Since beginning my green living journey, I've come to a comfortable spot. Initially it was a growth spurt. How many things can I give up and start new in this new green life of ours! It's taken me 2 years to get to a place of comfort. It has become effortless to make greener choices for our family.

We recycle.
We reuse.
We dry our clothes outside once the weather is favorable.
We garden organically.
We don't use chemicals in the home as much as possible.
We choose food containers at the store that can be recycled whenever possible.
We work at buying used, rather than new.
We donate items that can be reused, rather than thrown away.
We fix broken items rather than throw them away.
We cut down on the number of errands run during the week to reduce our carbon footprint.
We turn off lights and don't use them unless absolutely necessary.
We try to not waste water.
We've turned down our heat and up our A/C.
Buying organic when the budget can afford it.
The list goes on....

However, somewhere in my comfortable spot of effortless green living, I've become settled. Happy to stay where we are. Not trying new things. Not adding to the list. Am I ready for another round of growing pains? Of teaching, then reminding, reminding, reminding and then reminding again? And what do I change?

Sometimes I sit back and think, "This is as green as I can be." But is it? Is there anything else in my life I can stand to change? It gives me pause to consider. So I've decided to try something small. Small is always a good place to start when going green. Little small changes add up to a bunch of changes that equal lifestyle changes. So small is good. Small is where I plan to begin the growing pains again.

I'm going to attempt to give up paper napkins. I've already given up paper towels, but napkins were my hold out. I think I've come to this resolution because like cloth diapers (something I've chosen to use when we adopt - see my adoption/foster blog link in side bar), napkins are used, washed, and used again. If I'm already planning on doing this anyway at some point, now is as good a time as any to give it a go.

I don't plan on buying cloth napkins. I plan on making them. I have lots and lots of fabric scraps that can be used, some muslin, and some old sheets. I have no idea if bedding sheets material can work. I supposed if it's cotton it could. I guess we will have a lot of misc. styles of napkins. Perhaps if I have enough of one type of fabric I could have some matching sets. We'll see. I'm hoping my sister might let me use her serger. That would make the edges nice.

I'll post my progress.