Napkins- a problemaax

I don't know what happened to the title! Obviously it was meant to say A problem!

Leave them. Wash them as usual. Not sure about treating stains (down to your personal choice, I guess). But after that, just fold them and put them away.

I think anyone that expects freshly laundered and beautifully ironed linen napkins needs to employ someone to do it for them (or do it themself).

Surely, if he want these white, linen napkins, then he sorts out their washing, ironing etc. What is he going to do if only the non-iron coloured ones are available,. Refuse to eat???

If he's an otherwise decent husband and doesn't expect to be waited on hand and foot I'd continue to launder and iron the napkins.

As he's now unable to eat at the table maybe he sees the white linen napkins as the last vestiges of civilised dining!

I would hate to have to eat off a tray, sitting in an armchair.

Cabbie he sounds like my husband , Except DH can still wash and iron his himself. He bought a big stock of them online recently.
I wonder where they get this standard from - he's not from a posh background.

Exactly Franbern.

You can bleach stains on white linen. I have a dozen white linen napkins (used only when we have guests) and have often needed to use bleach.

However, if it were me, OP, I’d tell your dh that he’ll have the napkins he’s given - even paper ones* - or do without. I simply wouldn’t put up with such a demand.

*or a sheet of kitchen roll, if you’ve really had enough!

Could you uy loads and then use a laundry service.

Do you soak them in vanish before you launder them.

I would make up enough items for a hot white wash, then send them off to get "done" by somebody else. using his money to pay for it

Don't iron them. Wash as usual and don't let them get screwed up while they are drying. Fold them as soon as they are dry and pile them up with something heavy on top. when the next batch are washed repeat and pile them on top of the first batch but under the heavy weight. Use the one at the bottom of the pile first, It'll be the most squashed.

By the time they are needed they will be flat, though not as beautifully smooth and shiny as ones that have been lovingly ironed by Patient Griselda. He is just going to cover them with food, after all. The purpose of a napkin is to keep clothes clean, not to be a statement of perfection in themselves!

I often eat my meal on a tray due to my pesky back, and used to use linen napkins on the tray. But u then decided to make it easy on myself and so I buy packets of pretty paper ones from our local cheap shop. It's wonderful, use and throw away!
But would your DH accept this?
Perhaps not. I'm all for making life easier on myself these days.

Typo...I not u

I can’t stand paper ones. I’m not being a snob I just don’t like them. The only time I buy them is for bbqs and picnics. I put vanish liquid in with my napkins, which I wash on a slightly hotter wash with my sheets and they come out pretty good. If it only us using them it’s not so important. I keep the best ones for guests ?

I couldn’t be doing with demands like this. I’d give him paper ones until he’s prepared to wash and iron them himself.

We use paper napkins all the time. I’ve got beautiful white linen ones, and two sets of very unusual fabric napkins that my son brought back from Sri Lanka for me when he worked out there for two years following university. But I buy the ‘like linen’ paper ones for when we have guests, they’re lovely to use, feel really nice and are the proper size for a napkin. Otherwise it’s the normal paper ones. I certainly wouldn’t be dictated to by anyone who wasn’t doing the laundry himself.

I do use Vanish. Yes, Riverwalk, he is “ an otherwise decent husband” albeit with a number of health issues, including a “ pesky back” like Henetha’s, which are altering the dynamic somewhat. I will attempt to get them as flat as possible and stop ironing them. I find myself gradually having to do more of his jobs around the house eg changing light bulbs as he cannot climb the steps and look up, so other jobs get cut back.

"Sometimes I just leave them until he runs out of ironed ones and we have a conversation, which gets nowhere. It is trivial, but he won’t budge"

No, and I wouldn't budge either, if OH wanted pristine linen napkins every meal he can jolly well iron them himself. Life is too short to fall out over a linen napkin.

We use napkins only when we have visitors. I just wash iron and put away until next time.
We share most things in this house so if I didn’t do it DH would.

Cabbie21

I do use Vanish. Yes, Riverwalk, he is “ an otherwise decent husband” albeit with a number of health issues, including a “ pesky back” like Henetha’s, which are altering the dynamic somewhat. I will attempt to get them as flat as possible and stop ironing them. I find myself gradually having to do more of his jobs around the house eg changing light bulbs as he cannot climb the steps and look up, so other jobs get cut back.

If he has health issues Cabbie, are you entitled to Attendance Allowance? Then you could pay for help.

It depends on the weight of them so if they're thick and heavy it probably won't work but could you try placing them flat against a mirror or solid shower panel, straightening them out flat? It works with lighter weight hankies but mightn't be so successful with a napkin but at least worth a try. Or maybe squeezing them between a heavy towel. That way you'd get the wrinkles out without ironing.

“He refuses to use the easy care coloured napkins”
“He insists on using white linen ones”
??
How about him making life easier for you?
Time for some stern words I think.

You can get linen feel paper napkins which he might accept although they are more expensive, or you could send the dirty cloth ones to the laundry.

Mine gets cotton napkins I wash them with everything else then fold and flatten them and out on the AGA warming plate they dry beautifully. It's about the one thing the Aga is useful for. When we have guests I use seersucker maybe you could get a pile of cheap seersucker ones and some pretty paper tray liners you can get ones that look like linen.
My DH now very kindly wears Rohan shirts, line or hang dry no ironing.

Wow.
"Take it or leave it" would be my best offer I'm afraid.

What's his next unreasonable demand that you won't want to comply with going to be?