Do you use cloth napkins?

[momofkhm]

how often do you change them?

Do they ever come clean from messy things like spaghetti?

What color are they? (are they white? or do they match your kitchen?)

 

I'm wondering about starting to use cloth. I know mom did this growing up for a while and she just left the same ones on the table all week. DH definitely would not go for that. But now it a good time to make changes as I've just gotten new wallpaper in the kitchen.

[Lakeside]

We use cloth napkins. Each family member has a wooden napkin ring with his/her name on it and we reuse them for several days. We also have extra napkin rings that have "friend" on them in different languages so when we have house-guests they know which napkin is theirs. Some family members' napkins are changed more frequently than others! ;)

 

We do not have any white napkins, so I'm not sure how spaghetti sauce would come out of that, but ours come pretty clean. We do have a few that have gotten some oil stains on them from ds and salad dressing!

 

The napkin rings are wooden rings from Michael's that my sil put our names on with a wood-burner.

[j.griff]

I have different ones, I buy the ones with patterns that I like (holiday/seasonal- my faves are autumn ones- orange and brown with leaves printed on them). I try to wash them every day, or at least every other day.

I use LOTS of kitchen towels/cloths in my cleaning. If I wash a dish or area that had raw meat or was otherwise ickily contaminated, I won't re-use that cloth. I use cloth towels (bar towels) instead of paper towels for most things, so at the end of a day I have a decent sized small load of kitchen towels/cloths/napkins to wash together. We've been going through napkins a LOT here lately though, so I'm thinking about buying one of those $5 packs of washcloths from Wal-Mart to use as emergency napkins, LOL.

[clwcain]

We go through one or two per person per week in our house, depending on what is eaten.

 

That's three adults (soon to be four), plus a nearly-5-year old. We don't give one to the 2.5 year old.

 

We have two sets in white cotton and one set in a blue cotton, as well as a set of white Irish linen. All are "dinner" size, not "cocktail" size.

 

We haven't had any trouble getting things like spaghetti sauce or red wine out, but my wife is a wiz when it comes to stain treating. I'd have to ask her what she does. :confused:

 

We bought the white cotton ones from Williams-Sonoma, their Hotel Linens line IIRC. The blue ones were also W-S, but they're no longer available (we bought them on clearance years ago). The linen ones were made by my mother.

 

We have alabaster napkin rings, but don't use them. We just leave the napkins neatly folded on the table until they need to be cleaned. We clean them all at the same time.

 

FWIW, I was the driving force behind table linens in our house. My wife was worried about mess, but I insisted we "upgrade" the table service to match the quality of her cooking. :D

 

HTH

[*anj*]

We use cloth napkins. I change them at least once a day. The children and I use the same one all day (although we don't all necessarily use one at breakfast or lunch.) We throw them all into a plastic bag after dinner, and I wash them along with my kitchen towels and dish rags.

 

If someone needs a new one earlier than dinner, it's fine.

 

I am a collector of napkins. There is no rhyme or reason. Most of them are brightly colored, some are patterned, I have a lovely set of linen ones that were made by a friend. I also have a few sets of white ones. They have a couple of stains on them, but then again those aren't the ones that we'd use for a fancy meal or for company, so I'm not particular about it.

 

I am always on the lookout for napkins on clearance racks. My main criteria is that they be made of 100% cotton. The polyester blend kind aren't worth the fabric they're made of. I won't pay more than $1 for a napkin. Most recently I found some really pretty ones at a little shop on their clearance table. I paid $1 for all four of them!!!! That was really exciting for me!

 

I've now collected probably about 100 napkins, so there are always plenty.

[Jenny in Atl]

Yes, I'm an old crunchy... LOL

 

How often do you change them? After each meal, just toss in the wash.

Do they ever come clean from messy things like spaghetti? Yup

What color are they? (are they white? or do they match your kitchen?) Like Jenn's, dark patterns are the best. I get old ones from my mom that work great.

[melissel]

We do. We're still using our original old-timey linen ones that we bought at a yard sale five years ago. Those are still my favorites--so soft and absorbent! I also use a bunch that we got at Target once when I needed some more, as well as cheap Target washcloths. We don't worry about getting stains out of them at all, though I keep a separate set for parties and when we have guests eating with us. I do work on the stains in those, of course :D

 

We use one each, per day, give or take--depending on if one fell on the floor or got really messy or whatever. I don't monitor the usage at all. If someone wants a clean napkin, they get one. We also wet the kids' napkins. It's a habit we developed when DD1 was a toddler and just learning to wipe her own hands and mouth, and now they both won't stand for dry napkins :lol: I have a basket in my kitchen that I throw dish towels and cleaning rags (not the gross ones, just the ones used to clean up spills or whatever) into, and we put the napkins on the range hood to dry, then we toss them into the basket. They all get washed together in hot with oxygen bleach.

 

I don't sweat it much. It's very easy, and the only reason I ever use paper products in the kitchen is to drain greasy foods (rare).

 

HTH!

[E_Edgerton]

We use cloth. We made the switch last summer and I am happier for it. I just got them at Ikea. ($1.99/4pk) I wash them after every use. Bleach and hot water, no stains yet. It makes every meal feel sort of special. :)

[Meliss]

Yes

 

Unless one looks spotless after a meal, I take them to the laundry.

Mine are a yellow, not bright yellow, and they occasionally get stained, but not by spaghetti.

[Plaid Dad]

We do. We have a bunch of different colors, mostly dark; in the past we used bandannas. We use fresh ones at every meal, but I've visited communities (one intentional community and one monastery) that issued one napkin a week. Each person gets a napkin ring to hold the used napkin. That might be pushing it with kids, though. As our dd gets older, I'd like to switch to one napkin a day.

[*anj*]

We use fresh ones at every meal, but I've visited communities (one intentional community and one monastery) that issued one napkin a week.

 

Yes!

I used to hang out at a convent and you would get one napkin per week. You'd have to fold it and leave it at your assigned seat after each meal.

 

What was the intentional community?

[Little Debbie]

I intentionally bought red ones! I figured if I couldn't get the spaghetti sauce out, it wouldn't show. Of course I had a small bleach mishap with a couple of them, so now those are have a tye-dye look! Oh well! One napkin, per person, per day...unless we're too messy...

Deb

[elegantlion]

We use them. I have them in several colors, reserving the white for non pasta nights. We switch them out after about two days. They're just easier for us to use.

[Kuovonne]

We use cloth napkins. We go through *lots* of napkins every day. The girls (4 & 2) are constantly needing fresh napkins. DH and I usually share napkins with the girls. The girls like clean napkins for each meal. Plus, they eat a lot of snacks on a napkin. Plus, they still spill a lot. I usually leave used but still clean napkins on the table to reuse, but the girls are constantly getting fresh napkins out anyway.

 

The napkins started out red. Now they have faded to a dull pink. If I had to do it again, I'd get a different color (but not white).

[Jennifer in NH]

we use cloth napkins too. We have a cream clolor, pale green and a darker pattern, plus some really bright colored ones from my Mum. We wash them every other day or so, but as was said before..some family members' ones get washed more often! I throw them in with my whites when i am doing laundry.

[Plaid Dad]

What was the intentional community?

 

A small community near Charlottesville, CA. I did a brief internship with them when I was in college.

[Miss Peregrine]

We use cloth napkins. One for every meal x 6 people= alot of napkins.

 

My favorite ones don't wrinkle when they come out of the dryer but I have never been able to find any others like them.

 

I love the bandana idea! Especially since we have fun colored Fiesta Ware. That will be so cute :D

[Ellie]

I haven't bought paper napkins for family use in over 25 years (I buy paper napkins when we're having a crowd over for something like a cook-out). Everyone gets a clean napkin for every meal; napkins are tossed into a basket in the laundry room, and are washed along with other clothing as necessary.

 

I haven't had any problems with the napkins becoming permanently stained.

 

I do have white linen napkins I use with the china; otherwise, I buy napkins that match my every-day dishes.

[Closeacademy]

how often do you change them?

 

With every meal.

 

Do they ever come clean from messy things like spaghetti?

 

If they are cotton then yes. Linen napkins are harder to get stains out of. Black ones show lint.

 

What color are they?

 

All sorts of colors. I have white, rainbow, yellow, blue, flowered, checked, etc. I pick them up at garage sales cheaply and have a drawer stuffed full of them. That is why we are able to change them with every meal. I probably have enough napkins for a family of 4 to use for 3 meals a day for 2 plus weeks. I have nicer ones that I bring out for company.

 

I started using them when my oldest was a toddler and I realized that I was spending a fortune on paper towels to clean up all her messes. With dish cloths and napkins it really helps in that department and I buy an 8 pack of paper towels about once every three months. I only buy paper napkins for birthday parties.

 

I find that they really don't add that much to the laundry load as they don't take up that much room, they clean up well and make the table look prettier. They really do impress company who think you are doing something classy when you are really doing something cheap.:D

[Sena]

I love using cloth, I've just never bought them. My mom used cloth on special occasions and I always associated them with nice food and fancy dishes. I've been more concerned with how much our family consumes lately and we've pretty much given up paper plates, I think I'll look into getting some cloth napkins too.

[Kanga]

We use cloth napkins. I have tons, but they are divided into 2 categories: company use and daily use. The company napkins are kept in the dining room so they don't get mixed in with the others. I wash after every use, but I don't really worry about whether they are stained or not because they are colorful and patterned. The extra napkins do not add to my laundry because I throw them in the load of washcloths, bibs, and towels (which I have to do daily any ways).

[Andie]

Yes. We only use them only once, then wash. Our everyday napkins are all white so that they can be bleached if needed. I want to get some prettier ones, someday, but it's one of those things I never get around to doing.

[iquilt]

We have 20 cotton napkins in several different fun fruit fabrics that I hemmed on the machine. I made them about 3 years ago and have yet to thrown one away, they all wash well with the rest of my laundry and I do not iron them! I was thinking about making a few more as we run out when we have company. They are very casual napkins, we do not have napkin rings.

[keptwoman]

We use them too. We have blue ones and white ones.

Spaghetti sauce is a tomato based stain, so a bit of time in the sun will remove it, good ol UV! :)

[Mrs Mungo]

A great place to get super cute cloth napkins is Etsy! I just love Etsy. :)

[*anj*]

A small community near Charlottesville, CA. I did a brief internship with them when I was in college.

 

Aha!!

[BizyPenguin]

how often do you change them?

Do they ever come clean from messy things like spaghetti?

What color are they? (are they white? or do they match your kitchen?)

 

I'm wondering about starting to use cloth. I know mom did this growing up for a while and she just left the same ones on the table all week. DH definitely would not go for that. But now it a good time to make changes as I've just gotten new wallpaper in the kitchen.

 

I blogged a little about this on earth day last month. Here's the link. I do a load of kitchen towels, cloth napkins, dish cloth, and re-usable kitchen sponges once per week. If we run out of the cloth napkins before I wash my kitchen load, we use paper ones. It still beats using paper 100% of the time!! And yes, we reuse cloth napkins if they don't get messy after a meal. No biggie! Cloth anything gets two thumbs up from me!!

[muffinmom]

We just recently made the switch to cloth napkins, and I decided if I'm going to have to use and look at these for many years, we might as well have fun fabrics! So I found some cool vintage ones at our neighborhood antique store, but since then, I bought some quality bandanas, which are bright and fun, and food doesn't show on them (we have red, blue, and gray ones). Plus they come in handy for a western or cowboy party--would be great for BBQs.

 

We might use them over the course of one day, depending on how used they get.

[K&Rs Mom]

We've been using cloth for about half a year now, and I love it. We use each one as long as it's still pretty much clean - could be anywhere from 1/2 meal to a couple of days. After a meal I just throw any that are dirty into the laundry room, and they get put in with the next load (unless dh starts the load - apparently they're invisible). We have a bunch of colors, mostly all cotton, and they come clean pretty well. Some do have spots, but I just don't put those out for company. I keep a small box on the table, and just put the folded clean ones back in there after washing, and everyone knows where to find them.

[LucyMcGillicuddy]

We use cloth napkins now since we seemed to be flying through paper napkins way too fast. My mother had some very soft napkins at her house and when I told her that I liked the idea of using cloth napkins but most of the material was too rough and harsh on my skin she explained how she made hers (some flannel, cut into whatever size you want, and then hemmed). That's it. The plaid is reversible and hides most stains.

 

Bonnie

[Quiver0f10]

I use cheap wash cloths from WM. I think there were 12 in the pack for @ $5? and come in a variety of colors. We use them for one meal only, but I have tons of them and my washer is constantly going anyhow.

[ereks mom]

I still keep some paper ones on hand, and we use those at lunchtime or whenever we use paper plates.

 

Mu favorite cloth napkins are the few OLD cloth napkins left from a pack that I bought at Wal-Mart years ago. Actually, they were "glass cloths" (whatever that is, but they were mostly white, with very thin colored stripes about every inch). They were huge, so I cut each one in half and hemmed the cut edges. These are getting pretty ragged and stained, so awhile back I bought another couple of sets of "real" cloth napkins -- colored this time so they wouldn't show stains -- but they're smaller, thicker, and less absorbant, so I just don't like them as well.

 

We change them out for clean ones whenever they look dirty -- sometimes once a week, sometimes once a day. I toss the newer, colored ones into the wash with the bath towels (hot water, no fabric softener); I washed (and bleached) the older white ones along with our whites.

 

We don't use napkin rings; we fold the napkins and store them in a little basket that we keep near the table. The white ones have stains, but we use them anyway.