Brand New Challenge!

Ok, so I have had it with my lackadaisical attitude to my families skivvies! I must admit to being very much a neat freak in almost all aspects of my life, but one area is deplorable.

LAUNDRY!

I am sure that my death will come from laundry in some way. Local papers with have headlines like this, "Local woman found suffocated under Mt. Rainier size pile of laundry. All mothers be warned!" Since having munchkin #3 last year I have been inundated and most often overwhelmed with laundry. It is always there, just when think I am done, here comes another dirty pair of socks!

Sadly these are less than 2 months old, and they have been washed! See, I really need help! I am sure my sister and my friend Denise are gasping at such a sight, being the Laundry Queens that they are. No one has whiter whites and brighter brights than they do.

So I decided that I am going to tackle this cotton/polyester blend monster and become the model laundress. People will come from miles around just to see my whites! Ok, I just want to keep from getting out of the car at a nice restaurant only to find an ugly stain on the front of my kids shirts. But I did refer to the goddess of domesticity...Martha. She is now so well known for her skills in home care that you don't even need her last name!
A few years ago I just HAD to have this book...

...my mom graciously bought it for my birthday and I am ashamed to admit it has sat on my bookshelf ever since. But no more, today I am moving on to new heights in the world of home keeping. This is going to become my Housekeeping bible. There is literally everything you could ever need to know in this book. Here are a few of the subject in this book:

1. How to care for you Taxidermy


2. 
   
   How long to keep cosmetics and beauty aids. Did you know that lipstick lasts for 2-3 years?


3. How to pack and overnight bag


4. Organizing Principles of a baby nursery There are principles for that? Ooops


5. How to clean hand held devices


6. How to get rid of silverfish What are silverfish?


7. How to patch a hole in a shirt "Fix it up, use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"


8. Various pictures of dusting tools (there are 10 different ones)


9. How to patch a window screen


10. What to have in your plumbing first-aid kit Gloves, gas mask, and hazmat suit for sure!

I am pretty sure if I look hard enough I could find "How to dismantle a nuclear bomb." If just such an occasion arises. There is more in that book, than I think I could use in a lifetime.
All kidding aside, I have been having fun looking through this book and learning about things I didn't know I needed to know.

So, getting back to laundry, here are few things I learned:

1. Washing Soda (2 T.) can be added to you detergent to make it more effective. (You can find washing soda or sodium carbonate in you supermarket)

2. You can whiten linens, napkins, and even socks in a pot of lemon water on the top of you stove. Bring a pot of water with lemon slices to a boil. Turn off heat and remove pan. Add linens and soak for up to an hour. For extra brightening lay them out in the sun to dry.

3. Baking soda can be used as a fabric softener.

4. Mrs. M. H. Cornelius, in her 1871 book, Young Housekeeper's referred to laundry as "severe labor". Of course they hadn't heard of Whirlpool.

So I will keep you posted on my laundry journey, and pass along any gritty tips I come across. Happy folding, and my every load smell sweet!

Now to get my hubby to build me one of these babies, I would be set. Nothing smells better in this world than crisp towels and sheets hung on the line!