Laundry Hacks

Oh man, I know I talk a whole lot about laundry.  Sorry guys.  I just have to.  It’s like that gross thing you can’t stop looking at or being fascinated with. Don’t lie, you do it too.

I have an awesome husband and two fantastic kids, you know that by now.  We are all super active and live in Southern California.  The weather is hot and so therefore we stink.  Yup, we stink, we sweat and we laugh and we are crazy and we stink.

I’ll tell ya, one of the stinkiest things in my house is my son’s blanket.  I made it for him when he was first born and it’s his favorite thing.  It’s a flannel blanket with satin binding.  He loves the satin so much.  He chews on it and shoves as much as he can in his mouth at once.  It’s really cute and strange all at the same time.  The enzymes from his mouth, however, create the most disgusting stink bomb ever.  That thing is gross, even he gets excited when “cozy” goes in the wash and comes out “brand new”.  That blanket was a lost cause.  No detergent on earth could clean that Swanky grossness.

Washing my laundry used to be SUPER frustrating for me cause no matter how I washed our clothes, they would come out sour smelling.  The laundry soap I was using – TIDE – wasn’t cutting the sour stink.  I’d use all the tricks too: cold, hot, warm, soak, double rinse, shout it out, both with the spray and my lungs, you know, all the different options.  Nothing worked. ugh.

SO my brain decided: FIGURE THIS OUT, after doing some research, trials and errors, lots of patience and determination – I needed to design a way to destroy the frustrating stinky “clean” laundry situation.  This is the result:

I make my own laundry soap combination and, drum roll please, IT WORKS!  It actually works.  I have laundry that smells fresh and clean now.  There is no more sour smell and I’m saving a ton of money on not having to rewash a bunch of loads – you all know how much distain I have for laundry.  Spending extra time on rewashing was so frustrating and now I don’t have to deal with it!  Plus, I don’t have to buy expensive TIDE to get my laundry clean.  Who knew?

PU on the re-do.

So here is my hack.  I use unscented laundry soap from Costco.  I pour that in while the water is filling in the washer.  I add my clothing.  Then I add a cup of Cleaning Vinegar from the Dollar Tree into the spout where you would put liquid bleach.  I also add a couple drops of peppermint or lavender essential oils down the spout where the liquid bleach would go.  It works.  My laundry comes out smelling fresh and clean.

Now I know you are thinking, Katie, why are you putting vinegar in your washing machine.  Vinegar stinks worse than the sour smelling laundry you are talking about…  According to The Spruce:

Using inexpensive white distilled vinegar in laundry will whiten, brighten, reduce odor, and soften clothes without harsh chemicals. It is safe to use in both standard and high-efficiency washers and is beneficial to septic tanks and the environment.

It doesn’t make your clothes smell like fish and chips either, don’t worry.  The vinegar smell evaporates and your clothes smell fresh and clean, I promise.  Plus, I can choose how I want my laundry to smell.  I decide what fresh scent goes into my laundry.  I like lavender for the kids clothes, it’s such a soothing smell.  I like peppermint for my husband’s work clothes to give him a refreshing kick when he puts on his power suit in the morning.  See?  you can custom design your sensory responses when you get dressed.  That’s kinda fun, eh.

My mom sells Doterra Oils and she said that I could share her distributer number with you guys, so here it is: 5491260

Well folks, there you go.  My laundry soap hack is revealed to the world.  Now go and conquer!!!

PS.  God bless you and thank you so much for all of your support and kind words lately.  I really appreciate it and your love and prayers are reaching my heart.  I am so strong!  I’ll keep you all posted on my meeting with the specialist this afternoon.  God is good all the time!