Whiter whites! I swear!

I consider myself a laundry professional.  I know, I know, the word professional would imply that I get paid to do laundry.  Well, not exactly.  But sometimes I pay myself with Cold Stone.  Shhhhhh . . . don't tell my husband though.

BUT here is my point.  I am pretty darn good at laundry.  And I am willing to share my very favorite laundry tip with you, my faithful blog readers. 

Here it is:   CASCADE (yes, the dishwashing kind . . . the powdered version)

Have you wondered the best way to keep your whites their whitest?  Cascade is the answer.  I swear.  I read about this tip on a blog years ago.  I wish I knew where so I could give credit where credit is due.  But really, this has improved my laundry results in a noticable way. 

Here is what you do:

1.  Add 1 cup of powdered Cascade Dishwasher Detergent to your load of whites.  If you have a high efficiency front loader, you can still do this - just add it to your clothes, not where you add your detergent.  That is what I do, anyway.

2.  Add laundry detergent, as you normally would.

3.  Soak load overnight.

4.  Rinse as normal.  You can even do an extra rinse cycle if you want. 

I love the results!  You won't necessarily notice a big difference the first time you do this, but you should notice a significant improvement by the third or fourth time.  My boys wear WHITE shirts everyday for their school uniform, and their shirts really do look pretty darn great, if I do say so myself.  And these are seriously rough and tumble, get crazy dirty, laundry nightmare-ish, stain after stain after stain kind of boys.  But they look great as they head out the door in their white shirts!  Really, they do!

Try this . . . and let me know what you think!  I love the results. 

Because, believe me, clean feels good!

Clog Schmog

Note:  This is not my bathroom.  But I kind of wish it was.  I'm in the mood for a redo!

So, we have this sink in our bathroom that always seems to get clogged.  I don't know why, and I'm not even sure I want to know why!  But it is definitely clogmatic. 

And I just hate to buy Drano - which just seems so, well, toxic. I feel like I have to wear a Hazmat suit just to protect myself.  So, I went in search of a safter, greener option, that would make me feel oh so much better about unclogging my nasty drain problem. 

After a quick google search, I found this:



Isn't she lovely?  And her idea really works!  I tried it . . . and SUCCESS!  And best of all, she used environmentally safe products, that I always have on hand -- baking soda, vinegar and water.  YAY for the cute lady with the hot pink gloves! 

So . . . if you don't want to take the time to watch the 1 minute, 34 second video, here is what you do:  (and I know, I know, every minute is precious - please don't have guilt about not watching this youtube beauty)

1.  remove drain stopper if you can (I skipped this step)
2.  pour 1/2 cup baking powder directly down drain
3.  pour 1/2 cup vinegar directly down drain
4.  pour a kettle full of boiling hot water directly down drain

And that's it!  And I swear it works!   This made me happy for a few reasons . . . this option is cheaper than Drano OR a plumber AND maybe it will prevent my husband from spending a Saturday unclogging our dang sink. 

And with all the time you've saved, you can take the time to watch this youtube video.  Because it is just oh so worth it!  Seriously, have you seen it?  Amazing!



And really, it is true! . . . clean feels good!