I share the same sentiment and am wondering what to do.

You don't have to wash cloth napkins after every meal. My family washes them with the laundry, about once a week.

we always used paper towels and paper plates growing up. when i got married, my mom found some cloth napkins for incredibly cheap for my wedding. now that i have half a drawer full of cloth napkins, i never use paper towels or paper napkins. i feel kind of fancy and old fashioned using cloth napkins and i have banned paper plates from the house since i've been married too. i agree with drifting focus. they don't take up hardly any room in the wash. we can always throw in the napkins to any full load of laundry.

I accumulate enough paper napkins from when I eat out that I don't have to purchase napkins. I recently bought some Twist European sponges in an effort to reduce my paper towel consumption. They work well for wiping down surfaces. But I'll still use a paper towel when it comes to cleaning the toilet or picking up a mysterious glop of food from off the kitchen floor. I should use cloth rags but have to get over the ick factor.

Even if recycled paper materials don't cause trees to be killed, consider that every single one you use is manufactured in a plant somewhere, wrapped in plastic, and transported a few places before it gets to you. A lot of resources -- even if not trees -- are consumed for something you may use for only a few minutes before tossing.

Reusing cloth napkins and dish towels saves everyone a lot of resources -- and saves you money. Besides, cloth looks better and is classier to display on your table or take with you for lunch.

Bravo for at least springing for the more expensive recycled variety! As long as you're doing what you can for the earth at the moment, then you're still FAR ahead of the game than most people. It's not like washing machines are saintly either. If we all wanted to be truly tree hugging I imagine we'd all be living in cabins and washing our clothes in the river with no soap. But, you know, we don't. If everyone would try the little things, it'd still make a big difference.

If we might consider cost in an ecological question, the cloth napkins would quickly cover the cost of buying paper napkins. You probably want a supply of paper napkins around for parties--I still have a supply tucked away in a cabinet left over from my wedding.

Lots of people seem to have a similar feeling about cloth napkins. That's all we had when I was growing up, so I'm used to it. And furthermore, one of the original reasons for napkin rings was to identify each family member's napkin for re-use. They can be used as long as they aren't too dirty, and washed whenever you do a load of laundry.

Does anyone have tips on converting someone from paper napkins to cloth napkins? BF uses TONS of paper napkins. Just getting him to use a dish towel for drying his hands after he's washed them has been a struggle.

I really wish Re-Nest would've tried to answer this question instead of just having the readers give their advice. While I appreciate the reader comments and no doubt some really know their stuff, I think Re-Nest needs to do a better job at setting itself up as the green authority it's supposed to be by the very existence of the site. And if not authority, then a well-informed site about all things green that relate to the home. If you really have no opinion or advice for a question as common as this one, I can only take the rest of the content with a grain of salt. Makes you guys seem a tad clueless or apathetic. Afterall, Joshua could've just gone to any green message board to get the same advice. But he turned to Re-Nest for an opinion with some weight and perhaps facts.

All that extra water? I just have about 15 tea towels (cloth napkins, whatevs) and wash them with the regular laundry once a week. It ain't that big of a deal and considering it takes a crapload of water to create paper towels, i don't think I'm using much, if any, more.

I still have paper towels on hand to clean up really disgusting stuff, like cat vomit.

Jose A: maybe keep a hand towel in the kitchen, and then hide the paper towels? I'm guessing your BF doesn't dry his hands on paper towels in the bathroom, so maybe that familiar terry cloth would make him feel more comfortable.

Buying disposable anything makes no sense! Cloth dish clothes and towels, baby wasclothes in the bathroom...all can be washed over and over..no plastic packaging, no waste. I used cloth diapers, cloth napkins, no paper towels in the kitchen...ever..raised my 5 kids as a single mom, rana resturant, used no dryer...as a single mom. It's just habit. I have 20 dishclothes, about 25 dish rags...and a huge amount of cloth napkins...same ones for 20 years now.