Cloth table napkins: I made cloth napkins from a bedsheet. One queen-sized flat sheet made 25+ square napkins, plus a few half-size napkins to use the leftover fabric. I made these about 10 years ago and they have held up well! Liquid hand soap: I grate a bar of Ivory soap and melt it in 6+ cups of very hot water. Let cool enough to handle, stir well, and pour into hand soap pumps and refill containers. You'll need to shake well before first use because it gels when the soap mixture fully cools. Much cheaper than buying softsoap, and it doesn't dry out your hands like softsoap does. I use Ivory, but you can use other soaps. Moisturizing soaps may not work as well. Rags: I use rags instead of paper towels except for pet messes (although I will use some rags, like clean but holey underwear, for these messes and just toss 'em). Paper towels are kept on a high shelf in the laundry room so they aren't easy to mindlessly grab. Rags are kept in a kitchen drawer/basket in a cabinet. Most of the rags I use are old socks (cut off the toes, then cut open the tube) and old washcloths/towels cut to size.
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