One of Those Days

Yesterday was just one of those days.  The kind of day I wish I could wear headphones and still be an effective parent.  Seriously, I think scientists should study my daughter.  It must be medically significant to be able to talk, sing, laugh, cry, scream, grunt, giggle, groan, holler, and otherwise vocalize astonishingly loudly, nonstop for 12 hours all without the slightest strain of the vocal chords.  I blame my husband; he's the talker in the family.  When I married him I guess I didn't realize I was signing up for that same quality in a three-year-old!
It was also one of those days where after putting the girls to bed and finishing up my freelance work, I finally got a long-overdue shower.  It was lovely.  I enjoyed every minute.  Then I got out, dried myself off, towel-dried my hair, and was half dressed before I realized while one of my legs was baby smooth, the other one sported several days' growth.  Yes, I had only shaved one leg.  So I re-undressed, the towel came off my head, and I went back into the shower one more time.

Have you had one of those days?  Where you forget to shave one leg?

I also learned these fun facts yesterday. 

• Sheets are disgusting.  According to this article, "sheets can contain 0.1 gram of feces, salmonella, and E. coli after just one night's rest. That means they'd collectively contain about 10 billion microbes." And that's nothing compared to the feces party in your carpet.  Seriously.  Disgusting.
• There's a birth control shot for men.  Well, it exists, but approval is still being worked out in India, the home country of the shot's inventor, and maybe in the next year or two the FDA will start it's own research in hopes of eventual approval in the United States.  So basically by the time I'm menopausal, there will be a birth control shot for men.  Sigh.
• I had one more thing, but my browser isn't working to bring up the article.  Basically it was all about the harmful effects of the sun, including the risks of skin cancer.  And since we had a week of 90-degree temps here and I've been outside with my daughters every day in that blistering sunshine, I was suddenly alarmed at the sight of my slightly darkened (compared to the the usual pasty white) arms and ashamed at my previous pride in the first glimpses of a tan in years.  Damn you, sunshine!

Coming soon: Fighting weeds in my garden the lazy way.  And this year I don't mean hiring the neighbor girls to do the weeding.

Freshly Fallen Laundry

image source

So running and jumping in piles of dirty clothes is just as good as the leaves thing, right?  Thank goodness my daughter seems to think so.

I Love Goop!

Solution to my grease stains?  Drumroll please...

GOOP!

No, I'm not talking Gwyneth.  I'm talking the little tub of wonder, Multi-Purpose Goop Hand Cleaner.  It's been in the back of my mind for a long time; I've seen Goop used for years on grease stains, watching my mom slather it all over my dad's work clothes.  I can still remember the smell.  Yet it never occurred to me to try it for my own tiny spots.  I don't know why.  I finally asked my mom for the details, and remembered to buy some on our last trip to Menards.  It didn't take long for me to find my first test pieces--two shirts, worn layered, that my daughters little greasy fingers pawed.  I was wearing one of the shirts for the very first time. 

Surprise, surprise it worked! 

There's nothing fancy about Goop.  The marketing copy on the side of the container says, "Try it for difficult and stubborn stains on shirt collars, blouses, skirts, slacks, vinyl, canvas, woodwork, rugs."  Apparently there is no limit to which specific item of clothing (or material) it can clean.  Essentially you rub it on the stain, let it sit for 20 minutes, and wash your clothes as you normally would.  The instructions emphasize that both your hands and the material should be dry when the Goop is applied.  It does stink, so I washed my stained shirts in a separate load.  I've since washed some Gooped clothes in a full load and didn't really notice any smell on the other clothes.

It's also non-toxic and biodegradable.  That sounds good, right?

The directions suggest testing for colorfastness, but really once you've got a big grease spot on your shirt this is pretty much your last resort.  Next stop, garbage.

Give it a try.  It's 4 for 4 at my house.

The Solution to My Grease Problem?

As I was roaming around on the Internet in a few minutes of free time yesterday, I found Tide's Stain Brain site.  It's a handy little resource for finding the solutions to all sorts of stains.  Not surprisingly, they recommend Tide for everything.  But they do offer some instructions for exactly how to pre-treat specific types of stains.  They also offer tips for treating stains while on the go (and presumably away from your Tide).  More importantly, they display user-submitted advice, so you can get suggestions that don't necessarily feature Tide. A free Stain Brain iPhone app is available with the same information, useful for when you're away from home. (I hear some people do actually leave their homes once in a while.  Maybe I'll try it sometime.)

It does, indeed, have a solution to my grease stains, but I haven't had a chance yet to put it to the test.  Apparently I've been very careful lately (pats self on back).  I'll let you know how it works when the time comes.

Saving Money and the Environment One Load at a Time

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurenprofeta/ / CC BY 2.0

It seems like everywhere these days I'm hearing that Americans are using too much soap.  Seriously, I think I've read at least three articles in as many months.  Alina Tugend's New York Times article is full of tips for prolonging the life of your appliances.  The number one rule?  Use less detergent.  Apparently most of us assume using more soap will make our dishes and clothes cleaner, but excess soap actually prevents our clothes from rinsing clean and can cause build-up that damages our appliances. In fact Tide is now marketing a product that is designed to be used monthly to clean your washing machine and remove the residue often cause by using too much detergent.  I am aware of the irony.  Tide is making money off of a product designed to fix a problem caused by people using too much of their product--I'm trying it tonight.

Incidentally, we can take it easy on the dryer sheets too.  My plan (thanks to a rash my daughter has developed since she's been out of diapers) is to forgo the dryer sheets altogether.  I've learned that vinegar is a great inexpensive and natural alternative to fabric softener when added to you washing machine's rinse cycle.  And no, your clothes will not smell like pickles.

Of course for the truly budget-conscious, you can always make your own laundry detergent or skip detergent altogether.  Those options aren't for me.  I'm not ambitious enough to make mix my own, and I'm a little too skeptical to leave it out altogether.  I have, however, recently started using half the recommended amount.  It's a small change that requires zero additional effort, and I've noticed no difference in the cleanliness of the clothes.  I'm pretty happy to be saving money and producing less waste.  And some day my washer and dryer will thank me!

What about you?  Any great laundry tips?  I'm still waiting for that answer to grease stains!

Airing Our Dirty Laundry

I've been searching for a hamper for our bedroom. We don't have one. We never have. We keep three laundry baskets on our bedroom floor. Occasionally clothes end up in them, but it's really just hit or miss. I realize there are some really snazzy hamper systems out there with three separate side-by-side compartments, but they aren't for us. They take up too much floor space.  We have a tiny bedroom, made even smaller by our king-size bed (necessary for the 130+lb and 50+lb dogs that sleep there). Also, I don't like the idea of having to transfer clothes from a hamper to a laundry basket when it's laundry time. It's an extra step, and who needs that? And then you still need to find a place to store the laundry baskets. You can tell I've been thinking about this way too much.

I've checked out the options at Target.  I even brought one home the other night, hoping that it was larger than it appeared on the box.  I bought a Michael Graves vertical laundry sorter.  It's now back at Target.  It was too small, poorly constructed despite the design award prominently featured on the box (it was impossible to disassemble and even broke while trying to do so), and a hassle.  The fabric baskets velcroed (sp?) into position and required two hands to attach and detach.  I think it's also a bad sign that this product does not seem to exist in the virtual world.  I've spent 5 minutes trying to find it so I could link to it, but no luck.  How is that possible?  I bought it at Target!  It has won some stupid award!  Oh well, take my word for it and don't buy it.

I have since found a near-perfect solution to our hamper problem. It's the Rubbermaid Stack'n Sort laundry basket. I sent my husband to The Container Store to pick up three, and they are now stacked vertically taking up very little room on our bedroom floor. It's not a pretty solution, but notice there is no transferring of clothes at laundry time, and it takes up the same amount of floor space as a single laundry basket.  It was hubby's first experience at The Container Store, and he has since said something to the effect of "when we need more storage stuff, we should go back there." Another success!  The only complaint I have is that it takes a little maneuvering to get them into place, and of course you have to disassemble your stack to get to the bottom baskets. That said, this is the best solution I've found.  If I were designing my own vertical laundry basket hamper system (why not?), I'd have a frame with the baskets hanging in place and the ability to slide them in and out individually...and I'd make it look cute. Think laundry basket file cabinet. Feel free to make that happen for me.  Again, I've thought about this way too much.

So that's it.  No excuse for clothes on the floor anymore.  I've had the baskets for 24 hours now and I see my husband hasn't actually used them yet.  We'll see if a gentle reminder will help.  By the way, he said to me the other day, "You know, with this blog thing you're going to have to stick with it you know--keeping the house clean."  And he's right...I'm counting on it!

Clothes. Clothes. Clothes.

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mysza/ / CC BY 2.0

It's the beginning of week 2 and the project is well under way in the bedroom.  We've gone through our closet and thrown out heaps of clothes (a garbage bag full) and have 2 more bags to give away.  It was a freeing experience, but I'm beginning to think I have a regretfully close relationship with greasy food.  I think I threw out at least 8! shirts with grease stains.  They were some of my favorite shirts.  Ones I've been wearing around the house (because really, who cares?) or with a strategically placed cardigan.  But I decided I'm done with all of that.  Besides, how will my husband ever believe me when I tell him I have nothing to wear if I have a closet full of grease-stained clothes?  What's worse is they were some of my favorite shirts.  So now the clothes that are left in my closet are not so cute and definitely not so flattering.  Luckily, my birthday is coming up, and I'm hoping to replenish my wardrobe--I've been hinting to my hubby for weeks.

I've gone through the same process in my dresser.  I've thrown out lots of holey, unattractive underwear and pjs.  Again, I think this project could have a positive effect on our marriage.  And I even went through the old sock drawer.  A few months ago I threw out all my white socks and replaced them with two new large packs.  My old socks really were old--probably at least 6 years.  And since socks are cheap, I chucked them all. My husband has yet to do this.  His sock drawer is so full it literally cannot be closed.  Who needs that many socks!?!

On a completely unrelated note, I've had the joy of allergic pink eye for the last 2 days.  It's the kind of pink eye you get from raging allergies.  This is my first year with raging allergies.  I don't recommend it. 

To the very few of you who have kept reading to this point, stick with me.  It will get more interesting than underwear, socks, and pink eye--I promise!

And if anyone knows how to get grease stains out of clothes, please TELL ME NOW!