Cloth napkins are one of my favorite green tips for green newbies. They’re easy to start using, cut consumption, and save trees. Plus for a family they’re very cost affective. Then today I saw that posted the following:Treehugger
Are Paper Napkins More Environmentally Friendly?

This piece notes that the footprint may be smaller if a big business (think restaurant) uses paper. They’ve got calculations to back it up. While they do err on the side of cloth still being better for home use, they got their calculations by factoring in typical cotton napkins not organics or other fabrics (although they do …read more

In the previous money related post I talked about why being green is so expensive – and sort of how it’s not, on a grander scale.
Like I said in my previous post, I’m willing to make changes in my life so that I can buy green products, even when they’re more expensive. You can omit quite a few products from your life than totally gets rid of the need for green or conventional products – like you don’t need separate cleanser for the tub and toilet. However, there are some products you can’t do without, or at least I haven’t …read more

Just to be sure that you’re keeping up I thought we’d go over our small steps. I know that some readers have taken small steps to heart like tree hugging friend Peggy. Other people have created their own small steps which is equally fabulous.
Here are some of the small green steps you can try with your family this year:
Use Cloth Napkins
Remove Plastic Beverage Lids
Smart Paint Disposal
Refillable Liquid Hand Soap
Silicone Baking Cups
Ditch the Air Fresheners

We also do a fair amount of tree hugging around here. So far, we’ve hugged many different trees:

Cedar
Heirloom Peach Tree
Almond
Autumn Trees
Lemon
The Pumpkin Tree
Binary Tree
The Chocolate Tree
Sugar Maple
Edible …read more

Cloth napkins feel nicer to use, are cost efficient, and are much healthier for the earth than paper napkins or paper towels. Paper napkins not only create waste within their own right but also they come in wasteful packaging.
We have usable cloth napkins we bought over five years ago. Our now scrappy and unusable napkins are used for dusting and cleaning. Pretty soon they’re going to biodegrade right at our house they’re used so much. To keep them looking good throw them in a wash when you do a load of cold delicates.
I found some inexpensive organic cotton napkins ($3.99 …read more