Why I Use Tablecloths Every Day

When I was a young wife and mother, I often thought about the type of home I wanted to intentionally provide for my husband and children. I wanted to create a home for my children that would be full of memories that would follow them into adulthood.

The short version is that I want to create a homey home. I home that is lived in, isn’t a magazine-worthy home where people are afraid to sit on the furniture, and one where people want to gather and visit.

One of the simple ways I do that now is to use a tablecloth every day on our main dining table.

Interestingly, this is a new addition to making my home feel homey that I have only incorporated in the last 6 years. I have been married for 21 years, so in the big scheme of my adult married life, this is a newish !

When my four oldest children were young, there were constant spills and stickiness on the table. A tablecloth would only last through one meal in those days! I viewed tablecloths as a futile endeavor, so I rarely used them.

It was much easier to just wipe the table down after every meal and forget the prettiness of a tablecloth.

Why I Use a Tablecloth Every Day

To put it simply: They bring me joy.

Now that I am in a different season of life and those 4 oldest kids are now big kids, I only have one little boy that leaves all of his stickiness up on the kitchen counter where he eats breakfast and lunch with me.

And this different season of life allows for us to have a lovely tablecloth on the table for every meal now. My big kids eat breakfast and lunch at the table, and they can do so without spreading crumbs everywhere (usually) or spilling drinks at every meal!

With five children, money is usually quite tight, so there is little budget for decorating our home. I am not a person that enjoys looking for great finds at the thrift store, nor do I have time to dedicate to that task, so I look for sales when trying to beautify our home to create this homey-ness I desire.

While the purchase of a tablecloth can be expensive at first if not purchased on sale, they last quite a long time! Many of the cloths that I bought years ago are still going strong, despite being washed and used over and over again.

Tablecloths are way that I can daily add beauty to my home that doesn’t break my budget.

I Use a Fresh Tablecloth Each Day

I change the tablecloth most every day, often before breakfast, which makes the day feel even more like a brand new fresh start.

I have 3-4 cloths for each season, so I almost always have a fresh one laundered and ready to put on the table each day.

Every once in awhile, I can get by with keeping the same cloth two days in a row, but not often with most of our meals being eaten at our main dining table. Since we rarely go out to eat, our kitchen and dining table get a lot of action!

Do you use tablecloths each day? I’d love to hear all about. Please leave a comment if you have time!