Simple Savings for a Budget-Minded Time

Right now, times are really at the point where people are watching their pennies in their pocketbooks. People are also thinking an awful lot more about living a little "greener". I've got to say, one of the simplest things that I did to save a little money and cut down a little bit of the landfill growth was to switch to cloth napkins. I can't lie, though... I've been guilty on more than one occasion of grabbing enough napkins from a napkin dispenser while eating to wipe up the whole restaurant. Sometimes, I feel like I'm grabbing napkins for everybody I know. It became ingrained in me for so long. I even used to grab a handful to load up my (already stuffed full) glovebox in my car. I've tried to reduce that nowadays and not use a napkin once and then go back to the large stack next to my plate.

I think I made the switch a little over two years ago. I hadn't even really thought about the usage until one day, I was talking to my sister (criticizing is probably more accurate) about the amount of paper towels that she was pulling off the roll to clean up a spill of water or something along those lines. She remarked about it being the same as using napkins after I'd scolded her and talked about the waste of paper and that's when it hit me. I wasted so many napkins all the time without even batting an eye. That night, I went to Target and looked for cloth napkins. I found a cool color that would go with my place and grabbed a couple of packs and left, very content with myself.

I guess it's also just an easy project if you're handy with a sewing machine to make up a few, as all you need is some scrap material of your choice to stitch the ends up on. That way, you could make some that you wouldn't feel hesitant about using on a mess because you can choose the material. Heck, you can make some just for the messy meals, make or buy some nice ones for guests, etc.

Since I began using cloth napkins, I feel like it's the only way to go. I used to love cloth napkins when you'd go to a nice restaurant and it just felt classy. Now, I could enjoy that feeling all the time! I even keep a couple at work for my lunches there. It feels good and it's just an even better feeling knowing that I'm saving all the wasted paper of paper napkins. It's cheaper as well even considering you have to wash them, as you can just throw them into an already full laundry and it doesn't really even make any difference to the load!

Another unfortunate thing about paper napkins is that they're almost always not recyclable. On one part, usually recyclables with food/food particles aren't considered recyclable by a lot of recycling programs and I also read that paper napkins contain something in them that can clog recycling machinery (I don't have a source handy). This means that they're pretty much going straight into the landfills that we've already got pretty well loaded and expanding.

For me, this change was just one more thing that made me feel like I was doing my part and walking the walk of all the talk I do about environmental issues and reducing waste. This isn't to say that I don't ever use paper napkins when I'm out and about or when washing my hands at a public restroom, but I'm just more conscious of my usage these days.