Sunday, July 08, 2007

The Regime (also Fels Naptha)

I think my laundry has formed a government. I think it has a leader, like maybe one of Dave's favorite shirts, or more likely his shirt is a puppet leader for the real influence - one of my favorite shirts of Owen's. They probably are not as dumb as the average laundry and have figured out, "Hey, this lady doesn't know how to clean us."
"Yeah," says Evie's white shirt. "She washes me with blue jeans!"
"And my tag says dry clean only!" adds one of my dresses.
"And she always washes all of us in cold water!" as the resistance escalates.
So, my laundry has organized itself against me and figured out how to, after one or two washings with a new stain remover, develop some sort of resistance to the new soap (if only we could have their scientists). I keep telling myself that one day I will learn how to really do laundry, but that day is somewhere on the calendar with really learn how to cook, create a preschool cirriculum for my children, go back to school, and a few others, but the problem is I think I misplaced that calendar. In the meantime, I will continue washing all of my clothes together, in cold water, and I will just keep trying out new soaps and different combinations until that day comes (any laundry tips or directions are welcome in comments, :).
So, what is this picture of Fels Naptha, you ask? Well, our rental here came really pretty well stocked, and one thing that was on the shelf was this little bar of Fels Naptha. I thought I had heard somewhere (in the crevaces of my ever-elusive memory) that bar laundry soap was really great for stains. So, I googled it and didn't come up with much except for the expected advertisement that it was good for stains (what laundry soap isn't? - oh wait, all of them), and a few recipes using it for homemade liquid laundry detergent (it looked very inexpensive, if you want to give it a shot). So, I sprayed down some stains with a little water, rubbed it on, and washed (in cold water, of course). Voila!!! All of the stains came out (except a little one on a white shirt)! I was amazed! So, for a few weeks now, my kids have been wearing stain free clothes for about ten minutes a day (which is way better than just the first ten minutes owning the clothing). I have seen some signs in the last few days that "The Regime" is figuring it out, but at least I've been happy for a few weeks.

No comments: