GladRags’ Green Goal: Handkerchiefs & Cloth Napkins
Here at GladRags we are always trying to find new way to conserve and save. Inspired by Simple Organic’s Green Goal Setting, we have decided to present you, our faithful readers, with a new Green Goal every week! We will specifically be targeting goals that are within reach in a small time frame and a small budget. Tracy (left) and I (right) are going to try them out right along with you and share our experiences in the comments. We hope you will join us in our quest to reduce our footprint, one small step at a time!
First stop on the GladRags’ Green Goals train: cloth napkins and handkerchiefs!
Personally, I grew up in a household that used cloth napkins for all meals. I was always weirded out going to friend’s houses whose families only used paper napkins or paper
towels. Cloth napkins feel so practical and comfortable to me! They are softer and don’t fall apart in your hands like many paper napkins do after some use. There may be a slightly higher upfront cost, but as you reuse the cloth napkins they will save you money and you’ll never run out! Most of the napkins I have came as hand-me-downs from my parents or grandparents, but thrift stores are also a great place to pick some up. Sewing cloth napkins is also a great way to go — even if you are a novice sewer (myself included), this project should be fairly simple. For a great tutorial on making your own napkins check out Chez Beeper Bebe’s blog post (happy face napkins pictured are from her site).
Handkerchiefs are a whole different story. Growing up, we always had a box of tissues. Having had allergies and frequent colds, they have always been useful to me. The tissues with lots of lotion in them were the best as they did not make my nose raw after many uses. In college, I started to feel guilty for wasting all this paper and energy. I started using toilet paper to save money and waste as the cheap toilet paper I use is thin and does not include lotion. Lately, I have been trying to use handkerchiefs more often. Handkerchiefs are also easy to make or cheap to buy at vintage stores. GladRags offers some very soft organic handkerchiefs, too!
Some people have been using cloth napkins and handkerchiefs for years, so this goal is already second nature for them. We challenge you to reduce your paper towel use even more by declining paper napkins with take-out food or carrying your own cloth for hand drying in public restrooms!
Tracy and I hope you will join us in finding fun, simple ways to make our lives even greener. Leave a comment to let us know what you’re doing to conserve or share your own tips with us!
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March 3rd, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Carrying a hanky to wipe my hands when I’m out and about is a great idea! Especially because I hate that lots of towel dispensers are now electric which seem so silly and yet another way to waste energy. Ok, a new thing to do!
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:35 pm
I have a stash of vintage hankies that are slowly (sadly) becoming quite thin and hole-y. Fortunately, my sister’s husband brought me back a few nice handkerchiefs from India for Christmas, so I’ll have pretty things to blow my nose into for a while longer anyway.
I think I’m going to use my GladRags Hankies as a carry-along hand towel, partly cause they’re easy to differentiate from my floral nose hankies, and partly because they’re thicker and more absorbent.
At home, I have some cloth napkins my sister made that I’ve been using. I have to admit, although I haven’t bought paper towels in years, I do find myself occasionally using the ones my roommate buys. So that’s the first step in switching from paper to cloth — make sure you don’t have any alternative! Even if you don’t have what you think you need, you’ll be forced to get creative.
March 6th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
I’ve just recently started using both cloth napkins and handkerchiefs. It always felt wasteful to me to throw a napkin away after every meal (seriously, if you just eat a bowl of cereal, did you even touch the napkin?) so I found some of my mother’s old cloth napkins and put them back in use.
Handkerchiefs… well that was my daughter’s idea. She’s 15 months old and had a bad cold. Anyone who’s ever wiped a baby’s nose knows that you can’t do it neatly, so you use a whole tissue every time, even though the nose is so small! I has some really old handkerchiefs that were my grandmother’s- they were in my fabric scrap bag because I liked the striped edges, but never found another use for them. Well, when I remembered them, I dug them out and put them back to their original use! They wipe better than a tissue and therefore can be used multiple times before tossing in the laundry. I think they are gentler on baby’s nose than paper tissues also.
But I agree with Tracy’s comment: make sure you don’t have an alternative! I still grab paper tissues when a box is close by!