Entries Tagged as 'laundry'

Tis the season to clean your closets

October 28th, 2007 2 Comments

retrochick.JPGIvy says:

Since the weather is finally changing from hot to cold, now’s a good time to go through all your kids’ clothing and get rid of the stuff that doesn’t fit or just generally looks like crap. I use two methods to do this: at the source (drawers and closets) and during laundry time.

First, I go through the entire house and look under beds, dressers, and all the other places tiny little clothes like to hide. I have no idea why clothes like to hide so much under dressers, but they sure do in my house. I suspect my kids are trying something on, hating it, and then kicking the clothing item under the dresser. I’ve never been known to do that myself, no, never. ;)

I have 2 boxes in my laundry room. One is marked “consignment” and the other is marked “goodwill”, even though I have generally stopped giving to Goodwill and have started giving things away on Freecycle instead. Clothing that is too small, but looks practically new and is a good brand goes to the consignment store. Clothing that doesn’t look horrible, but doesn’t look practically new, or is an off-brand goes to Freecycle. Anything that looks horrible goes into my rag bag.

Once the laundry is finished (is laundry ever really finished? I don’t think so) I go into the closets and dressers and take a look. All the summer clothes are moved to either the top dresser drawer or the outskirts of the closet. I check the tags and take a look at each item. Clothing that is the smaller size my kids can still fit into goes either to the consignment or goodwill box. Larger size clothing stays.

Then I go through the winter clothing, making notes of what is needed, so I can go to the consignment store and buy more clothing for winter. Since my kids have such vast age differences, very little clothing is able to be passed between them, but anything that might stand the test of time is packed and placed into boxes in the attic with the size written on the box. Since I don’t have a lot of clothing that can be passed down, I generally use shoeboxes for this purpose.

Since I’m busy cleaning for all the guests that are coming, now is a good time to do this chore.

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Don’t cry over spilled Downy

August 26th, 2007 1 Comment

Dear Home Ec 101:

Recently my son spilled a bottle of Downy on the wood floor in our
den.  Now, no one in our family can go in that room because of the
smell.  What can we do?

~Fumin’ in Fullingham

Heather says:

What a headache!  The perfumes responsible for your odor problem are suspended in oils designed to coat fabrics.  After thoroughly mopping up the mess with rags, use a clean rag dampened with warm, soapy water over the area.  Use another rag dampened with clear water to rinse the area.  You may have to repeat the process several times. To encourage rapid drying and increase air circulation I would set up a portable fan until the area is thoroughly dry.  Hardwood should never be soaked as it may damage the flooring. There may be some residual scent from what seeped between the boards, but it should no longer be overwhelming.

Good luck!

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Mildewed misery

August 4th, 2007 5 Comments

Dear Home-ec 101,
In the course of my Grand Poobah of the Home duties, I forgot about a load of wash in the washing machine. Of course, it’s almost the entire wardrobe for both my children and the entire load *reeks* of mildew. I’ve rewashed the load at least three times now using a total of two gallons of white vinegar but the offensive odor remains. Yipe!

~What’s a Poobah to do?!

Heather says:

My next step would be to soak the clothing in a borax solution of 1 cup borax to 1 quart water.  Be sure to test the fabric for color fastness before soaking.  Rinse the clothing thoroughly and allow the garments to line dry in direct sunlight.

Unfortunately, the second tier methods for removing the mildew are a little harsh and may cause some premature wear on the fabric.  However, it is better than relegating the items to the trash.

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A two-fer: Grass stains and puppy pee

May 2nd, 2007 No Comments

Dear Home-Ec 101,

My daughter has a grass stain on her pretty little, made with love by Grandma, Easter dress. How can I get it out before we see Grandma again?

My 13 year old dog has recently urniated on our carpet, for reasons unknown to us. How can I get that horrible odor out before I go and purchase some doggy Depends?

Thanks!

Stink and Stains in Smyrna

WinkIvy says:

First of all, I totally read that as “My 13 year old urinated on our carpet”. I was totally about to suggest counseling, but when it’s a 13 year old dog, I understand. But let’s get to the grass stains question first, shall we?

The very best grass stain getter-outer, I have found, is automatic dishwashing detergent. My personal fave is Cascade, but you can use any brand, probably. Dishwasher detergent has bleach-like powers, so be sure you spot test first.

What I do is get the item and soak it in a bucket with a couple of gallons of the hottest water the garment can stand and about a half cup of dishwasher detergent overnight. I doubt you really have to soak it that long, but that’s how I do it. Then you just toss the garment in the washing machine as usual, and the grass stains will be gone just like that.

Now for the doggy odor problem. It’s very important to get the smell entirely out of the carpet. When the dog has an accident, you want to take a towel, and soak up the urine. Press down hard to make sure you get as much as possible. Blot! Don’t rub!!

Once you’ve soaked up as much pee as possible, use an enzymatic cleaner like Kids N Pets on the spot. If you have a carpet steam cleaner, you can use that on the spot. If you don’t, it might be a good time to rent a Rug Doctor. I find the Rug Doctors work quite well for getting your carpet really clean- be sure you are using an enzymatic cleaner in the Rug Doctor.

If you find you have tried everything and the odor is still there, you may need to take drastic steps and rip up the carpet. There’s a good tutorial on cleaning urine stains from subflooring on my Curbly blog.

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My mom rolls fitted sheets up in a ball, too.

April 30th, 2007 6 Comments

Dear Home-Ec 101,

Now that our teen is helping with the laundry, I would like to show him to fold a fitted bedsheet.

I usually just roll it up into a ball. (bad, I know)

Signed,

Life Skills Teacher to Growing Son
WinkIvy says:

The person who actually showed me how to fold a fitted sheet is my dad. My mom kind of wads them into a shape somewhat resembling a rectangle, but my dad folds the neatest fitted sheets ever. Weird, I know.

The object of making fitted sheets look all nice and neat is to get rid of the waddy end. We accomplish this by hiding it into the center of the sheets. Observe:

folding-sheets-001.jpg

Gather all the little fitted ends together. Smooth out the rest of the sheet.

folding-sheets-003.jpg

Take the sheet and fold ends over to make a rectangle-like object. It will not be a perfect rectangle on the end with the fitted mess, but it will be close.

folding-sheets-004.jpg

Now, fold that not-so-neat end so it is in the middle of the sheet, kind of like folding a letter.

folding-sheets-005.jpg

Fold the other half over the top, and you finally have a completely neat and smooth rectangle. Fold it in half again, and you won’t be able to tell your fitted sheets from your flat sheets!

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