Laundry in the summertime

Summertime brings on a few new challenges to the laundry system, so I thought I would pop in here and add a few more lines on that subject.

First of all, summertime in the Northwest is a bit tricky. The kids have more clothes than they do in winter, because the weather is unpredictable. Until at least August, the boys might need long sleeves and jeans, or shorts and short sleeve t-shirts and the girls have both short and long sleeve dresses in their closet. It isn't fun. As fewer and fewer cool days happen, pulling out most of the clothes for cold weather can start to happen. Those of you in warmer climates probably would laugh at us on the 4th of July all bundled up in sweaters and blankets to do fireworks! But, alas, it was so.

So, come August I will be going through all the kids clothes again, pulling out the items that have gotten too small and too warm (for a few months), thus reducing the amount of clothes in the drawers and closets. Hopefully!

A new reader of my blog (hi Shelia!) asked me this week how often do I go through the kids clothes and pull out the items too stained (or too many holes!) to keep? I have been thinking about this question the last few days. I believe it comes down to two things:
1.Keeping clothes from getting stained (holes are a bit harder to stop).
and
2.Pulling out the items that the children cannot be allowed to be seen in anymore (no matter how much of a favorite it might be!).

The business of laundering clothing is huge. There are many opinions, seeming zillions of products and still we have stains. I had read a while back on someone's blog (sorry, can't remember - that is what I get for reading blogs while I nurse the baby...brain cells are being sucked away as I read! It's a miracle I remember anything!LOL!) about Charilie's Soap and finally went to the website recently to check them out. Of course, all the info sounds great, almost too good to be true. I decided to do a trial of their products and bought the Combo Powder (80 Wash loads) & All Purpouse Pre-Spray for $19.00. (all prices include shipping) That is less than $0.15 a load for washing clothes AND the package takes up about an eighth of the space the Tide With Bleach box I usually buy from Costco. (less clutter!)

Side note: One thing I had noticed with the Tide w/Bleach is that the clothes were fading. Not terribly noticeable, but I could tell. Plus, bad stains still stayed in. Spray 'n Wash, and other products would have to be used and the item run through the wash numerous times and wouldn't always result in the stain being gone. So, why pay the big bucks for Tide w/bleach if it really wasn't helping? With having children doing their own laundry, even though I remind them to look for stains, some clothes get through. In a perfect world, I would like to have whatever I use in my washing machine to attack and remove any and all types of stains. Period. No having to check everything as it goes into the washer and then again as it goes into the dryer. Ah, a perfect world.

Back in the real world, and about 30 loads into the Charlie's Soap, I have to say I'm liking it! And, I really, really like the All Purpose Cleaner as a pre-spotter! It does work great! Baby poop stains and all! So far, so good! If you decide after reading all the info on Charlie's website that you are going to give them a try, would you please put my name in the "Comments/Referrals" Box on the order form when you place your order? They will send me out a FREE Gift Box of Laundry Powder. That is cool! And, if you decide you like their products you can let your friends know to put your name in as a referral and you'll get some free laundry powder too!

Also, if someone knows the cost of the Costco Tide w/bleach per load and/ or the Costco brand laundry powder, would you please post it in the comments or email it to me? Would like to compare with the cost of Charlie's.

Recap - Work at keeping clothes from getting so stained you can't use them. Then, if they are too stained, grab them during your laundry routine and don't let them get back into the kids drawers/closet. If you are keeping the kids down to 8 sets of clothing, go get into your stored clothes (or go to a thrift store) and pull out replacements for what you tossed (or make into rags, etc.). Summer leads to more dirt and stains and holes, so even though you don't keep lots of clothes in the kids closets, you should still keep an eye out for inexpensive replacements to have in a box where you can get to them if you need them.