Napkins are cheap. Well, most napkins are cheap. Most napkins that I would buy are about $.01 each… and they go up to ridiculous amounts. Really… $.05 per napkin??? But I’m going to take Frugal Tip Friday beyond buying cheaper brands.
What if you never had to buy napkins. Ever. Again. Would the savings be worth the trouble of making a switch?
Say you buy a pack of 500 Fred Meyer napkins. It’s $4.99… about a penny apiece. You only go through this every month or two. Say, 3 napkins a meal times three meals a day….. plus 4 more for two snack times…. plus maybe 2 extra a day for cleaning up spills. That’s 15 per day. $.15 per day and you run out every 33 days. So that sounds about right. You’re spending $5 every month on cheap napkins. Up to $25 a month if you buy expensive napkins, but I won’t go there!
I had the good fortune to have a young lady make me some simple, attractive flannel napkins. She charged $5 per six napkins. I bought 54 napkins for $45. That’s nine months worth of napkin expenses. (And a bonus is, it was a charitable fundraiser, benefiting an orphan with special needs… which you know is very close to my heart! See http://handiworkforelijah.blogspot.com/ and email her to make your own custom order to benefit an orphan!)
I’ve been using these napkins for years now (two?) and my only complaint is the light-colored ones have stains. Otherwise, they are still in excellent condition. I expect to get five years use out of them… or more. Let’s do the math:
Five years = 60 months
60 months x $4.99 per month = $300
I spent $45. So, my savings is $255 for something PUNY like NAPKINS!
Are you willing to spend $255 on the convenience of not tossing your napkins into the wash? (I think the detergent and water usage expense is negligible, because napkins are so tiny!) If you have more hands, you’ll have more savings!
(You can have napkins made out of almost any absorbent cloth! I chose solid snuggle flannel, because it’s soft on hands and faces)
I still have these napkins another two years later and they’re going strong. I now have three times as many napkins since there are now four messy kids instead of one like when I purchased them. I have a basket on my table full of unfolded napkins (because folding is inconvenient) and I have another little dollar tree basket on the floor in the kitchen for tossing napkins and other soiled rags. If you need pretty napkins for company, get some pretty napkin rings. Unfolded napkins still look cute and formal when tugged through a napkin ring.
Still using these napkins! I bought more and we don’t have enough, so we use paper napkins too, but we still wash and reuse these!