cloth napkins, paper towel alternative - Page 2

[bwylde]

I just bought a couple packs of napkins that were only $1.29 for 4 and they were really nice ones! I always like to keep some nice unstained ones on hand for company since we're pretty rough on ours. We probably had about 50 napkins before I bought these ones but I love me napkins (and we probably really need that many, lol! : )

[Ms. Mom]

I use cotton terry bar towels in lieu of paper towels. I keep them in a small drawer by the kitchen sink. For napkins, I use small dish towels. We do have some disposable napkins for when guests come, but I'm trying to get enough cloth to do away with them completely.

[aghiofog]

Originally Posted by Juvysen

We keep a small laundry basket in the kitchen for "kitchen laundry" - washcloths, t-shirt rags, bibs, cloth napkins as well as general cleaning cloths.

This seems like an awesome idea. I have tons of cloth napkins (because I have tons of kids-6, plus a hubby, a dog and a cat) and find it hard to throw the dirty linens in with clothes, so I put them in the washer, but then they aren't getting air circulation and can stink in as little as 12 hours. I try to wash tehm daily (certainly have enough laundry to do so) but often it stinks in the washer before I even get to the end of the day! I am going to go out today and buy some sort of airated small laundry basket for the kitchen! Thanks for the awesome idea!

[crunchymomofmany]

Hi! I just bought a pack of 50 terry towels in the automotive section at B.J.'s. I am using them for baby wipes and diaper liners. Also, I have a stack of bar towels that we use for all of our kitchen and whatever cleaning. We haven't purchased paper towels in over two years! For icky jobs, like dog puke, we use newspapers and then burn it in our woodstove.

For napkins, we have some more "formal" cloth napkins for guests and for our regular dinners we just all grab whatever as we need it - a bar towel or a napkin. Usually the little ones require a full wet washcloth anyway!

My friends have even stopped asking me for paper towels when they come over - and they stopped rolling their eyes! One even started changing over when I told her how much $ I save!

[LizD]

We went years without buying tissues, napkins or paper towels (an occasional-use roll would be floating about somewhere). My favorites for cleaning/kitchen duty are flour sack towels (tie dye 'em!) and "bar mop" towels (target's are pretty good and cheap). Flatfold diapers work well too, but some flour sack towels and flatfolds seem less absorbent than others. IME the best flour sack towels were from the dollar store (and tie-dyed sets make great gifts!).

For hankies we used colored, printed bandannas- like the kind from Oriental Trading company, though we got ours for free (a party discard!), and plenty prefer not to buy from OTC.

Personally I like a lot of this sort of thing- we have a huge stack of kitchen cloths, a few dozen hankies, and I'm shopping for a week's worth of cloth napkins (thanks for the IKEA tip!). But I also had six dozen cloth diapers and a dozen of each size cover.

[Belleweather]

I use microfiber towels in place of paper towels for just about everything -- unless it's draining bacon, then I do use paper. I like them because they're so very absorbant so I don't have to dirty a lot of different cloths and they dry very, very fast. Plus, as a cloth diapering household we have a TON of them and they're very long-lasting.

[Samm]

Ooooo - good idea on the newspaper! Now that I'm thinking more green, it's amazing to me all the products we think we need when we have just what we need already.

[momtoNatalee]

I use cloth diapers cut in squares and surged....I like this brand from walgreens the best. It makes great cloth TP too

http://www.walgreens.com/store/produ...id=prod378169#

[LeslieintheKeys]

Since we are using cloth diapers and cloth diaper wipes, we thought the next step should be the elimination of paper towels. We still keep a roll of paper towels in the kitchen but it lasts for a month or two now. We bought a dozen cloth napkins and keep them by our kitchen sink. I also use old t-shirts pieces for one-time uses. And a dedicated sponge for cleaning floor stuff or other yucky stuff. DH asked about eliminating toilet paper, but that's a step too far for me!

[DirtyHippyMama]

I like the idea of tie-dying flour sack towels.

I have 50+ of those cheap wash cloths for everything from counters/tables to floor spills to mirrors/windows to wiping little hands and faces. We also have 3 dozen cloth napkins (in 3 different colors) that we use every day. I try to only use paper towels for grease, raw meat, and dog messes (the non-pee kind).

I do throw the cheap rags away when they wear out, but I probably get 100 uses out of one rag. I think in the future I will be cutting up old worn-out clothing and cloth diapers to replace this lot.

[senke]

We have received so many dishtowels and washcloths as gifts, we tend to use those. We do have paper towels, but we use them very very seldom--largely only for greasy stuff (wiping out pans, usually), since you're not supposed to put anything with oil or grease into the dryer. But when it's warm enough here that we can stop using our dryer again, I may just try to have a couple of dedicated "grease-cloths." Regarding TP, we use cloth wipes for pee, but not for poop.

[robertandenith]

For clean ups I use a rag in my kitchen, I also keep old towels for oopsies around my house like my kids' spillings or dog accidents. I still use paper towels Greenwise type but I use one roll for up to 2 months. It last so long because I use very little I don't use napkins, I send everyone to wash their hands in the bathroom lol

[vivalamama]

We have been paper towel free for over a year now. We definitely do not have enough cloth napkins, either that or I don't do laundry frequently enough thanks for the restaurant supply tip- our thrift store prices are ridiculously high and I never seem to find any napkins there anyway, so I'll have to check out the restaurant supply store.

we've been using just a small trash can for dirty kitchen laundry- I like the idea of the mesh laundry basket though as we do get some funk going on in there after a while.

on the draining bacon... I had an epiphany the other day (we used to use paper napkins left over from take out food, or would just stand there letting them drip from tongs forever if we didn't have any paper napkins) but I realized that the rack that comes with our wok works great. Any sort of rack, like a little cookie cooling rack, over a plate would probably also do the trick.

[Shantimama]

We have always used cloth napkins (we were given about 50 of them when we got marreid ) and we use old flat clothdiapers for clean ups. When they wear out (my oldest is 12) I just buy new ones on sale at Sears.

The only thing I keep paper towels for is dog-puke. That is the one thing I cannot bring myself to use cloth for!

[Ruthla]

I have a collection of cloth napkins from several trips to the thrift store, but not all of them are absorbant. Washcloths are a lot more absorbant but itchy and don't fold nicely at the table.

I'm thinking of getting some new napkins that are actually absorbant, and donating the non-absorbant napkins back to the thrift store. But I haven't actually done it yet.

[ChinacatPoppins]

Originally Posted by Pancakes

I purchased some cheap cotton fabric to make cloth napkins. I used it as a way to teach my kids to use the sewing machine, they loved it.

We did the same thing! We also tried every stitch to see how they all looked to embelish other things later

We have "nice" ones for company but our favorite ones are the crafted ones!

I do need to find something to completly replace paper towels... I love the kitchen laundry basket idea... I am on that!

[Ms. Mom]

Wash cloth sized dish clothes (bar towels) are a great alternative to paper towels. I have a drawer full of them next to the sink. I just stopped buying paper towels and eventually everyone stopped missing them :.

I Love the idea of sewing napkins and may need to try that with DD. I've been looking for some napkins I like and haven't found any yet. I plan on 'forgetting' to buy napkins soon too .