All in a Day….Laundry

I’ll tell you, I’ve had many different laundry routines in my life as a mom. I’ve tried doing Towels on Monday, Kids’ clothes on Tuesday, Husband’s clothes on Wed., my clothes on Thursday, and towels on Friday…etc… (by the way, I don’t remember exactly why I quit this method…maybe I just got bored?)

I’ve done the method where I just dump everything and anything into the washer until I have a full load.

Once, before I had kids, I actually read and followed the laundry instructions on the tags. Yeah. really. If it read, Wash in cold water, I would wash in cold water. If it read, Hand wash, I hand washed. Separately, I washed separately. Wow, how tedious. I would be standing at the washer all day long if I did that now.

Basically, at the moment (until I get bored with the current laundry method), my laundry routine is this:

When my laundry hamper gets full (Full means piled about 6 inches past the brim of the hamper), I will dump all the clothes in the laundry room floor, gather other laundry from various places around the house (I have another hamper outside my other bathroom) and then sort. Whites, Darks, Delicates, Blue Jeans, etc… Then, I begin my day of washing. Most of the time, I have about 6 loads out of that laundry day. It usually always carries over to the next day. Then the day after that, the hamper is full again. So, basically, I’m dealing with clothes every day.

I actually do not mind doing laundry. It is one of my favorite chores. I enjoy the sorting, I enjoy looking at my children’s clothes, taking care to fold and neatly place them in their proper places. As I am folding, quite frequently I have to place a garment or two aside to be put in the too little bin. I get mixed feelings about that.

Another reason I enjoy laundry, is I love hanging out my clothes. I enjoy using my beloved clothes line. I love this outside time I have to collect my thoughts, pray, enjoy nature, watch the children play, or more than likely, all of the above. I love the wonderful smell the fresh air gives to my clothes and sheets. While doing laundry, I can often be found sniffing dreamily into a freshly air-laundered garment. Ahh….

I try to be prompt about folding clothes and putting them into the proper places. I like to dump my clean clothes onto a chair into the living room where I am more apt to fold it because I know it will be an eye sore if I don’t. If I leave the pile in the laundry room, then it might as well be in the hamper, never laundered.

Let’s see, what else? I use cloth diapers with my 18 month old during the day. I just wash them with my regular clothes, but I always put the diapers on a rinse cycle before I wash them with regular clothes. Of course for messy diapers I am sure to take extra steps before laundering with my regular clothes.

As for laundry detergent, I have made my own. In fact, I made my own for a couple of years. Occasionally, I would find natural, earth-friendly laundry detergents on sale at my favorite burnt-out store and I would snatch that deal up and use that for awhile. Now, I still snatch up the occasionally earth-friendly, eco brand, but mostly, I will just purchase something that has a high stain removal power (I’m really dealing with stains here) and that is as gentle as I can find on a Wal-mart or Dollar Store shelf. I also hate, hate highly perfumed laundry detergents. Ugh. I have received clothes from people before in which I never did get their laundry detergent scent out of the clothes even after many washings. I like something that is a light, fresh scent. Right now, I’m using Arm & Hammer detergent with Oxy Clean. Not exactly eco-friendly, but it will do until I come across some more Seventh Generation or BabyGanics at a cheap price.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures I’ve taken over the years relating to laundry.

Check out how these other busy moms do laundry:

Carrie @ Our Full House http://www.ourfullhouse.com/
Elizabeth @ Yes They http://yes-theyre-all-ours.blogspot.com/ 're All Ours
Kathy @ Kathy Mom of http://www.kathymomofmany.blogspot.com/
Kristy @ Homemaker's Cottage http://www.homemakerscottage.org/
Lori @ Happy Busy Mama http://1happybusymama.blogspot.com/
Renee @ Bakers Dozen http://bakersdozen.typepad.com/

Feel free to share how you do laundry! Just leave me a comment in the comments with the url of your blog with the laundry post. I would love to read about it!

Natural Product Recs..

I’m loving cloth diapering!

We are at the end of another week—isn’t it unbelievable? I have been in a funk this week and a bit contentious even at times. In fact, if I had to take a Proverbs 31 Woman test based on this week, I’m sure I would fail.

Oh, well. The time of women is upon me (don’t you just love how the Bible phrases things?) and my hormones have been pretty crazy today and yesterday.

I only say this to let you know that I am normal. Just in case you thought I was some woman who had arrived to her Proverbs 31 Kingdom. Oh, but I’m strivin’……

A few weeks back, I asked (on my giveaway post) on what topics my readers might to hear me blog, and a couple of people wanted to hear about natural products I would recommend.

Sure, I’d love to.

So, every now and again, I’ll try to let you know what I’m using and what I think of it.

With bathing, I try to always use natural products. I want to be very careful about what products we put on our skin. Check your body wash and/or soap. If the ingredients list is full of unpronounceable words (all 25 ingredients), then your product is far from natural.

Natural products can be expensive or inexpensive. I’ve found if I buy my products at a Health Food Store, then I am paying top-dollar. So, I don’t.

I’ve found Burts Bees products, Jason, Alba, Audrey Organics, and other natural products at stores like TJ Maxx and Ross. If you have a burnt-out type store like, Hudson’s, or Dirt Cheap, you can almost always find natural products. This is where I get most of my products.

Here is what we are currently bathing with:

Tom's of Maine Natural Moisturizing Body Wash

You can’t read the price sticker, but it reads, “4.99”. I’m not sure if this is the actual cost because I got it at our burnt-out store. And I got it for 40% off.

It doesn’t suds up, really, so you might miss that, and it’s unscented, but it gets us clean and we know we are using something natural.

Note: If you would like to try natural body products but can’t afford them or you don’t have an alternate store in which to purchase them, natural soaps such as soap made from goat’s milk, etc., are very inexpensive and work great. Kiss my Face, Burts Bees and Tom’s of Maine all have soaps that are under 3 or 4 bucks. I’m sure at least one of these can be purchased at your nearest health food store.

I really wasn’t into natural products as much when my oldest son was a baby, but thankfully, soon thereafter started making the switch to natural products. Now, I wouldn’t even think about putting these commercialized chemical-laden baby products on any of my babies (or anyone’s baby, for that matter). :)

Here is the lotion I currently use on Ella (and have since her birth…a little goes a long way) and I really love it. It’s creamy and has a light fragrance.

Earth's Best Lavendar Baby Lotion

The price has sort of rubbed off, but it had $8.45 on it, but I got it for 80% off! The reason? The lid is stuck in the press-down position. I just unscrew the lid, run my hand down the tube that pulls up the lotion and there is just enough lotion on my hand to rub on Ella. Works out great! :)

Maybe over the next few weeks, I can share with you more natural products I use, including baby products (dipe cream, etc…). I hope that you will make the switch, even if gradually to natural products. It’s like the saying, “You are what you eat”. You are what you put on your body. Your skin is a sponge and while I’m unsure of the actual percentage that it does absorb, think about birth control patches and nicotine patches—the chemicals are absorbed enough to really work effectively.

Do your research. Take care of yourself and your family. And it doesn’t have to be expensive! :)

Good things…

Since I’m sure you don’t want to hear about my mastitis relapse or my awful migraine I had last night, I thought I would post about some good things. I can complain any ole day, right?

Well, first things first. My ultimate good thing is in fact, not a thing, it is a he and it’s him:

My baby daddy :)

Last week was our poorer than an Ethiopian cat week (aka the end of the month) because we are at the end of our budget. I decided it would be in our best interest for me to not run out and buy diapers, so I pulled out my 7 year old cloth diapers. I did cloth dipes in the day and sposies at night. I liked it so well that I bought the small pkg of diapers when we did go shopping and I’ve done cloth dipes this week as well! Here is Ms. Almost 8 mth old in her cloth dipe:

And a Tush view:

Must be nice to have a Patriotic Heiny, right? I mean, Luvs don’t have nothing on a 4th of July Heiny!

My wonderful MIL ate with us on Sunday which is rare (shame on us!) because we love going to her house so much. This, of course, has nothing to do with her being a wonderful cook. Absolutely nothing. And nothing to do with the fact that my kids will throw a fit with the best of ‘em when a Sunday trip to Gran-Gran’s is interrupted.

I’m sure my MIL noticed I mentioned to my MIL that I did not currently (post-kids) own a set of matching dishes, complete with saucers, cups, etc. I was planning to keep an eye out at yard sales for a cheap reasonably-priced set. Monday evening, she brings over this set for me to have:

and

Eat your Heart (er, plate) Out!

And, Amy, don’t be too jealous and all because I was really desperate for dishes. Seriously. And you know you’ll get all the first-rate antique plates. And crystal. And stuff. Okay, feeling better? :)

I have been a terrible mother. I have failed to tell you about the latest member of our family. As if. Meet Dixie:

Okay, she deserves another picture:

She is a Border Collie and very smart. And very much an outside dog now. Sorry, Dix, I just got too comfortable with just having one baby in diapers.

I don’t have any pictures, but May 1st officially meant Time to Go Swimming for our family. The kids AND dad went swimming and 10 minutes later, dad was drying off, teeth chattering, and well, the kids were still hard at it. Nothing phases kids. Not even sub-zero water temps.

Time for Mom to hand over the computer for Wednesday is Movie Day at our house. I’m about to bake some Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies and that’s a good great thing.

*Special thanks to Martha Stewart for her That’s a Good Thing quotes. Not that she’ll be reading this blog. In this decade. Or in my lifetime. Okay. Ever.