I have joined Hip Mountain Mama’s One Small Change challenge for 2010. The challenge is to make one change each month leading up to Earth Day, April 22. It can be small or it can be huge, something I will do to make a positive green impact and follow through with it.
Note to My Family – I’ll be dragging you along with me!
If every one of my readers would make four changes between January and April, can you just imagine the effect? If you want to be a part of this amazing and life changing challenge, pop over to One Small Change for details.
My One Small Change for February is cloth napkins. The last paper napkin in our house was used on February 9, and I hereby refuse to ever buy them again, even for parties or picnics.
I already had a few (ahem, ten total) cloth napkins in the linen closet, so I pulled them out and put them in the kitchen. Since we are a family of six, I thought we could use a few more napkins. I thrifted a plaid cotton table cloth, whacked it into napkin sized squares and voila! We now a grand total of twenty-eight cloth napkins, all placed in a lovely basket on the kitchen counter, and we are using them at every meal. I have to confess – they don’t really NEED to be laundered every day. Most of the time simply shaking the crumbs into the trash is perfectly fine, and the napkin can go back into the basket to wait for the next meal.
The best part? That plaid tablecloth was a big one, and in addition to the eighteen napkins, I also made a matching table runner. Nice.
Keeping the Faith 
I love those napkins! My family really enjoys using cloth napkins and we will never go back to paper! Thanks for sharing your post!(just to let you know when I clicked on one of the links to the One Small Change, in your post it look me to the wrong blog)Thanks!Suzy
Oh, Angela. What a delightful space you have here. I'm so happy you left me a message so I could find my way over. I've been reading. Tell me, am I'm sensing some wicked humor in your writing? What fun you must be. I'm going to bookmark your space so I can come to visit again…I promise to bring tea with me when I visit. Talk with you soon. Lily
Hey Suzy!I'm so sorry! I fixed that link, and it now points to the correct One Small Change site.
I love your new plaid napkins! Our family of 6 also uses cloth napkins and have done so for about 15 years…we still use paper for some things but mostly cloth. My DH was laid off and I needed to figure out ways to conserve our resources, I went to Goodwill and got a sheet and ripped them into squares and finished them with zig-zag stitch, I made a lot of them that day. Since then I look for “homespun” stlye cotton fabric, it looks the same on the front and back and I run a very narrow zigzag around the sides, 1/4inch from the edge. We now have holiday colors, we rotate thru and it makes it fun to have different ones thru the year. We made napkin rings with our names/initial on it to keep them straight.Enjoy!
Cute new napkins! I wish I knew how to sew. I would make some too. For now I have my mother cleaning out her linen closet and sending me what she doesn't use :)Good luck!
love the napkins Mama! It's also a very good way to convert others because, let's face it, they are beautiful and so much more absorbent!
A tablecloth…. genius. I wish I'd read this BEFORE I went to the thrift store today! Ah well, next time. That's such a great idea.