The easiest and perhaps best step I have taken to cut down costs now that I stay at home is to stop buying paper towels. Paper towels are expensive, and we spent probably $10 a month on them, even with coupons.
When I decided to switch to cloth napkins, I began using my wedding (nice) gifts. After spaghetti sauce and mushed who-knows-what threatened to ruin them, I looked at garage sales. So far, I have found pink butterfly ones, red checked ones, green cotton, and green flowers. The best part? They are dirt cheap at garage sales, and normally in great shape. The most I have ever paid for a set of four is $2-the cost of a roll of paper towels.
Also, cloth napkins are better for the environment. Whatever is dirty, I toss into the washing machine with another load-no special washes for them. Lastly, my goofy friends think I'm some kind of domestic goddess for using these! They are so impressed that I use pretty, cloth napkins. Too funny; if they only knew I was cheap!
Photo Credit: Flickr
This post is just too funny as we WERE just discussing this! We also like the napking rings you can get. Great idea on looking @ garage sales!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I'd love to cut down on the amount of paper products we use, but I've always thought of cloth napkins as a formal thing for some reason.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I like them, but I haven't ventured into napkin rings yet. I cannot imagine my children using them correctly. I have thought about taking inexpensive material (like from the scraps' section) and just whip-stitching them for extras around the house. :)
ReplyDeletei have been seeing this alot lately in blogland ;)... and think it is a great idea. i use napkins like they are going out of style...so we will see if i can make the switch!
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