I grew up using paper napkins. Cloth napkins were reserved for holidays and special occasions, if even then. When I married I was introduced to cloth napkins used daily by my lovely mother-in-law. Not only did she use them for "Sunday dinner" but also for everyday.
And this was 20+ years ago, when the word "green" still meant just a color.
My husband's family had spent some time living abroad where apparently using cloth napkins everyday is not an anomaly. I thought it was kind of quaint and cute.
Until I quit work to stay home with our kids and was looking for any way to save money. I combed through the stash of napkin rings (mostly unused) from our wedding and found four different ones, one for each of us that became our family napkin rings. Then I hemmed up some squares of cotton, patterned to hide stains, from material I already had.
Our family has now used this system for years and we love it. Not only does it save money because we aren't using a new paper napkin for each meal, cloth is also nicer to use. It actually works better. I suppose you'd have to buy the "fancy paper napkins" to equal the quality.
It's very simple, too. Each family member picks a unique napkin ring that is easily identified from the others. If you don't have a stash of unused rings like I did, the thrift store is a great place to find individual rings for .25 to .50 cents. Also stores will often clearance napkin rings that have just one or two left in a set. If you want to get creative, they aren't hard to make. I've seen a piece of elastic sewn together with all different buttons sewn around it, or a big piece of costume jewelry attached.
I do like to use different mediums (wood, metal, etc.) for each, though, so there's no confusion. We then use a set of napkins for probably 3 or 4 days, depending on the type of meals (BBQ vs. soup), each time putting our napkin back in our ring and setting the napkins in a basket we keep by the table. A drawer would work as well, but we are short of drawers with extra room.
The napkins are then thrown in the wash basket and go in with the next load, since they take up hardly any room. I don't pretreat them or worry about stains because they are just for our family, but I do try to use patterns to help hide the eventual staining that occurs. I doesn't bother me. It really requires very little extra thought, even, and not even extra energy since they are washed with a regular load of laundry.
Now, I must say that my sister-in-law who was raised with this system remembers "crusty" napkins and doesn't do it with her family now because of this. But really, you could wash them as often as you wish if you had a big enough stack of napkins.
And crusty? Goodness, what are you wiping on them? We usually just need to wipe a smear of tomato sauce, dressing, or the like. When we have finger food, we just wash them right away, so this is clearly something each family has to decide and manage.
This sure works for our family, and for others in my extended family. For awhile I sold napkin sets with four mismatched rings so families could get started right away using this system and they were always popular where ever I sold them.
Even if some people still come to our house and think we are quaint.
-Jami
This is linked to Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom.
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