i get that the paper industry as a whole is problematic, but it just seems like there are other ways to meaningfully reduce paper consumption besides using a cloth napkin.
I feel like it's one of the small things that definitely adds up. A few years ago (once we left NYC and had our own washer/dryer) we switched away from paper napkins, towels, plates, etc and seeing the pile of cloth products I wash each week has made me more cognizant of just how many paper products we were actually using.
It certainly isn't the be all and end all of my efforts to be more environmentally friendly, but I'm realizing now just how many paper goods I was mindlessly consuming that way thinking it wasn't a big deal.
i get that the paper industry as a whole is problematic, but it just seems like there are other ways to meaningfully reduce paper consumption besides using a cloth napkin.
Well, you're wrong, so there's that.
Paper towels, both for napkins and clean up, are one of the larger areas of paper consumption in the household. Usually when people switch to cloth napkins they also switch to kitchen towels/rags for other clean-up.
The idea that paper vs cloth is too small of a thing to matter is weird to me. Most people, myself included, start with the little things (cloth napkins, reusable bags....) and work up to bigger, more obviously impactful things. And every little bit helps.
Anyway, we use cloth napkins and just have paper towels for really gross dog messes. It was hard getting our families used to them, the inlaws were basically afraid to use them the first few times, but they've all come around. Now they use the napkins and just ask why we don't use paper plates for dessert on Thanksgiving.
eta - I don't typically say anything when we eat at someone else's place and they hand me a paper napkin, though I usually try to only use the one and not waste too many, which is hard because some family members seem to think you need a new napkin every 10 minutes. But I was super proud when my mom bought some cloth napkins, she was like "look, I bought the napkins like you like" and thankfully she kept the "you weird dirty hippy" part in her head.
I feel a rant coming on, so I'm trying to stiffle it. But why does it matter if it's a small change or not? Because you're not doing it and so you have to justify to everyone else why you're not? C'mon. That's a shitty thing to do in a thread where people are talking about a change they made in their life that has no harmful impacts.
Post by curbsideprophet on Mar 4, 2015 22:27:20 GMT -5
I am not sure if we have paper napkins in the house. We do have paper towels that we use mostly for cat puke. I can always tell when we have guests for an extended period of time. We go through so many more paper towels. One roll can last us months otherwise.
We use cloth napkins. It is a pretty easy thing for us to do. I am not sure I would consider it a little thing. Even it is was, you have to start somewhere. I think the little things add up. We are such a wasteful society. Not everything needs to be disposable or one time use. Those things have their place. And I can understand using them from time to time. However it drives me batty to see someone dry there hands with a paper towel at home when they could just as easily use cloth towels
i get that the paper industry as a whole is problematic, but it just seems like there are other ways to meaningfully reduce paper consumption besides using a cloth napkin.
I feel like it's one of the small things that definitely adds up. A few years ago (once we left NYC and had our own washer/dryer) we switched away from paper napkins, towels, plates, etc and seeing the pile of cloth products I wash each week has made me more cognizant of just how many paper products we were actually using.
It certainly isn't the be all and end all of my efforts to be more environmentally friendly, but I'm realizing now just how many paper goods I was mindlessly consuming that way thinking it wasn't a big deal.
We don't even buy paper napkins except for the one party we have every year. I guess you could say we use cloth because 99% of the time we are using a clean kitchen wash cloth or our pants.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature says that the equivalent of 270,000 trees are either flushed or dumped into landfills each day worldwide. Only 10% of that is toilet paper. I'd say that's a pretty strong case for switching to reusable and not such a 'small' change.
I've never owned any cloth napkins. We use paper for the very rare times we have company.
I only do laundry one day a week. I wouldn't want to do laundry just to keep up with napkin usage.
I didn't grow up with cloth napkins in either household (we were poor + parents were divorced)
I don't do laundry just to keep up with napkin usage. I'd say on average we go through about 6 napkins a week. We each have one for dinner, and my husband and daughter take one each with them in their lunch boxes. It gets thrown in with my regular laundry and I barely notice it.
I've never owned any cloth napkins. We use paper for the very rare times we have company.
I only do laundry one day a week. I wouldn't want to do laundry just to keep up with napkin usage.
I didn't grow up with cloth napkins in either household (we were poor + parents were divorced)
I don't do laundry just to keep up with napkin usage. I'd say on average we go through about 6 napkins a week. We each have one for dinner, and my husband and daughter take one each with them in their lunch boxes. It gets thrown in with my regular laundry and I barely notice it.
I also do laundry once a week, FWIW.
We use way more than six a week, but I still don't notice the extra laundry.
i get that the paper industry as a whole is problematic, but it just seems like there are other ways to meaningfully reduce paper consumption besides using a cloth napkin.
The most meaningful way to reduce all waste is to not buy things that are simply thrown out.
I've never owned any cloth napkins. We use paper for the very rare times we have company.
I only do laundry one day a week. I wouldn't want to do laundry just to keep up with napkin usage.
I didn't grow up with cloth napkins in either household (we were poor + parents were divorced)
I don't do laundry just to keep up with napkin usage. I'd say on average we go through about 6 napkins a week. We each have one for dinner, and my husband and daughter take one each with them in their lunch boxes. It gets thrown in with my regular laundry and I barely notice it.
I also do laundry once a week, FWIW.
Does this mean that the napkins are re-used until it's wash day?
I've been trying to reduce the amount of paper and trash my family makes this year and cutting back the paper towels was a hard transition for DH to make but he's now on board. I've started keeping a rag basket on top of the washer with piles of small towels and once I stepped up the available amount of rags it was easy to keep up. I keep a tiny cheap dollar store laundry basket on top of the washer as well for holding used rags and when it gets too full everything goes in the washer and dryer then gets unceremoniously dumped in the clean basket. The system has been working and we went from running through a roll of paper towels every few days (DH is the most wasteful person ever with paper products) to milking one roll to last over a month.
For those of you who use cloth napkins, do you have any favorites that don't require ironing to not look like crap? I don't need them to be perfectly crisp but I have a few dishcloths that turn into a wrinkled pile of yuck no matter how well I shake them out before tossing them in the dryer. I'd prefer something cheap-ish if possible because the males in my house are gross and I prefer to have a large amount that can go a while between washings. I bought a pricey set from Sur La Table for my dad a while back because he hates ironing as well but we can't have nice things in my house.
greeneggs I posted a link further up for the ones we use and I've never ironed them and they haven't wrinkled since they're pretty thick. We fold them up and put them in a glass canister for easy access and then keep a plastic bin in our pantry for used ones.
thumper55 we bought a pack of 25 and so I only wash them every 3 weeks since we have so many. We could stretch it even longer if needed. The napkins are so big so I may throw one in for my lunch and since it's barely used I'll also use it for dinner. But it sounds like you don't really care to make the switch from paper to cloth and that's completely up to you. But I doubt laundry is the reason for not doing so.
I've been trying to reduce the amount of paper and trash my family makes this year and cutting back the paper towels was a hard transition for DH to make but he's now on board. I've started keeping a rag basket on top of the washer with piles of small towels and once I stepped up the available amount of rags it was easy to keep up. I keep a tiny cheap dollar store laundry basket on top of the washer as well for holding used rags and when it gets too full everything goes in the washer and dryer then gets unceremoniously dumped in the clean basket. The system has been working and we went from running through a roll of paper towels every few days (DH is the most wasteful person ever with paper products) to milking one roll to last over a month.
For those of you who use cloth napkins, do you have any favorites that don't require ironing to not look like crap? I don't need them to be perfectly crisp but I have a few dishcloths that turn into a wrinkled pile of yuck no matter how well I shake them out before tossing them in the dryer. I'd prefer something cheap-ish if possible because the males in my house are gross and I prefer to have a large amount that can go a while between washings. I bought a pricey set from Sur La Table for my dad a while back because he hates ironing as well but we can't have nice things in my house.
I got my favorite ones at Target a few years ago, but they don't seem to carry them anymore. I also really like using the random bandanas I threw into the mix. I'm keeping my eye out for more cheap bandanas.
I have four sets of cloth napkins ranging from Crate and Barrel to Big Lots and none of them wrinkle so much I feel like I should iron them. Sometimes I even leave them in the laundry basket for days until I get around to folding them. Maybe I have low standards, or just dumb luck.
I don't do laundry just to keep up with napkin usage. I'd say on average we go through about 6 napkins a week. We each have one for dinner, and my husband and daughter take one each with them in their lunch boxes. It gets thrown in with my regular laundry and I barely notice it.
I also do laundry once a week, FWIW.
Does this mean that the napkins are re-used until it's wash day?
Usually. If we have a messy meal like spaghetti and meatballs, then we go through more. But our napkins are barely getting dirty otherwise. I'm sure this makes people think we are gross, but whatever. I think it's a fairly normal phenomenon with cloth napkin users.
thumper55 we bought a pack of 25 and so I only wash them every 3 weeks since we have so many. We could stretch it even longer if needed. The napkins are so big so I may throw one in for my lunch and since it's barely used I'll also use it for dinner. But it sounds like you don't really care to make the switch from paper to cloth and that's completely up to you. But I doubt laundry is the reason for not doing so.
LOL I guess no one can imagine how lazy I must be.
They are also inexpensive, convenient, and our usage is low that it's not something I'd even feel conscientious about. I'm still on the same pack from last year. Seems like it's within normal for people to reuse cloth before washing, but if I ever did this, I'd want fresh ones for each meal. I use microfiber towels for cleaning though.
We use cloth napkins as much as possible but its hard to get guests to use them. They like to use paper towels. I don't recall anyone making any real comments about them. My inlaws use an insane amount of paper towels and dishwashing liquid. Drives me insane.
I don't do laundry just to keep up with napkin usage. I'd say on average we go through about 6 napkins a week. We each have one for dinner, and my husband and daughter take one each with them in their lunch boxes. It gets thrown in with my regular laundry and I barely notice it.
I also do laundry once a week, FWIW.
Does this mean that the napkins are re-used until it's wash day?
We will reuse until they are actually dirty. DH and DS also frequently share a napkin at dinner when it's just us. I just do a load of towels once a week.
Post by decemberwedding07 on Mar 5, 2015 12:08:53 GMT -5
I use cloth napkins every night, even though we also just eat at the coffee table while watching TV. Paper towels feel wasteful to me. I have a TON of cloth napkins. Enough that I can create a whole load of laundry that's just cloth napkins. I just stick them in the napkin hamper until I'm out of napkins, then I wash them. That probably happens once a month. I do the same thing with my kitchen towels. I only use paper towels for pet messes and for drying raw meat before cooking it, since I don't want to leave a kitchen towel with raw meat juice on it in the hamper for several weeks.
Post by heliocentric on Mar 5, 2015 12:21:46 GMT -5
We use cloth. At this point I have quite a few of them, so we never run out. If they aren't dirty we re-use them (I don't do this for guests). Otherwise they go into a small basket where I also put our dirty dish towels and wash them together when the basket gets full every few weeks.
My parents took a long time to adjust to cloth napkins at our house. They don't refuse, but say stuff like "you don't have to use fancy napkins for us." They feel like they are making extra work for me or going to ruin them. What's really weird about that is my dad uses handkerchiefs so I'd expect him to be on board.
If you just lick your fingers and wipe your hands on your pants you don't have to worry about cloth or paper.
I hold my hands down for the dog to lick.
(I'm grossing myself out with that thought. My dog is way too slobbery for that nonsense. there wouldn't be any food left, but you'd be covered in slime.)
Post by EloiseWeenie on Mar 5, 2015 13:04:42 GMT -5
I just bought more cloth napkins today. I checked Marshall's (only 3 ugly sets), Big Lots (none), Ross (none), and got 2 4-packs of bright colors from Target ($5.99). I have LOTS of fancy Williams Sonoma napkins (Linen- ugh! the wrinkles!!), but I want more casual. I also buy paper napkins (recycled), but am trying to phase out. My mom runs her church's thrift shop, and is keeping an eye out for cute casual napkins for me.