No Paper Towels

In moving to my "new to me" house last year, I was happy to return to one of my habits of yesteryear. I ditched paper towels and went back to cloth napkins and cloth rags.

Cloth napkins are so easy to do and make for a colorful, if not seasonal, addition to dining. I started collecting cloth napkins many years ago, often catching them on sale or receiving them as a gift. My three-year old son knows to put his cloth napkin in his lap as we start to eat a meal. It does my heart good to see him fumble with a paper napkin, scowl at its comparable roughness, and use a cloth napkin properly. Hint: if you're managing cloth napkins with young children, patterned cloth napkins are much better at hiding the inevitable marinara sauce or blueberry smear.

As for the cloth rags, they can come in any size that you find, save or cut them - old bath towels, old dish towels, old wash clothes, old socks, stained cloth napkins, old and stained whatever. With two dogs and a little dude running around, my cloth rags get deployed frequently.