Tips for Choosing and Using Cloth Napkins
One of the first things that you want to think about is the material that the cloth napkin is made out of. Synthetic materials are not going to be very adsorbent, for this reason it is best to choose natural fibers like one hundred percent cotton for your cloth napkins. Color is another thing that you want to think about. If you have tomato sauce often, whether you use it with spaghetti or on pizza then you may not want to choose white as a color or at least not use white cloth napkins on the days that you are eating such meals.
Choosing the number of cloth napkins that you have on hand can be determined by the number of people that you have in the house. Basically everyday one person will be using one or two napkins, depending on how messy your meals are. If you only need them for dinner than you can guess one napkin a day per person for every day that you don’t do laundry. If you are doing laundry every other day and have four people in your home than you would only need about two dozen cloth napkins.
The amount that you spend on the napkins doesn’t have to be a whole lot, but make sure that the low price does not equal low quality. By choosing higher quality you will be ensuring the napkins will last for a very long time. Look for clearances, garage sales and thrift stores that are selling high quality cloth napkins for cheap, this way you can save a bundle. In general it helps to shop around and look at different prices and reviews of different brands if you plan to purchase your cloth napkins off the internet.
A lot of times cloth napkins can be washed with your regular laundry, if your cloth napkins have special washing instruction or you just want to keep them separate from your other laundry then you can keep a little basket in your kitchen for your used ones. Adding couple of small loads of laundry a week is worth it when you get to have cloth napkins for your meals.
