People all over the world are making the switch from using disposable paper napkins. It may sound like a lot of work to maintain a selection of cloth napkins for all of your meals, but once you try it, you’ll wonder what took you so long. Here are some reasons to switch and tips to make the switch easier.

Environmentally-friendly cloth napkin use can literally save the planet.

Paper products represent about 25% of all landfill waste. When you choose reusable dishes and cloth napkins, you save more than room in the landfill, you also save trees, water, and even oil. It takes a tremendous amount of all three resources to make even one ton of paper plates and napkins.

Replacing this ton of product with reusable plates and napkins, you save approximately 7,000 gallons of water, 17 trees, and 700 gallons of oil, according to research done by Mr. Rooter Plumbing.

Cleaning and storing cloth napkins is easier than you think... if you make some good choices upfront.

Choosing the right colors and fabric is extremely important. At iQ Linens, we offer the best cloth napkins for daily use made of wrinkle and stain-resistant polyester material. They are machine washable and color-fast, making them perfect for years of use.

Choosing a dark color over light will ensure they look fresh even when using them every day, though bright white napkins can be bleached when needed. Browse our large selection of cloth napkins available in multiple colors, patterns, and fabrics.

Dedicating a drawer or other convenient container is all you need for cloth napkin storage eliminating any concern they will wrinkle or absorb moisture from their environment.

They won't cause you to do laundry all the time.

Afraid of constant laundry? A big secret to using cloth napkins with your immediate household is that you don’t have to launder after every single use. Keep up with who used what napkin, and they can be used for multiple meals. Unless your food is exceedingly saucy or greasy, or something is spilled, there is no reason to do laundry.

One idea to keep family napkin-use straight is to buy multiple sets of napkins in complementary colors and assign one color to each family member. “Remember, Dad always uses blue napkins!”

Less mess with kids.

The durability of cloth napkins is a bonus for reasons only a parent can understand. No longer will you look under the table to find that your child has shredded his or her napkin, making a big mess on the floor to clean. This also applies to pet parents whose furry friend loves to shred any paper product that might contain a morsel of food.

You can save money with cloth napkins.

Cloth napkin use and reuse save money over time. Yes, the investment upfront can be a bit daunting, but with cloth napkins from iQ Linens you can find an affordable option.

Starting at under $5 per napkin, you save when you buy more. And consider this, a container of 100-count higher-quality paper napkins at the grocery store can cost you around $3.00, but when replacing the pack regularly for a family of four, you’ll quickly exceed the initial cost of cloth napkins for the family.

Cloth napkins work better for wiping excess moisture or sauce than paper.

They stay together instead of falling apart with use throughout a meal. Also, one cloth napkin can absorb a lot more liquid than paper, making them not only a good substitute for paper napkins, but also paper towels. Spills are easily cleaned with one cloth napkin, where you might use multiple paper products for the same job.

Your table will look better every meal.

Who doesn’t want their dinner table to look nice, even when it’s a typical Wednesday instead of a special occasion? Nothing dresses up a table like the use of cloth napkins. You can even make a game of folding napkins in a different way for each meal, even getting your kids to participate.

Using cloth napkins is a better option for outdoor dining.

When having a picnic or dining in your backyard, there are few things more disruptive than having to chase down a fly-away paper napkin. Cloth napkins have enough weight to them that this isn’t an issue. Plus, when packing for an alfresco meal on the go, cloth napkins won’t get wrinkled, torn or otherwise damaged in a crowded picnic basket.

There's more than one use for cloth napkins!

As mentioned above cloth napkins can be used to replace paper towels in your kitchen, as well. Some other uses include:

• Using a large dinner napkin as a placemat, particularly when dining outside your home.
• The same dinner-size napkins could be kept in your automobile to clean spills or dust from surfaces.
• Well-used napkins can become dust rags for use inside your home.

Fabric napkins just feel better.

One last benefit of using cloth napkins over paper products is the feel of the material against your skin. Even the highest-quality paper napkins or towels can feel scratchy against your skin. Cloth napkins are much softer, even from their initial use. As an added bonus, they are going to continue feeling softer with each wash cycle.