Laundry! and the fun that it is...not.

Oh, laundry, why dost thou vex me so?  I know we only see each other once a week, but every week you come back...uninvited.  And though sorting and washing and drying are easy enough, it's when that buzzer from my dryer goes off that I must really deal with you and discipline myself to fold.  No, I don't want to.   Therefore, I will ignore the buzzer and start the dryer over, pretending you still need more time in there so I don't have to fold you yet.  Shhh, I know the load in the washer is done and eagerly awaiting the warmth of the dryer, but be a dear and stay in there a bit longer.  Thank you.



Perhaps if my laundry room was pretty, like
so, I wouldn't mind?  nah.


If only.  Laundry, just in case you couldn't tell, is my least favorite thing to do.... next to cleaning the floors and toilet.  That's why I tackle it only once a week.  For now, Saturday is my laundry day.  I've changed my laundry day around quite a bit.  It depends really on what works for me at the time.  In the past, doing a load a day worked for me; other times, it was doing the kid's laundry one day and ours another day. The girls do their own laundry now as part of their chores.  You can read about that here.  These days, I like getting the laundry done in one day, so I don't have to deal with it for another week. This system works for me...for now.  I may change it later, but the laundry mountains haven't caved in on me yet.



If only the Laundry Hero visited my house.
Quick, Laundry Boy, to the colors!


There's nothing like bringing laundry to a screeching halt like a stain.  You can be in the best laundry groove thus far when you notice a stain that stops you right in your dancing tracks.  Turn off the music. Now, we have to pre-treat the stain, wash, and check to see if "said stain" disappears before entering the sock eater, otherwise known as the dryer.  Da Da Dummmm.  If we fail to add these steps to our already -intrusive -to -a -happy- life laundry routine, we all know the stain will remain there for the life of your garment.  Or will it?


Lately, I've seen this stain remover all over the Internet, so i decided to test it.   It's made of Dawn dish soap and hydrogen peroxide.  That's it. Simple and easy.  I'm a big fan of simple and easy and for years, I've been a  bigger fan of natural cleaners.  A few years ago I decided to get rid of all things toxic in my house in a desperate attempt to curb my p.m.s.  Toxins, I learned, have a lot to do with our physical and emotional health.  So out went the toxic cleansers and in came the home made cleaning recipes, the kind our grandmas and abuelas used before we succumbed to the big manufacturers.  Do they work?  Oh, ya.  And what's even better, they cost sooooo much less than anything you buy at the store.  Today, I'll not only give you the recipe for this stain remover, I'll show you its working power.  Da Da Dummm.  Oh, I already said that.  :-0

So here's the recipe:  Take 1 part original blue Dawn dish soap and add 2 parts hydrogen peroxide.
For whites, I add extra hydrogen peroxide.  By the way, Dawn dish soap is also in the recipe for my bathroom cleaner.  It's the only dish soap I buy, and I'm not a brand name or product loyal shopper.  I'm a keep the money in my pocket shopper.

Here's my white tank top with the typical underarm sweat stains.  I don't use bleach (toxic) or even have it in the house.  Below is a white undershirt, again with the yellow sweat stain.  I researched into why we get yellow stains when we sweat.  It has to do with our organic sweat hitting the aluminum most of us put on in the form of deodorant/anti-perspirant.  The suggestion was to find a deodorant with out aluminum which is also toxic to us.  I've done this before but it is difficult to find one that works.  Tom's of Maine was suggested so I'm going to check into it.  Also, another tip was to  iron baby powder into the armpit.  For now, I'll just be trying this stain remover.

 I put the the stain remover directly on the stains and let it sit for about 5 minutes.  Then I added a little extra (about a teaspoon) hydrogen peroxide directly onto the stain.

I didn't think it came out like a crisp, band new white shirt, but when my oldest daughter saw my tank top folded on the kitchen table, because that's my holding zone for all folded clothes, she asked me if I bought a new one.  Really! I guess that answers that question, but decide for yourself.

And the undershirt came out too.

Yes, I think I'll keep it as a stain remover.  So now the question is, does it work on colors too? Behold, a stained brown shirt.

I tried the 2:1 ration of the stain remover and....

the stain is gone.

Finally, I wanted to show you what this stain remover can do with coffee stains.  Mr. Lewisville and I love drinking coffee and we're serious about our coffee.  He has an espresso machine that is used every morning, but it sure does make a coffee mess.

He uses painter's rags to clean up his coffee area.  They're cheap cloths perfect for cleaning and dusting.  For this experiment, I decided to go ahead and submerge the cloth in the stain remover.

and the results speak for themselves.

Both were washed in my normal whites load.  The one on the right soaked in the stain remover for about 30 minutes, mainly because I forgot about it.  The one on the left will be getting the treatment next weekend.

So there you have it, a non-toxic stain remover that actually works.  Too bad it won't take all our laundry away with the stains.  A girl can dream.

Blessings to you,

Lisa