Frugal Luxuries: Cloth Napkins

I NEED this tablecloth!

Who out there owns cloth napkins? Raise your hands please. (pretend I can see you, and for those of you who are super paranoid, I do see you)

Those of you that own cloth napkins, good for you. Now answer me this: Do you use your cloth napkins?

Uh huh. That’s what I thought. Not many of you have your hands raised on that second question. (I’m looking at you, paranoid person. Really. You might want to double check your monitor.)

I have a set of gorgeous napkins by Vera Neumann that I got at an antique store. I LOVE HER DESIGNS. Wait, I need to say that again, this time in bold. I LOVE VERA’S DESIGNS. There, that’s better.

I love those napkins so much that I was afraid to use them because I knew they’d get stained, ripped, the edging would fall off, etc, and I didn’t want to ruin them. So they sat in my linen drawer for years. That’s just sad, folks.

So, I broke them free of their drawer and started using them. Yes, they’re a little frayed around the edges. But, you know what? I enjoy them so much more when I use them than when they’re stored safely away. If I can do it, you can too. Free those napkins, let them see daylight and food! (though you may want to avoid rib night)

Besides the obvious uses – wiping your fingers and mouth (and shirt front) while eating – there are other ways that you can use your napkins. Is your sandwich or snack not too drippy? Use a napkin instead of a sandwich baggie for lunches. I’ve seriously cut down on my sandwich bag use since I thought of that bright idea. Ideally, I’d like to make some reusable fabric baggies, but for now a few folds of a cloth napkin and the occasional rubber band do the trick.

I also use them at work - a cloth napkin wrapped around my utensils and stuffed in a cup looks relatively attractive on my shelf. I've had coworkers compliment me on my Vera napkins. (If only they saw my placemats and pillowcases!)

The benefits of using cloth napkins instead of paper? Well, let’s see. They’re reusable, and don’t take up much room in the washing machine. You can get them used, giving them a longer life and most likely keeping them from a landfill. I’d like to say they use less resources to make, but that could be argued. They’re pretty. They don’t fall apart and get little white paper bits all over your hands and face during especially messy meals. You can wet one down, wipe off a baby’s face (or your own), rinse and repeat.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money either – do you have a fabric stash? Break it out and make some napkins. If you don’t want to do tiny little hems around the edges, use pinking shears and/or do a zigzag stitch around the edge. If you have a serger, you’re golden (and you’re my current envy).

Antique stores and yard sales are other good sources, especially for everyday napkins that you don’t mind being stained. Ebay in particular is good if you’re like me and looking for a specific designer. (Have I told you how much I love Vera? Oh, I did mention it? Well, I just want to make sure I’m being thorough.) As with any fabric purchase, make sure to wash it, and I recommend using vinegar in the bleach rinse.

How do you use your cloth napkins?

Book Review: The Penny Pinchers Club

image source

Book Review: The Penny Pinchers Club

By Sarah Strohmeyer 

So normally I wouldn’t post a review of a fiction book – but this one has an interesting premise. The main character, Kat, is a spender. A super-spender, sending her into super-debt. Then she joins the Penny Pinchers Club, a local group of people who have monetary goals that they try to achieve by spending less.

Overall, it’s chicklit. If you don’t like chicklit, don’t bother. But if you do there are a few good tips in there if you look for them. There’s the obvious: Stop buying all of your coffee at Starbucks. Then the not-so-obvious: Unplug your electronics when you’re not using them. That little reminder in that book actually spurred me to plug all of hubby’s game devices into a power strip and turn off the strip. Interestingly, he hasn’t used the Playstation since then…

It’s a light, quick read, good for sitting outside and watching the kids play. Or, in my case, sitting inside and watching the kid play since it rained so much the last few months. (Knock on wood – it’s been a few days without rain! It’s like summer actually decided to show up!)

Have you read anything interesting lately?

Dentist Appt

Ugh - dentist appointment today to replace two fillings. No matter how good looking my dentist is, or how soft a touch he has, that much drilling sucks. See you tomorrow.

A Letter From Myself in 2009

carefree college days (I'm a dinosaur in this one)

I wrote this letter to myself in 2009 at the start of the recession.

Had someone told me five years ago that I'd be married, living with my parents and working in an entry-level job at the age of 26, I would have laughed. Not about the married part, but the rest would have sounded pretty ridiculous.

I graduated from a very good Boston area business college in 2004 with a BS in Information Design and Corporate Communication, concentrating in public relations and marketing. I worked through college so I already had a nice resume, lots of computer skills, excellent references, and that fancy degree.

That fall my boyfriend of three years and I moved to San Diego where life and my career was moving along - by 2006 I was working in the pharmaceutical industry as a senior admin with an eye on junior management marketing positions. Then the company hit a bad patch, sold all but one of its assets, and laid off over 75% of its employees. I moved to the architectural industry, got a significant raise and work in marketing, and got laid off due to the economy. Back to pharmaceuticals with a management level promotion in sight, and then - surprise surprise - company wide layoffs. That was at the end of 2007.

Very qualified people that I'd worked with were struggling to get interviews, as I was, and the job offers for them were few and far between. I got no offers and resorted to temp work. The whole county was suffering - people were being laid off all over the place, companies were closing, and people were losing their homes. The news was talking about a possible recession on the horizon, but we were already seeing it up close and personal.

That same boyfriend and I got married in the courthouse while it poured rain outside, which I counted as a good omen in the desert of San Diego county. That was a bright spot amidst the depressing job situation, and I was able to sign up for his health insurance plan.

A few months into 2008 we decided to move back to Vermont where we would have the support of our families and the cost of living was lower. We both got steady jobs after about three months of searching, though I took a 40% cut in pay and accepted an entry level position. It was hard to swallow my pride and accept the job offer, but the job market was and still is stagnant, the company is secure, and it is unlikely that my position will be terminated.

We moved in with my parents to save for a down payment - which to be honest wasn't as much of a nightmare as I was expecting, they have been great housemates and landlords. We have yet to make an offer on a house as most of the homes in our area are listed at their inflated appraisal prices from 2007, or even more. Even our real estate agent is impressed with how much people are asking for houses. One we looked at was easily $30,000 overpriced - it was appraised three years ago for $20,000 less than the current asking price. We're so frustrated with the inflexibility of sellers that we're considering renting for a year and trying again. Though we hate to lose out on the low interest rate and tax break, it's not worth paying more than a house is worth like so many other people did in the last ten years.

Overall, though the recession seems to have handed me a big "Return to Start," sign and I was pretty angry, I've come to terms with how it's affected my life. It was a big wakeup call for me - my career was surging ahead, but it was also very stressful and kept me up at night; I took a huge cut in pay, but I enjoy the industry that I'm in now, I'm no longer working in "cubicle land," and I enjoy my coworkers; I'm living with my parents, but our relationship is better than it ever was; and, well, there's no downside to marrying my sweetheart. He's still angry about the economy, as many people are, but that's his story to tell.

We now have a house and a child, and I'm making a bit more money, though not nearly what I did in 2007. I consider myself one of the lucky ones, the recession has been so much harder for others - family and friends included. If you had written yourself a letter in 2009, what would it have said? If you wrote yourself a letter now, what would it say?

Demo in the Yard

It's amazing what you can get done in less than one weekend! I hired a little muscle (a young man who I used to babysit once upon a time) and we hauled it big time.

Before - Note the drunken fence (leaning heavily and rotting away), and the dock leading to the pool hole (we had the above-ground pool removed as part of the purchase agreement):

ignore the blue-ness

Here's another view of the dock:

No more dock!

The fence went also:

the pool hole has gotten a little overgrown...

All of this area was fenced in to house the propane tanks, which have since been moved:

This is just the beginning...

Gardener’s Friend – Copper Nail Polish

someone else's fingernails

Contrary to what you might think, given the natural living, gardening, clean your face with oil from your kitchen, blah blah tone of this blog – I like makeup and looking pretty. (most of the time that is, unlike this weekend when I totally wore a spring green top and sage green pants and didn’t give a hoot)

I try to wear “safe” makeup and such according to the cosmetic database. But I’m totally as sucker for polishing my toenails. I LOVE toenail polish.

My fingernails on the other hand (har har, other hand) don’t get polished regularly. With all of the abuse that I put my hands through, there’s no way that polish stays pretty, especially during gardening season. After a few hours in the garden my nails and any polish are stained all sorts of interesting shades of brown. Soap only goes so far, and frankly as long as the grit is gone I’m going to stop scrubbing.

This is where the copper nail polish comes in. It’s one of the cheaper brands (read, thinned down), but that works great for me. The light sheen of copper covers up and blends in the stains, and I can put on another coat to cover chips without having that weird spotted effect.

Since copper was a hot color this last fall/winter – I got the polish in the dollar days bin at the drug store for 40 cents. SCORE.

I suppose I could wear gardening gloves, and I do sometimes, but that takes part of the fun out of it. I mean really, it’s mostly about playing in the dirt, right?

Procuring Plants from Odd Places

Maybe I should title this, “Procuring Plants from Unconventional Places.” Nah, I like the word odd better.

Let’s start out by getting the conventional places out of the way: greenhouse, store, seeds, friends and family's gardens. There, I think that covers it.

Now – the odd and unconventional places I’ve gotten plants:

• Freecycle.
• Yard & garage sales.
• Church/library/school/town plant sales.
• The side of the road.
• The woods behind my house.
• The lounge of the building I had a student worker job in.
• My college’s landscaping.
• The abandoned part of my previous office building.
• The dentist.

Freecycle, yard/garage sales, and local sales are great places for free and cheap plants that are pretty darn likely to grow in your area. I’ve gotten some really nice plants this way. These fall more into the unconventional category.

As long as you ask permission (if you can determine who the owner is) people are generally generous with sharing side of the road plants. There was this really cool, feathery grass I dug up once. And catnip.

I’ve dug up several interesting things from the woods behind my house and put them on the north side of my home where it’s super-shady. Technically, the land belongs to my neighbor, but she’s given me permission to do whatever I want out there. Just no motor vehicles. (Paintball is apparently OK tho – seriously, my 70-something year old neighbor told me it’d be fine to play paintball out there. Her great-nephews told her all about paintball and she’s fascinated.)

There was a nice lounge in the building that I had a student worker job in, way back in college. There were all of these great pothos ivy plants, so I trimmed a few and ended up with a few dozen starts. You couldn’t even tell I’d been in there.

Speaking of college, my college changed their landscaping every season, and probably still does. As in, threw away thousands of tulip bulbs every spring to replace them with summer flowers, and then threw away those summer flowers and replaced them with fall flowers, and then threw away those fall flowers to plant bulbs for spring. So wasteful! No wonder they charge through the bleeping nose. Jeez. ANYHOW – I happened to be walking through one day when the landscaper was digging up one of the plants that I had particularly admired. I asked him if I could have it. Not only was he glad to give it to me, he told me how to take care of it and everything. He also told me about the college’s landscaping policy. It still boggles my mind.

Five years ago or so, I was hired as a temp at a company who had just laid off half of their workforce. Literally, half of the building was empty after they relocated everyone to the front of the building. I was perusing through the abandoned part of the building, looking for office supplies to finish a project I was working on, and I found two orchid plants. Yes, two orchid plants. I totally took those puppies home.

And, finally, my dentist’s office has some gorgeous plants. TONS of gorgeous plants hanging from tall, airy ceilings. One of the admins in the front office takes care of them, and man does she have a green thumb. The last two times I was there I’ve come home with plant cuttings – one handful of philodendron and three cuttings of heavily variegated pothos ivy. They’re happy to share cuttings, and I’m happy to take some home! -- By the by, my dentist is HOT. Smokin’ hot. Like boy-next-door melded with Dr. McHotness, hair flopping across his forehead and a trimmed beard, gorgeous. <le sigh>

So, where are the oddest places that you’ve procured plants? Any more ideas for a plant-o-holic like myself?

I want to stress here - asking permission is A MUST. Don't just go and dig up or cut plants from other people's property without asking permission.