5 Ways to Save Money on Cloth Napkins
October 1, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under Top 10 lists, frugal living, kitchen, money saving idea, saving money
Recently at Keeping the Castle, I told about my decision and journey to switch to cloth napkins. The switch has gone well and the family is accepting of the napkins.
One concern that some have about switching to cloth napkins is the cost involved. Here are some ways to save.
1) Shop for used napkins. You can find napkins at thrift stores and yard sales. Many times you can find interesting fabrics and laces that you can no longer find in the stores.
2) Make your own. Use scrap fabric that you already have or make them from an old sheet.
3) Check the dollar store or close out store. My mom was able to find three packages of napkins at a pottery store for only $1 per pack. That’s 12 napkins for only $3.
4) Ask your mom or grandma. Mention to your them that you would like to have some cloth napkins and they might just have some shoved in a cabinet somewhere that they haven’t used in years. Moms and grandmas are good for stuff like that.
5) Improvise. We used dish towels for a few days and my hubby and I actually like these pretty well because they are soft and absorbent. One of my readers at Keeping the Castle suggested using bandanas.
Have you made the switch to cloth napkins?
image sxc.hu
I sadly do not use cloth napkins. I totally should because I am wasting so much money on paper towels each week. I never even thought about making my own. That probably wouldn’t be too hard either. Good article!
Thanks Heather. If you’ll read the article I linked to at Keeping the Castle, you might be able to get some tips from the article and the comments. Thanks for dropping by!
We made the switch about six months ago. I had a few, bought some at the thrift store, and made a ton of them from fabric remnants I had. I made dinner and “luncheon/snack” size. At the same time I stopped using paper towels and started using all the cloth diapers that I’d used for burp cloths when the kids were babies instead of the paper towels. I still use paper towels for really yucky messes and cleaning the bathroom. I wash towels every single day so I just throw all these household linens in the wash with the towels each day.
Never thought of going to a thrift store to look. I imagine you could find some hidden gems there.