Econo cloth, $1

I once complimented someone on the state of their house. This person had been to my house several times and, worried that she might have inadvertently shown me up, she hurriedly said, “Thank you. But you know… I don’t think of cleanliness as a moral thing.” Well, me neither. But I did feel shown up because it occurred to me then that as compliments go, the one I’d just paid was pretty lame. So I don’t compliment people on the state of their homes anymore; I just continue to apologise for the state of mine.

This cleaning cloth is made by The Smith Family, using scraps from the textile industry.