[Happyjack]

flannels and hand towels on a tight budget​

This is about function over form i.e. if you wnat something that does the job rather than how it looks
Either buy a towel from an op shop -one that you know has good water absorbing properties ( some are terrible)
cut in to hand towel and flannel size pieces.
Or as I've just done this with one of mine that suffered a bit of a bleach attack.