I have been doing laundry for a loooooong time now, about 20 yrs or so(and that seems like a long time to me). So, I was thinking that, I should kind of have this figured out, and after switching our laundry soap about a dozen times, I realized..."It's not them--it's me! *gasp*"
So, after getting tired of looking at dingy clothes and some pretty adorably children that resembled something similar to the lost boys of neverland (even though, they, in fact belonged to muah and were wearing "clean" clothes). I decided to do a little research.
Google search: How-To-Get-Clothes-Really-Clean
(yes! I'm an over achiever, I had to google, "really" clean, because plain old clean would be to average...as if I didn't need to just master that part first)
Bam!!! Guess what I found out?
I'm doing it all wrong! And, if I may, I will blame it on my height. Yes! It may seem irrelevant, but it is in fact, the thing to blame. You see, about ten years ago, I decided that I didn't like it when my shirt sleeves were 4" above my wrists and my pant hems 2" off the ground and my mid-drift showing because my clothes had shrunk in the wash! Bah!
So, in my brilliant and logical mind I fixed that problem...wash-cold! dry-low! TA-DA! And the added bonus was that I could just throw whatever I wanted together (whites, lights, colors, darks), and it didn't make any problems. Until....I had children! And the baby spit up wouldn't come out...and the blowout stains didn't go away...then food spills on collars...then dirt and mud...and grass....and grease...and blood...
And you know what I learned?
Number 1: If you live in Mexico, take your clothes to the lavamatica, come back the next day and you will have the cleanest clothes you've ever had in your life! And they are folded and ready for pick-up...extra bonus! (I did this when I lived there! It was awesome)
Number 2 (maybe a little more relevant): detergents, especially powders (which I use), don't work in cold water!!! WHAT?! I've just been swishing my clothes around in cold water and paying for detergent to just get washed out the pipe. Good. To. Know.
Number 3: Sort, sort, sort! No more mumbo jumbo...which, to be honest, by the sheer amount of laundry I do, I have enough to sort it into lights and darks and colors, but I still add a certain amount of leeway here, 'cause I just wash everything on cold, remember?! Now, I have to say, the one particular website I was reading started talking about sorting clothes and when she mentioned putting lightly soiled clothes seperate from heavily soiled clothes and clothes that shed lint from clothes that don't shed lint and clothes that were made in Bangledesh vs ones made in Malaysia...Okay, I'm exagerating a little (but not about the lint thing)! Anyway, slow down lady, one step at a time for me. One step at a time!
Number 4: Pre-treating and soaking stains...we'll see how I do in this area. I think I'd have to pre-treat every single item my children wear and that's not going to work for me. I can spray Shout!, but that might be the extent of my effort in this department, unless I'm feeling happily ambitious on some particular day. : 0
Number 5: Bleach! Now slow down, I thought! I am a true Pacific Northwestern and we do not use bleach!!! Well, I'm desperate, and come to find out, there are lots of different kinds (not that they are all so eco-friendly), but I've got options, and I'm looking into it. I can just imagine it now...white socks!!!
Number 6: Don't crowd the washer! Boo on you! Boo on you! I specifially bought the biggest baddest HE washer I could so I could jam two or three loads of laundry into one and save time and money. Come to find out, No! It's like buying a bag of chips: The bag looks twice as big because they have to make a giant air-pocket so all the chips don't get crunched when the bags get grabbed and moved and packed and all that jazz!Wellllllllllllll.....the washer needs a big water pocket so the soap and clothes can all happily and freely swish and slosh around together in happy washing harmony. Okay-fine! But this is going to greatly increase my wash-load number per week--ALOT! All in the name of clean clothes, I tell ya!
Now, that was the extent of my laundry learning for one day...and guess what?! I JUST DID ALL the laundry yesterday!!! I don't have any laundry to do until Thursday and I can hardly stand it. I want to try out my newly acquired wealth of knowledge...Maybe I'll cheat and do a load early this week...Just a small one. Then again, I don't really like doing laundry, so I'll probably just go drop it off at the local lavamatica and let them work their magic!!! ; )
Wouldn't that be nice!
