Friday, November 18, 2011

Cloth Napkins

A while ago, I decided that buying paper towels was more of a convenience rather than a necessity and set about replacing them with something almost as convenient. I found several blogs extolling the virtues of cloth napkins. I decided what did I have to lose?

My sister was getting rid of my nephew's crib sheets and blankets and gave them to me. I cut them into paper towel size, about 10 inches square. I decided I wanted one side to be the sheet material and the other the receiving blanket material. So I sandwiched two together right sides facing, machine stitched the edges leaving a gap to flip them right side out, and finished closing the edge. I made about 75 of them.



I actually like them.I use them anytime I would a paper towel. Now if the mess is particularly nasty, I will use torn up boxes from, like say, cereal boxes or Mac & Cheese etc. On those occasions I don't think a measly proper paper towel would do anyway! 

The draw back? The convenience of picking up a mess and being able to throw it away. Spaghetti Sauce comes to mind! On those occasions, as on that particular one ;) I have a small coffee can that I have put detergent and a drop or two of bleach and soak them on the shelf above the washer. When I do a load of towels, I dump the water into the toilet, squeeze out the cloth towels and wash as normal. So its not really a draw back, just an extra step or two.

The bonus? I don't have to panic if I get to the end of the roll of paper towels... I just make sure to throw them in the wash! I save money, I have not noticed any increase in washing, besides I make my own detergent! I save on waste, here we are charged per bag of garbage, and even though being green was low on my list of priorities, financial was the top priority, it was definitely a plus!

The hard one to convince was my hubby. He is so used to  me having a fit for using my "nice" kitchen towels to pick up spills and such, that when I replaced paper towels with these, he would watch me closely as he was reaching for them to see if I was gearing up for a fit :) He now reaches for them with confidence (and leaves my kitchen towels alone!) He even likes them when he makes a sandwich, the sheet side is perfect for it!

1 comment:

  1. So genius mommas :) always thought so :)
    -your daughter

    ReplyDelete

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