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Do you have a burning laundry question? Have you had a huge laundry success you'd like to share?
Feel free to email me! I try to answer all emails within a couple of hours – but please be patient if it takes me a little longer than that. In all likelihood I am either taking care of my little people or rolling laundry.
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{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello Mama!
Love the website. You’re a genius!
Hi Mama!
I think I may have an odd question. I have a hard time keeping our small bedroom clean because of one reason- clothes to be re-worn.
My husband wears extra large sweatshirts and jeans for a couple hours a night around the house, then puts them on a bench in our room- they aren’t dirty. I use the same pajama pants for two nights in a row, and have light sweater jackets… the list goes on. All of these items sit on the bench in our room. I’d be constantly putting clothes away if I were to stay on top of it, and I don’t want that.
Do you have any ideas of how to organize clothes that are clean in our bedroom, but are waiting to be re-worn?
Thank you! Hope I am not the only one who has this problem.
Twitter: MamaLaundry
March 3, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Oh definitely not an odd question – unless you and I are BOTH odd! Seriously – this is one of my hardest laundry areas to conquer. I am just like you – I wear things just for the evening that I will probably wear again the next evening.
The only method I’ve found (that works for me) so far is to put my clothes in the same place every single night. For example, if I know I am going to wear the same pair of pajama pants and shirt two evenings in a row I just loosely fold them and put them in the top of my dresser drawer to use the next night. No fancy folding or anything…just enough to get them out of site.
I just make it part of my nighttime routine: wash face, brush teeth, quickly fold up my pants/shirt and put them in my drawer. If I’m too tired at night, I quickly do it in the morning.
What has helped me the most is re-wearing the same thing the next night. Not changing which pajama pants I put on.
This is definitely not life-changing advice, but I hope it helps.
-Lauren
Mama-
That totally helped! Not only does your idea help keep our room clean, but it cuts down on the amount of laundry I have done this week! My husband and I each have a loosely folded pile on a bench in our room. Jammies, sweatshirts and light jackets are put there neatly and re-worn until they are dirty from us wearing them, not from falling on the floor. Our piles are easliy kept small, and clothes are re-hung at our leisure.
Such a simple idea, but helps so much! Thank you!
Twitter: MamaLaundry
March 7, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Oh I am so thrilled it’s working so well for you! Thanks so much for letting me know.
-Lauren
I love your website! Laundry is my biggest challenge in my home. I am a stay-at-home mom with 3 boys (6,5,2) and a 8wk girl – so we have a lot of laundry! Do you have any suggestions for how to keep up on spot treating stains? My boys toss their clothes into the laundry pile, I sort quickly by color, not really examining them as I go, then when I pull them out of the dryer I find stains that I should have treated. (They wear a uniform to school and I can’t send them to school with jelly/ink/grass stains on them!)
So I’m just curious about how you would fit this into your routine?
Twitter: MamaLaundry
March 22, 2010 at 9:50 am
I’ll send you an email
I’m really enjoying your blog
and learning alot!
My enduring laundry issue is: Yellowed undershirts…ESPECIALLY armpit staining!
I’ve tried everything…including Bluing…and still have yellowed and crunchy TShirts (my hubby’s).
Any tricks?
Twitter: MamaLaundry
March 22, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Oh yes, I’ve got a few tricks for those. I’ll write a post on it and get it up this week….
-Lauren
I always have this struggle starting and lasting throughout the summer season. I have narrowed the culprit down to sunscreen. The most important thing to wear in the summer time does terrible things to my laundry! I’ve tried several different brands and they all turn my clothing this awful orangish color where it comes in contact with the clothes. I am figuring that it reacts to the minerals in our well water, which is heavier in magnesium-type deposits. Even chloroxing white clothes doesn’t always get it, often times turning the stain yellow instead of orange. And it has ruined several colored clothing. Any suggestions? I’m at my wit’s end with the damage!
Thanks.
Mama -
We recently moved and when I was unpacking one of the boxes of clothes, my husband’s favorite baseball jersey came out with a mysterious stain. The jersey is 100% polyester, but I have absolutely no idea what the stain is. It is kind of an orangey-yellowy stain across the whole bottom, and the jersey itself is white. The only thing I’ve tried is Oxiclean, but that usually gets out anything…so, any ideas?
Thanks for your help, I love your blog! I shared your folding sheets video with my friends. =)
Hi Mama,
My biggest problem with laundry is yellowed and dingy “whites”. I use Clorox bleach in every white load plus detergent and softener and wash in hot water. I am at a loss for what else to do, HELP PLEASE!
Hi!
I hope you can help me! My problem is that my whites aren’t getting white again with bleach. I use hot water and Tide detergent and pour the bleach into the little bleach dispenser on my top loader. But when I take my whites out, they still have stains! What can I do? Thanks in advance!
Twitter: MamaLaundry
October 8, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Julia, sometimes bleach can make stains worse. I’d switch to Oxi Clean for awhile and see how that goes. I’ll send you an email with specific instructions!
-Lauren
I had a question about grass stains and the best way that you know of to treat/get rid of them. I’ve always just treated them with Zout in the past and it’s worked pretty good. I’ve also soaked them in Oxi which tends to work pretty well, but I was wondering what your experience was.
Thanks so much for sharing all your knowledge – I’ve learned a lot!!
Erin
What a great blog!!! Thank you so much for sharing with everyone.
I actually have two questions for you.
the first question is, what would you say is the best way to remove (human) blood from clothing? I have 3 teenage daughters & well the rest is history
The second question is , is there an remody for removing dog urine odor, other than removing the dog?
Thank you for taking the time to view & answer my questions.
I hope you & yours has a blessed day.
Robin Wagoner
Twitter: MamaLaundry
October 25, 2010 at 10:11 pm
Robin, thanks so much for your kind words about my little blog!
1st Q: I’ve actually got most of a post written on that which I’m going to publish next week! I’ll make sure to send you the link so you don’t miss it.
2nd Q: Urine smell (dog or otherwise) is *super* hard to remove. There are some products on the market specifically targeted at removing that specific smell, but they are mostly for commercial use. I am actually getting ready to test a product that focuses on removing tough laundry smells this week. I’ll let you know how that works! And it is a product that is sold at grocery stores, Walmart, etc.
I would try first washing with borax and then allowing the laundry to dry in direct sunlight. If that doesn’t work, I’d then move on to something more intense, such as a specialty laundry product.
I’ll be in touch!
-Lauren
Hey Lauren,
While you were away last week (so glad you are all better), I thought of a couple of questions for you…
#1: Even though I use the “invisible” type solid antipersperant, it’s not! Do you have any advice on getting it out of my cotton sweaters? (on the inside, but still irritating to see because I know it’s not supposed to be there.)
#2: I love wool and cashmere items, from gloves and scarves to sweaters and jackets. Regarding the little items that cost so much to dryclean, do you have any suggestions on cleaning them at home? (gloves, scarves, etc.) Of course I know to keep them out of the dryer…
Thank you, and welcome back to the bright side!
Cheri
Hi, I am new to your site. I just finished reading your post on the trash can for kitchen towels. I was wondering if you wash your kitchen towels separately from bath towels? Does it really make a difference, or does it all
“come out in the wash”?
Twitter: MamaLaundry
February 10, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Hey Casandra – Welcome to Mama’s!
Yes, I wash all of my towels together. Unless it is vomit laundry and towels – those are always washed separately.
In order to wash them altogether, I always wash on the cycle that will agitate the hardest and longest and with the hottest water possible.
If I were only using cold water or wasn’t able to wash on a heavy duty cycle, I would definitely wash regular towels and kitchen/cleaning towels separately.
-Lauren
Twitter: sincemydivorce
February 16, 2011 at 11:48 am
Hi Lauren
I think you and I met at SavvyBlogging but anyway I have a laundry question I’m hoping you can help with. If you have a post that speaks to this then please send me the link – I tried searching but couldn’t find anything…
Anyway … some of clothes keep getting blotches on them after they’ve been washed and I think it’s fabric conditioner. I used to use one of those little balls to put the conditioner in but stopped because I thought that was causing the stops. Now I just put the conditioner in the dispenser in the center of the machine. Any ideas on why this is happening and what I can do to stop it, other than cutting out the conditioner?
best,
Mandy´s last [type] ..Getting into the dating game
Twitter: MamaLaundry
February 16, 2011 at 1:13 pm
Hey Mandy,
Yes, fabric softener and especially dryer sheets can cause that. They look like little random grease stains all over the garment. You can get them out using the Blue Dawn method since they usually don’t come out with the next washing.
And here is a post on dealing with dryer sheet grease stains, which applies to liquid fabric softener as well.
Let me know if they don’t come out and I’ll help you troubleshoot!
-Lauren
Twitter: sincemydivorce
February 16, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Thank you SOO much Lauren .. you’re my savior!
Mandy´s last [type] ..Getting into the dating game
I just found your website and already loving it!!!! I have a question…my 6 year old got pink fingernail polish on a white satin/silk shirt; is there any way to remove it?
Twitter: MamaLaundry
February 27, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Hi Amy!
I think this is such a good question I’m writing a post on it. It should be up tomorrow!
(Monday, Feb 28)
Thanks!
-Lauren
I stumbled across this blog and I am sooo glad that I did. Laundry is really something that I dread, along with cooking, cleaning and grocery shopping, LOL. My mom has always told me that I do my laundry wrong and should do it her way. She has a bunch of different piles for clothes: white, bright, color, dark, delicate, sheets, towels, and something else I can’t think of. And each one has it’s on temperature. Then she uses, stain remover, detergent, liquid softner, and bleach if it’s a white load. Then she uses a dryer sheet for the dryer.
I’m a single-mom of 2 boys (2.5 and 5 )and a full time law-student. I don’t have the patience or the time for that. I just separate the whites out from the colors and delicates. The whites get washed on hot with bleach. Everything else gets washed on cold with detergent and borax (I have hard water where I live). And then it’s all in the dryer. But I have lots of stains and fading on all over our clothes.
I was just wondering if there was some happy medium between the two??? I’m going to get a bucket and oxy-clean to try soaking the stains out. I want to be able to get my clothes clean but I just don’t have 9 hours in me to spend on laundry in one day. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!
LaToya´s last [type] ..Women in the Word Wednesday
Twitter: MamaLaundry
March 18, 2011 at 8:42 am
LaToya- I am so sorry. Your comment was sent to spam, and I obviously do not check my spam folder often enough!
You are a busy girl – full-time mama and full-time law student.
I can definitely see where you need a happy medium.
I think your question would make a great post – where to find the balance between Extreme Laundry and Lazy Laundry. I’ll email you when I get the post up.
Again, so sorry for the delayed response! I’ll be in touch
-Laurne
Thank you so much for your post about shopping with small children! It was GREAT!
Twitter: MamaLaundry
March 11, 2011 at 9:42 am
Oh thank you! I hope it was helpful.
-Lauren
Hi there – I am wondering if you have any thoughts on washing crib bumpers. I am going back and forth btwn dry cleaning it and just plain old washing in the machine. I’m not sure what is on the inside and I’m concerned it will bunch up and separate in the washing machine. I live in an apartment building so the washing machine we have is pretty base/standard but I think it would do the trick but wondering if dry cleaning is a better option. My son is 18 months old and I’m taking it off his crib – I’d like to wash it before I store it. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
thanks heaps!
Regina
Twitter: MamaLaundry
March 29, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Hi Regina,
I washed my crib bumpers in our top loader several times before we switched to a front loader. And they actually did really well in the top-loader. I just coiled them around the agitator. It didn’t make them bunch at all, actually. But I made sure to wash them on the delicate cycle so they didn’t receive a ton of agitation.
I think going through the washing machine would get them cleaner than dry cleaning – and you control what chemicals go in.
Make sure to look and see if there is a care label and that they are infact machine washable.
Whatever you choose, you should definitely wash them before you store them. If you decide to use them again in the future, the stains will be tough if not impossible to remove. Time has a way of setting stains, unfortunately.
Let me know if you have any questions
-Lauren
Do you have any advice on getting sticker residue off of a shirt. I have several of my boys t-shirts that I’ve inadvertently washed with a sticker on them. The sticker is off, but there is still some of the backing of the sticker on them.
Hi Mama,
I live in Mexico and want to buy a new front load wahsing machine but can’t find HE laundry detergent. Do you have any solutions or homemade recipes to make my own he detergent? I’m also having a baby in about 4 weeks so I need something I can use with baby clothes too!! I hope you can help, thanks!
Twitter: MamaLaundry
April 28, 2011 at 9:34 pm
Jenna, I’ll send you an email
-Lauren
I am a long time follower but never commented until now. I must thank you. Last night I went took take out my just dried laundry from the dryer and found a blue crayon inside. Needless to say everything was stained. This was 11:00 at night. I was so upset. I immediatly went to your site for info and of course got just what I was looking for. I couldnt think of pretreating each piece so I let it soak overnight in my front loader (its not completly immersed but 3/4, No borrowing washing machines at 11:00) in the morning I took it out and ran a hot load. Everything came out. I just had to let you know. Thanks so much.!!
Twitter: MamaLaundry
May 13, 2011 at 4:32 pm
Oh Rivka, I am so thrilled for you that your whole load of crayon laundry isn’t lost! That makes my day!
Thanks for your kind words and telling me of your fabulous laundry success.
-Lauren