If you weren't already hip to IKEA's TEKLA dish towel, now's the time to smarten up. A longtime favorite of bloggers, designers, and shoppers alike, this 79-cent wonder has a serious cult following for a reason. Not only does this simple, bistro-style towel do a great job, well, drying dishes, but it can also be repurposed into an unbelievable assortment of savvy home items (think: napkins, laundry bags, and even curtains) that look equally chic in your place.

Still doubtful that something this cheap could be such a game-changer for your space? Read ahead for even more reasons why these unassuming dishtowels are definitely worth picking up.

First, They're Just Really Solid Dishtowels

And you can use them for just about anything in the kitchen.

Glance over the TEKLA's customer reviews on IKEA, and you start to notice a trend. According to several commenters, the weave actually tightens and becomes more absorbent after several washings. And in addition to being super durable, the yarn-dyed tea towels can fill in for other sorts of towels.

For instance, reviewer LexMex uses hers instead of paper towels.

I will never use paper towels again. For the past several years I have been using the TEKLA towel around the house instead of paper towels. I keep a couple of dozen in a basket in the kitchen and grab them for regular clean up jobs.

While Kfling brings hers to the gym.

They have uses in more than the kitchen. They make a bathroom hand towel that no one worries about actually using, and with the loop it comes in very handy at the gym after one's shower.

And Mamaroonie cuts her TEKLAs "in half and uses them to wash up her babies after meals."

Suffice to say, these towels do way more than just dry your dishes, lint-free. From Bon Appetit to us here at Kitchn, the consensus is the same: Nothing gives you better bang for your buck than the TEKLA towel. Not too shabby for what Amazon user Mary describes as "the best kitchen towels for the money — anywhere."

And You Can Also Repurpose Them, Endlessly

When you stop thinking of the TEKLA as a towel and start thinking about it as a tiny Euro-style fabric find, you're only starting to see the possibilities.

1. You can turn them into stylish table napkins.

Thanks to the good folks at Martha Stewart, we now know all it takes is a couple of iDye pellets and a washing machine to turn a batch of inexpensive TEKLA towels into colorful, one-of-a-kind table napkins.

2. They make great small laundry and storage bags.

Follow these instructions from Red Red Completely Red to sew two TEKLA towels together to score the perfect place to stash your unmentionables — and just about any other small items you choose.

3. And even better curtains.

Looking for some cute café curtains that won't set you back more than $5? Take a tip from Live Laugh Rowe and snap some drapery clips onto the top of your TEKLA towels and voila@ You've got yourself some clean-lined window treatments for cheap.

Do you already have a stack of TEKLA towels? What do you use them for?