image from thenest.com

Stains are difficult but when you know what to do it can be as easy as 1, 2, 3.  Here are some very helpful tips from Betty’s Laundry Secrets book.  Now, you don’t have an excuse for throwing out the shirt with the grease stain.  Pay attention now!

Coffee:  Betty says that coffee isn’t hard to get out if you get to it with soap and water right away.

Fruit:  Betty always puts lemon on the stain first.  If that doesn’t work then she uses bar soap.

Mildew:  Wash the garment in warm or hot water with bleach, depending on the fabric and line-dry or dry flat in direct sunlight.

Oil and grease:  Sprinkle some cornstarch or baking soda on the stain, then place the garment, stain side down on a large rag on top of an ironing board.  Iron with a hot iron on the wrong side of the stain–most oil and grease stains will come right out .  (This trick works only for oil and grease, which need heat to dissolve.

Rust:  Soak fabric spotted with brown rust stains (which sometimes come from hard water) in a solution of 1 part lemon juice and 1 part water for at least 30 minutes.  Do not use chlorine bleach on rust stains.

Tea stains:  These are hard to get out, but Betty soaks tea stains in cool water and applies bar soap anyway.

Betty’s Rules of Thumb for Stain Removal

• Don’t ever try to use hot water on anything that’s stained.  Hot water will set most stains, especially those containing protein (such as blood stains and many foods stains.)
• When in doubt, soak it.
• If you notice a stain on a garment after washing it, don’t put it in the dryer.  Instead, while the item is still damp, attack the stain with ivory soap.
• If you catch a stain in the act–say, at a dinner party after one glass of wine to many–blot the stain immediately with a clean rag or sponge.
• If a stain is faded but not completely gone after you take the garment out of the washer, hang the garment outside with the stain facing the sun.  Often, sunlight will do the trick.

Allergies, who doesn’t have them?  Luckily, we live in a day and age where even laundry products are created with the allergy sensitive in mind!  You can now find several products in your laundry aisle that fit the bill of dye-free, scent-free as well as green.  In this issue of Allergic Living Magazine, Pamela Lee, otherwise known as “the allergic diva” acknowledged a few green laundry products for the allergy sensitive one of which is Fragrance Free WOOLITE® Dry Cleaner’s Secret®!    Check out the article below and find out what other laundry products made the list and why!

Click on the article to read in full view!

1.  On warm days line dry your laundry instead of using your dryer.  If you don’t have a line outside try using a drying rack inside.  Either way you’ll save money and the environment.  When it is warm, take your drying rack outside.  Your clothes will dry quickly, the sun will help whiten your whites and your laundry well smell fresh!

2.  When the times comes and maybe it’s this year… consider replacing and old washer or dryer with an energy efficient model.  In the long run this too will save your wallet!

3.  Use ProWash Activewear Detergent as a booster to your regular laundry detergent or as primary detergent.  ProWash not only washes your garments thoroughly, it’s designed to work in both high efficiency washers and toploaders.  Plus, you can feel guilt free purchasing ProWash since it comes in a pouch container which has 9X less effect on the earth than hard plastic bottles.

4.  And, don’t forget to load your utility room with WOOLITE® Dry Cleaner’s Secret®.  Our home dry cleaning kit will save you money on your dry cleaning bill and will reduce contact with harmful chemicals like Perc. 

5.  Invest in a depilling sweater comb and a sewing kit to get more wear out of your wardrobe.  Most of us need to save right now and that includes not buying clothes.  I know, sad but true.  The good news however is that wardrobe conservation reduces our carbon footprint on this fair planet!  Here’s to a Greener 2011 – cheers!

In November’s issue of All You, a list of several helpful tips on “decreasing your exposure to harmful chemicals” is written.  I thought these tips were insightful and wanted to share with all of you.

Make a no-shoes rules in the house.
You and your visitors can track in pesticides or contaminants.

Avoid pesticides.
Go with natural alternatives.  For ants, try liquid peppermint castile soap, which is vegetable based (dilute and spray it where you’ve seen ants).  Mothballs contain p-DCB, so go with lavender or cedar to repel months.

Buy houseplants.
Researchers have found that plants can “scrub” indoor air of harmful toxins.  English ivy, spider plants, snake plants, philodendrons, and dracaenas are considered the best air-cleaning varieties.

Use a Hepa filter.
Make sure your vacuum has a Hepa filter to remove chemicals and pollutants from the carpet and upholstery.  Also, clean your house often to get rid  of dust bunnies that might harbor contaminants.  If you have an AC system or forced air, change the filters at least twice a year.

Open windows.
Indoor air is usually more polluted than outdoor air.  Try to crack the windows for at least 10 minutes per day.

So, I recently purchased a wonderful new washing machine.  Yep, I got a front-loader and it’s amazing.  The machine is so much quieter than my old machine and it uses a lot less water.  I’m in love!  It’s a whole new world coming from a top loader that was 22 years old.  Goodness, was it time or what?  So, after my purchase I was feeling good because I’m going to save money in the long term on water and I’m helping the environment with this purchase.  But, after reading an article from the Portland Tribune on August 12th on washing laundry with cold water, there’s more I can do, or dare I say we all can do!

Journalist Peter Korn asks the question, does cold water actually clean as well as warm or hot (and why does it matter)?  According to U.S. Department of Energy data, “if we all washed our clothes in cold water rather than warm or hot water, we’d save over 50 billion pounds of carbon emissions a year.”  The article also mentions that only “two of 10 people in the U.S. wash all their clothes in cold water.”  A stain test was done at a local laundromat in Portland with Korn and laundry attendant June Sanders.  Sanders tested dirtied towels using both cold and warm water.  She found that with stains like dirt, grass, salsa and lipstick, cold water worked just as well as warm. 

Something else you may want to consider is avoiding laundry detergent with brighteners.  Martin Wolf, a chemist at Seventh Generation (www.seventhgeneration.com) said that brightener detergents “don’t get your clothes cleaner.  They give you the illusion your clothes are cleaner.”  What this means is that “brighteners contain a dye that uses ultraviolet light to make clothing look brighter,” Wolf says, however, “they also evaporate and contribute to air pollution.”  Eek!  It makes you think twice about your next purchase in the laundry aisle, or at least raises awareness about how everyday products like laundry soap (and water temperature choices) can directly impact the environment.  Helping the planet in these seemingly small ways is a bright spot in the otherwise routine task of doing the laundry – at least for me.  Might I add that my amazing new front-loader, while quietly purring in the corner as it washes a load of laundry in cold water, couldn’t agree more!

It’s almost the 4th!  For my husband and I that means a lot of clean-up at home, in the yard and the garage before the big BBQ.   We started our garage project last weekend which resulted in a large sum of items being donated and also some toxic chemicals that needed to be disposed of properly.  

There is a great need for clothes and household goods right in our own community.  My husband and I try to donate as much as we can.   There are several nonprofits that pick-up right at your doorstep such as PickUpPlease  where donations go toward Vietnam Veternans and their families also the Salvation Army and Goodwill in some areas have pick-up availablity.  Or simply Google “household donations” and a plethora of information is available at your fingertips to help you donate to a group you would like to support or find a group that will accept the item you’re trying to donate.

 My husband at one time owned his own painting business so we found quite an assorment of old paints, primers and the like in the garage and it was time to discard.  So we investigated what would be the best way to dispose of them properly.  Most states have a chemical drop-off center you can take chemicals too and sometimes for free.  Look up your state Chemical Disposal to find the closet drop off center to you.  These drop off centers are great for taking  household cleaners and chemicals to which is helpful  if you’re moving toward using only green cleaners.

Organizing a garage or basement once you’ve separated what stays from what is going away can still be a daunting task.  Here are some helpful tips from the Housekeeping Channel.

1. Set aside enough time to work on your project. Back-to-back days are recommended (like an entire weekend), so items that are being sorted do not have to sit out in piles for long.

Tip: Try to plan for a dry weekend, since you’ll have to pull many items out of the shelter of the garage.

 2. Hire an expert, or get a team of people to work on the project, or it may turn into an overwhelming task that will be abandoned part way through.

 Tip: While friends and family may be willing to help, be sure you have a plan and guidance to direct the process from start to finish.

 3. Consider what categories of items you want to store in your garage. Does luggage really have to live there, or can it live in the attic or an indoor closet? Should chemicals live in the garage, or can you relegate them to the garden shed? Some typical items that are housed in the garage are recycling, sports and recreational equipment, camping gear, automotive, seasonal décor, garden and tools.

 Tip: It is much easier to tackle a garage after you have organized the rest of the house. The garage tends to be a dumping ground for all the unknowns throughout the house. Once you determine the purpose of your interior storage and items have a home inside, when you organize your garage many items can be relocated inside.

 4. Once you know what categories of items will live in your garage, begin pulling everything out of your garage and grouping into categories in the driveway or center of your garage. Use lots of boxes for this process.

 Tip 1: Obtain boxes of all sizes, since items of all descriptions — from huge paint cans to nuts and bolts — will need to be contained.

Tip 2: Don’t forget to label boxes with contents as you are grouping them.

 5. Reconsider, trash or donate items that do not fit the categories.

 Tip 1: Visit the Resources page on www.RestoringOrder.com for donation resources.

Tip 2: Sometimes, random parts or singular items are discovered in the garage. In this case, if you want to keep them, just store with the most similar category or in a visible place so you remember you have them.

 6. Once items have been consolidated by like type, purge any excess, broken or unnecessary items.

 Tip: This process takes time, so allow reasonable time to accomplish this task.

 7. Determine where you want each type of item to live by frequency of use and available space. Recycling should live near the entrance to the home for ease of use. Tools should live near the workbench, and so on.

 Tip: Think about valuable real estate when you are considering available space. Parking space and those shelves at eye level or within reach are valuable real estate. Less valuable real estate would be very high or low shelves, and should be reserved for less frequently accessed items.

 8. Install additional built-in cabinets or obtain modular storage if needed.

 Tip: Find a local service provider.

 9. Re-locate remaining items into their new sensible home within the garage.

 Tip: Don’t buy containers, bins, baskets and boxes to organize your items until this far into the process. A big mistake people make is purchasing the fun plastic bins too early in the process, and then discovering that they don’t have the correct sizes, sturdiness, etc.

 10. Commit to a regular schedule of maintenance for your newly organized garage. Promptly put things away after using them, and order will truly be restored!

 Tip: Get your quarterly or bi-annual garage maintenance on your calendar. If it doesn’t make it onto your calendar, it is far less likely to happen.

Can you believe it? We’re already approaching the second month of the new year. Time flies when you’re having fun. And, things get stained when you’re having fun! So, on that note, here are 28 Laundry Tips for the 28 days of February. (Thank you Nahanni River Herbs!):

1.  Make your own inexpensive alternative to fabric softener dryer sheets.  Mix 1 cup of liquid fabric softener together with 1 cup of water.  Store in a wide mouth jar.  Using and old cloth, dip it in the mixture, then wring it out over the jar so that any excess liquid is returned to the container.  Throw the face cloth in the dryer with the damp clothes.  It works like a charm!

2. Attach a magnetic caddy to the side of your washing machine to save items that fall out of pockets in the wash.

3. To remove sticky film from the bottom of your iron, place 2 tablespoons of salt on a piece of brown paper.  Using a warm setting, iron over the salt to clean and polish the iron like new.

4. Make your own spray starch with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch added to 1 pint of cold water.  Mix vigorously to dissolve the cornstarch and apply as usual with a spray bottle.

5. Clean the steam vents of your iron with pipe cleaners.

6. To speed ironing, spray the ironing board cover with spray starch.

7. If clothes stick to the bottom of your iron, try sprinkling salt on a piece of paper and then run your hot iron back and forth over the salt.  This should solve the problem.

8. To iron clothing with bead work, embroidery or other special trims, place the design face down on a towel and iron.  This will prevent the special trim from being flattened during ironing.

9. To prevent colored fabrics from running, add a little salt to the fresh water.

10. To prevent new dark jeans, or any dark cottons from fading and streaking, turn them inside out and throw them into your washing machine filled with cold water and 1 cup of vinegar.  This will “set” the color.  A must for teenagers who don’t want the streaked effect that so commonly occurs with black jeans.

11. Take the stiffness out of new denim jeans by soaking them overnight in water with 1 cup salt.  Launder as usual.

12. Adding a teaspoon of vinegar to the rinsewater, will help pantyhose retain it’s elasticity.

13. To get rid of ring around the collar, rub hair shampoo into the ring before washing or try a paste of vinegar and baking soda.

14. To remove stubborn smells from your laundry, add 1/2 cup baking soda to the rinse cycle.

15. To whiten discolored socks, boil them in water along with 1 or 2 lemon slices.

16. For a fresher, cleaner wash add 1/2 cup of baking soda with your usual amount of chlorine bleach to your load.

17. Sprinkle baking soda on soiled diapers before putting them in the pail to eliminate the odor.

18. Brighten white socks and cottons by using dishwasher detergent in the washing machine.

19. To prevent lost or mismatched socks, keep a large supply of safety pins handy and pin socks together before laundering.

20. Zippers last longer if they are zipped shut before laundering.

21. Fresh blood stains may be removed by washing in cold water.  Hard and dry blood stains should soak for a few hours in cold water that has a pinch of baking soda added to it before it is washed.  Never use hot water on blood stains.

22. Always wash milk or cream stains with cold water, never hot.  Then follow with soap and water and a clear water rinse.

23. To remove grass stains easily, rub undiluted hair shampoo into the stain, then launder as usual.

24. Remove perspiration from clothing by soaking the garment in salt water, then wash as usual.

25. Apply a patse made from baking soda and water to perspiration stains and allow it to sit.  Launder as usual.

26. For ball point pen ink marks, saturate the spot with hair spray, and allow to dry. Then brush lightly with a solution of vinegar and water.

27. Remove ink from leather purses and shoes with nail polish remover.

28. Ink stains on fingers can be removed by brushing with a soft nail brush dipped first in vinegar and then salt.

Ok, Ok… we said 28 Tips, but we couldn’t leave these two off of the list:

29. To remove grease from clothing, dampen the stain with salt dissolved in ammonia.  Blot and rinse.

30. Sprinkle a little talcum powder on a shoelace knot to loosen it.

RiverWired.com has a few ideas about greening up your laundry room. Doing the laundry uses great amounts of energy, not to mention it creates lots of waste water and consumes other resources (money, namely). This also means there’s lots of room for change. Here are six steps you can take:

1. Have an Energy Star washer and dryer.
2. Wash all clothing on cold – seriously, no washer produces hot enough water to sterilize clothing. Cold cleans just as well, so why not save the energy.
3. Use your dryer sparingly. You can hang clothing up outside in the summer, and in your bathroom during the winter.
4. Use the right laundry products. Avoid harsh laundry soap, dryer sheets, and fabric softener. Things to avoid include chemical surfactants, chlorine, and chemical fragrances. One good green laundry soaps is Biokleen All Temperature Laundry Liquid.
5. Skip the bleach.
6. Wash the largest loads possible. Washing two shirts is a huge waste of water and energy.