the dishes and needed to use the rag. Same with those plastic mesh balls (?) where pieces of food would get stuck in the mesh. Yuck! And I tried brushes a few times but didn’t find they were effective enough in scraping everything off.
And I have a single large sink so no lopping anything over a divider. I have a flip down compartment in front of the sink where I store my sponges.
Don’t the scrubbers scratch your Teflon pots and pans?
Nope! Not the kind I have! Never have noticed that!
I switched to Scanpan cookware. No need for scrubbies of any kind because it is truly non-stick. It is supposed to be scratch resistant, but I still use silicon and plastic spatulas with it.
One thing I have found is that Dawn dishwashing liquid will make your rags smell bad fast. I believe it’s their grease eating enzyme. I keep Dawn for laundry problems now but I use something else (Palmolive?) for dishes. I have a dish rag and a Dobie scrub.
I use microfiber cloths (e-cloth, nano-cloth etc.) on counters and stovetop now almost exclusively. Paper towels leave a residue. The damp, wrung-out e-cloth picks up grease and dust without any other cleaning agent. I use an e-cloth for a couple of days (I hang it on the lower handle of my oven) and then wash it (no fabric softener).
I have a designated sink sponge for cleaning with Barkeeper’s Friend. I use a dish brush for cleaning off dishes destined for the dishwasher.