cloth napkins - how do you handle re-use?

[SquibsNCrackers]

How do people handle use and re-use of cloth napkins?

For example, we sit down to breakfast with five fresh, clean napkins taken from a basket near the table. After breakfast, four are totally re-usable. Where do we keep those four? Throw them on top of the clean ones? Keep a separate basket for "used but usable?" Keep one basket for "today"? Put the used napkins into the "today" basket and keep using them all day (or as many days as they look usable?), then wash?

Looking for some ideas ... I don't like putting them back with the clean napkins, but a basket for clean, a basket for re-usable and a basket for dirty seems kind of cumbersome. It seems wasteful to use a fresh napkin for every meal when they're hardly used.

TIA for your suggestions.

[fek&fuzz]

Can you put a marker on each one so that the same person reuses their napkin over a day or 2? Maybe a piece of thread, and when you buy more you could buy a different color or patter for each one.


Maybe keep one basket on the table for used buy useable and however many new ones you need to have enough, then keep the rest of the new ones in a drawer or cabinet, and dirty ones go into the hamper or washer.

[Purple*Lotus]

I keep mine in the cabinent over our dryer, because it is just DH and myself. I take two out and leave them at the table until they need washed. I don't really give it much thought, actually

[anthasam]

Unless we have guests, we just keep the napkins on the table at "our places". DD usually needs a new one at each meal, but DH and I are typically good with one napkin per day (or two!).

Clean napkins are stored in the same drawer as dish towels; dirty ones live in a basket on top of the washer. (Our laundry room is off the kitchen.)

[MamaB2C]

Maybe keep one basket on the table for used but useable and however many new ones you need to have enough, then keep the rest of the new ones in a drawer or cabinet, and dirty ones go into the hamper or washer.

This is what I do for the most part. I put out the "day's supply" in a basket on the table. The clean ones are in a kitchen drawer. Dirties go in a little bucket I keep in the washroom.

[dillonandmarasmom]

depends on how close to unusable they're getting.
usually i just fold them and set them next to the big bowl i keep on the table for things like napkins.

[philomom]

We have individual napkin rings so we don't mix up the family napkins. I wash them once a week or when they look "soiled". Guests get fresh ones from the pantry drawer.

[Minerva]

If it's still clean after the meal (a rarity), it stays on the table until laundry day or it gets dirty, whichever occurs first. Dirty ones go in a plastic bin under the kitchen sink with the dirty kitchen towels and rags.

[GinaNY]

Good suggestions here! Thx!

[Pogonia]

We have different colored, inexpensive, wooden napkin rings. We usually use cloth napkins 4-5 days unless they are dirty before then. When we have company, we have enough rings for them to do the same thing; although they are free to take clean ones each time if it makes them feel better.

[SquibsNCrackers]

Thanks, everyone! I don't know why the "my napkin"/"your napkin" idea never occurred to me!

I think I'll try the different colored napkin rings and a basket/bowl to put the "in use" napkins in.

[Ravin]

Clean napkins go in the drawer. Napkins get pulled out of the drawer as needed, float around the kitchen/living room (we don't actually have a dining room table) a while to be used, then get thrown in the laundry with everything else when they get too grody and the person using them goes to get a new one (conveniently, the drawer is beyond the washer in the laundry room), or else I find them on the floor when doing a laundry roundup.

Organizing them into their own special category really never occured to me.

[LilMama23]

We just keep them out on the table until they are no longer useable.

[SquibsNCrackers]

The float around until reaching the laundry approach is what prompted me to ask how others do it. Problem is, people grab new ones almost every time or can't remember whose is whose and don't want to use someone else's ... bottom line, too much laundering of barely used napkins results in waste and stress for mom. At the rate I do laundry, we'd need like 48-60 napkins being rotated. Also, our laundry room is part of our detached garage so it's not conveniently located near the kitchen.

Leaving them on the table is a problem because we're always using the table for things other than eating.

[Minerva]

Originally Posted by peatmom

At the rate I do laundry, we'd need like 48-60 napkins being rotated.

For what it's worth, we really do have 50+ napkins to cycle through. I do laundry once a week, and that makes for a good-size load with the towels and tablecloth(s).

[TEAK's Mom]

Originally Posted by philomom

We have individual napkin rings so we don't mix up the family napkins. I wash them once a week or when they look "soiled". Guests get fresh ones from the pantry drawer.

This is pretty much what we do, too. For some reason, we got several different sets of just two napkin rings for wedding gifts 8 years ago. This means that there is no earthly way to have them match, but it does make marking them easy.

[staceychev]

We sit in the same places, generally, so we hang them over the backs of our chairs.

[chinaKat]

Ours go in a basket after use (we clear the whole table). We reuse until they are soiled. Guests get new ones, obviously.

To differentiate owners, we use different folding patterns: DH's is folded into a triangle, mine is a rectangle, DD1's is a square. I guess we will probably roll DD2's when we need one for her... or, maybe I'll bust out and get some napkin rings.

[His Own]

Just wash 'em

I always use my own napkin, so in the wash it goes. My husband uses his most of the time. If he has used it at all I wash it. If not, I put it back on the table the next time we eat.

When others eat with us I just automatically wash all napkins, not checking to see if they've been used.

Napkins are pretty small, and don't take up much space in the washer, so I don't consider them a problem to wash every time. :

[DBZ]

If the kids didn't use their napkin I leave it on the table. I might reuse it as a coaster for my hot chocolate or something, but when the next meal comes and it's still sitting their they can use it again.

I keep a basket on the top of fridge and that's where the clean napkins live. I have about 30 and do not care if they are out of season, wrinkled, etc.