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Mom on the Go: Ready to free your napkin?
Free your mind and the rest will follow. En Vogue, anyone? (If you don't remember the earworm, here's a sample.)
There's a campaign underfoot to get folks to get more green. Clorox has even jumped on the bandwagon with biodegradable cleaning products. The march continues with getting folks to rely less on disposable napkins and paper towels and more on reusable cloths.
There are some easy ways to make the transition, read the McClatchy Tribune story here.
I made the switch from my beloved, fruit-colored sponges to nubby, reusable cloths for washing the dishes. Instead of dumping three sponges every two months into the Great Landfill, I wash, and wash, and re-wash my dish towels.
I'm still reaching for the paper towels to clean up messes. But after downgrading from Viva to Bounty to save a few pennies, I'm ready to invest in some bar towels for mopping up spills.
But I think the real test of a committment to free (disposable) napkins comes at party-time. Is there anyone out there who solely uses cloth napkins for entertaining a crowd for a birthday party of cocktails?
Tell me, are you ready to free the napkin?
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work...
Joy Oglesby has an infant daughter and a sister 13 years her junior, whom she babies to the now-adult...
Cindy Kent Fort Lauderdale mother of three. Her kids span in ages from teenager to 20s...
Rafael Olmeda and his wife welcomed their first son in Feb. 2009, and he's helping raise two teenage stepdaughters...
Lois Solomon lives in Boca Raton with her husband and three daughters...
Anne Vasquez is the Online Editor in charge of overseeing SunSentinel.com. She is the mother of a 5-year-old boy and a newborn daughter.
Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces...
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 14, and Lily, 7, and is married to a journalist, Bob Norman...
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator and the father of Payton (6), Gavin (2), and Simon (1).
Comments
When I have one of many soirees, I use exclusively linen napkins that I hand wash and hang in the backyard to air dry in the afternoon sun. I also use cloth diapers to the disdain of the babysitter.
Posted by: Nerdizen | March 16, 2009 6:09 PM
Today's cloth diapers are great, though. If you use an all-in-one like the Fuzzi Bunz, it's really no different from disposables. You just gotta flush the poop.
You will tear the paper towels out of my cold, dead hands, though.
Posted by: Elita | March 17, 2009 11:10 AM
Elita: I'm finding it hard to depart with the paper towels, too. Just this morning I cleaned an apple with the paper towel not the dish towel hanging from the oven handle.
Posted by: Joy | March 17, 2009 11:26 AM
I have used cloth napkins since 1972,(the first generation of environmment watchers). I choose my napkins in the same color and pattern schemes so I can mix and match for parties of 50 or more! My two married daughters also use cloth (and bar towels and dish towels)because that is the way they grew up. I do keep paper goods for picnics and hurricane supplies. We consider cloth napkins not only environmentally kind, but Miss Manners would approve as well.
Posted by: Suanne Beverly | March 22, 2009 10:03 AM
I've used nothing but cloth napkins for years. I even take them to picnics. You can buy them cheaply at discount stores; regular cotton bandannas work really well and last forever. After I wash mine I fold them and place a glass brick on top of them to "iron" them flat; any heavy object will do the trick. Cloth napkins also seem to have a civilizing effect on kids. Once you make the switch to cloth napkins you'll never want to use another paper napkin.
Posted by: InTamarac | March 22, 2009 11:42 AM
Have you seen the cute, funny, uplifting,seasonal partyware??? If there is a theme for a "BASH"..... birthday,baby,graduation,
christmas,hanukkah.........
"ANY OCCASION" So be it. My sister yelled at my mom years ago for using paper napkins in the bathroom for drying hands. What about the 30-40 people continuously wiping their "paws" all evening on linens??"YUK!!" In the "john", no doubt?????
"YUK" Bar towels???? Well, you may be onto something, although, the spills I have "taken" (ha)the cleanups are not saving anything and certainly are not sanitary or safe. I vote for paper napkins.... It may save you a cold ....or worse!!
LR
Posted by: LORI ANN | March 23, 2009 11:40 PM