Viva my Viva. Please!

       A few years ago, I made a life-changing decision. I decided that I was going to always have great paper products in my home – soft, luxurious and decadent tissues, toilet paper and paper towels. I figured that I’m worth it, and that this was something on which I was unwilling to compromise. I have enjoyed these products immensely ever since.          

        Visitors to my home have occasionally even been moved to comment on the softness of my paper offerings. My lush, thick, nearly velvety paper towels, in particular, have led not only to exclamations of shock, but also to declarations of admiration for my lifestyle choice. They are the Viva brand, by Kleenex, and if any of you get an opportunity to try these nearly cloth-like super-absorbent towels, you too will experience paper towel Nirvana.
       With that in mind, you can imagine my dread when I switched to recycled paper towels a couple of days ago. The recycled product is called “Small Steps” by Marcal. It is made of 100% premium recycled paper, and according to the package they are STRONG and ABSORBENT, hypoallergenic, and made without chorline dye.
       They also are neither white, nor fluffy, nor lush, nor velvety. Compared to the Viva brand, they are rather gray and desiccated. There is no way I would ever choose to use them to clean a wound, as I did with my Viva and my bloody knees last week. The recycled towels are more likely to add to injuries than soothe them.
       Indeed, to add insult to injury, they actually cost more than my lovely Viva. 

       Why is that? Does it cost more to make paper towels out of paper than it does to make them out of trees? Or is the extra fee a sort of tax on environmentalists? I picture the CEO and CFO saying, “Well, if consumers truly care about the environment, they won’t mind paying a bit more.” I can just imagine them rubbing their hands together and chuckling with a mad-scientist laugh – “heh, heh, heh…”
       However, in the interests of my resolution and the environment, I bought them.

       But I found myself hoping the Marcal towels would be so awful that I would have no choice but to switch back to Viva. I figured that after a few days of trying them, it would be clear that the recyled product is such a complete non-absorbent waste of recycled paper that it would actually be better for the environment to simply make prudent use of my effective (and oh-so-soft) Viva.
       But, to my chagrin, the dry, scratchy paper towels have been more than okay. They are more absorbent than I had expected, and even proved themselves yesterday in a tough situation when Tom decided to take over the kitchen.
       Although Tom is an adventurous cook, he isn’t the neatest one.  I tried to stay out of the way as much as possible, but occasionally simply had to creep in to wipe spills off the counters, floor, stovetop and inside of the refrigerator. And the ugly recycled towels held up to all of it.
       Then, late last night, I devised another Marcal challenge. I tore off two small Marcal “u-size-it” sheets, and used them for cleaning the dining room glass-top table. Then I used the same two sheets to clean off the top of the kitchen island (still delightfully clutter-free, after my Martha Stewart month). Then I used the same sheets to wipe off the seats of the bar stools around the island. And then I used them to wipe down the sink. And, the same two Marcal sheets held up through it all, just like I know the Viva ones would have.
       How incredibly annoying…
       I guess I will continue to use them for now, at least until the end of the month-long resolution. Maybe I’’ll discover something bad about them yet. Perhaps they’ll give me a rash.
       But if not, at the end of the month, I’ll have to make a choice between my commitment to soft, cushiony paper products and my commitment to saving some trees in a forest somewhere.  Hmmmmm....