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Tag: laundry

How to use Fabric Softener to create Magical Mornings

This shop has been compensated by #CollectiveBias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. Follow #FastDrySaveTime to see how other bloggers are using the new Suavitel Fabric Softener

What’s the recipe for a Magical Morning? 3 simple ingredients that include incredible scents, soft clothes, and more time! Thanks to Suavitel’s new Fast Dry fabric softener I’ve been able to create some pretty fun mornings lately.

When I did our first load of laundry in this house, it took 3 cycles before the load was sufficiently dry. 3 TIMES!!! I just was not OK with that. Since we had just moved, and took 3 days to drive out here, I really needed to do laundry, and I needed it done as fast as possible. Unfortunately I wasn’t seeing an end in sight after only getting 1 load done that first day.

I spent a lot of time over the next couple of weeks checking on the clothes in the dryer, finding odd places to hang still wet clothes, and finally sending Mark out to see if he could figure out the problem. As it turns out, the set up is just all wrong, and our dryer vents upwards. This had caused a huge blockage of lint in the middle of the vent pipe. Mark got the blockage cleaned out, but we couldn’t do anything about the direction of the vent. Of course it doesn’t help my feeling of being rushed that we also share our washer and dryer with the downstairs neighbor.

When we were walking through Walmart one day, looking for treats for Princess R and Little Prince, when we also came across Suavitel’s new Fast Dry Fabric Softener. Fast Dry? I had to try it obviously. The scent – Magical Morning Sun – also pulled me in, because I needed some magical mornings with my littles that didn’t include trying to dry our clothes, and make sure everyone had clean clothes before school started.

This child! Her facial expressions totally crack me up. Even I don’t get that excited about doing laundry. The bright colors had her sold though – so much so, that we may have come home with a couple of bottles….

Now that we had our fabric softener, it was time to get cracking on creating the perfect magical morning. It use to be, after we dropped the older two off at school we had to hurry home and check the laundry. Now? We take our time, because I know there’s no rush. The dryer can wait.

When creating our magical morning, I looked to Suavitel to see what ingredients I might need. Similar to what makes this fabric softener so great, our magical morning consists of the same ingredients.

You will need:

Soft Clothes – Your mornings can’t be Magical if you’re stuck in stiff or static-y clothes. So make sure you put on something soft before creating magic. It will be the best kind of magic. We like to use the best fabric softener to get the softest clothes.

Incredible scents – Next look for some incredible scents. One of the kids favorite things to do is stop and smell the flowers. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about our walks, it’s that the longer we spend smelling flowers, the more magical the rest of the day seems. Of course if you want to have a magical morning at home, you can just get those scents on your clothes.

Lots of time – Finally, you will need lots of time. Who wants to interrupt smelling flowers with running home only to do more chores. Come on, we all want to spend more time creating magic, so make sure you have the time! For me, I find more time by finding ways to cut time spent on chores like laundry. Suavitel claims to save you 30% of the time normally spent waiting for those clothes to dry (also saving you on energy costs, double score!)

What’s your recipe for a Magical Morning?

September 29, 2014
A trip to Ikea

*This post may contain affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Home Maid Simple!*

Last Saturday I decided to head to Ikea. Mark had to work like every Saturday, so I invited my sister to tag along. It was their BYOF – bring your own friend – day after all. I was really looking forward to some workshops with other bloggers, and getting some much-needed items for the kids bedroom.

Specifically, on my list was a new laundry basket. I finally had enough of their little 1 ft by 1 1/2 ft basket overflowing after one day. Before going to Ikea, I checked out some hampers on Wayfair, but I just wasn’t sure without seeing them in person.

Plus any hamper that has a price tag like this one had better wash and dry my clothes as well!

It took us way too long to get out of the house, but we finally made it to Ikea around lunch time. So we started by grabbing some absolutely delicious lunch. The kids enjoyed some chicken strips and fries, my sister ordered beef ribs that looked amazing, and I had the Atlantic Saithe.

We were hoping to make it to the cooking demo after lunch but it took us a little longer to eat than we planned, and then we got distracted trying to find the workshops.

I seriously loved this room set up…but definitely not with all the white and small kids.

OK so we finally made it to the workshops in time to see Melanie and Steffany from Find It, Make It, Love It. From the papers description I wasn’t expecting the craft to be something I would necessarily want – birthday calendar and candle plate picture frames. BUT I was seriously wrong.

Just look at those picture frames! This turned out to be exactly what I was looking for for a photo project I’m working on – post on that sometime next week. These gals are so cute, and are full of so much creativity I wish I had!

After we finished up these super simple craft tutorials, we headed over to the next workshop with Autumn from It’s Always Autumn. I didn’t get a great picture during this one, but I did learn some great tips from her. Especially on the props part. I was easily able to translate a lot of what she was saying for photo’s of people to my food photography. I just don’t need quite as much space when I’m working with food. In fact, if you saw the Oscar Eggs Benedict yesterday, the plate that’s on I bought while at Ikea…and it’s actually a candle dish!

Finally we made it out of the workshops and displays – does anyone else get lost in Ikea? – and headed downstairs to the purchasing area. We picked up a number of things, including the candle dishes for the pictures and a new bath mat, before finding the laundry baskets. YAY for awesome laundry baskets!

Don’t act so surprised, I get excited over weird things like laundry baskets. Things that make my life simpler, my families life simpler, and our house more manageable are cause for joy and excitement. I mean just look at the difference between these two.

Now normally I will not spend money on something for the home that I can get at a fraction of the cost if I sacrifice look. This time I decided to sacrifice cost and get something a bit nicer. Not only did it make a difference in the dirty clothes being an eye sore, but it set the tone for the rest of the girls closet.

The kids have been playing with their toys, and PUTTING THEM AWAY ever since I got the laundry basket and reorganized their closet. They can reach their toys to get them out and put them away. It’s been 5 days, and their room has taken a total of 5 minutes each night to clean up. A huge difference from our normal hour of whining and hiding messes under the bed.

Like my new laundry hamper? Ikea’s BRANAS Laundry Basket for $39.99.

Don’t live near an Ikea? I found a very similar Wicker Basket on Wayfair. It’s a set of 2 and only $51.99.

March 13, 2014
Fresh Smelling Laundry with Purex #Giveaway

Can I tell you how happy this meme made me? It was proof positive that I am not the only one who does this. Just this morning I went to start a load of laundry and found a load I had started….last Saturday…I think.

Thank goodness I had a bottle of Purex Crystals Mountain Breeze. I have found that once you leave the clothes in the wash, if you’re using a non-scented detergent the second wash won’t get all of that musky smell out.

Yep, that’s 3 day old laundry in there. It was just a load of blankets this time, but I don’t really care to cuddle up with blankets that aren’t completely fresh smelling. It just ruins the experience of a good cuddle with the kids.

I really love how easy the Purex Crystals are to pour. The design of the bottle fits nicely into my hand, and the crystals come out gently without dumping out. I know it doesn’t matter to most, but for some reason I just really like that the measuring cup isn’t the actual lid to the crystals. There is a flip top to cover the spout, but then the measuring cup fits nicely right on top.

The measuring cup has easy to see lines (unless of course you are trying to take a picture, than it gets a little harder to see…) that help make getting the right amount a breeze. Small, Medium and Large loads all accounted for.

I personally stick to the small load measurement for all our laundry. I haven’t seen a difference in how fresh our clothes smell, so I like to stretch out it’s usage. I do the same with our detergent as well for skin sensitivity issues.

GIVEAWAY!

3 Coupons for a Free 28oz bottle of Purex Crystals Fresh Mountain Breeze

Open to US residents. Enter on the rafflecopter below.

All entries will be verified. Winners will have 48 hours after I send their email before a new winner will be chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

February 6, 2014
Dreaming of Laundry Rooms

I was catching up on laundry the other day, thinking and dreaming of what it would be like to have a room dedicated to cleaning our clothes. If you have/are living in an apartment, you’ll understand how hard it is to get laundry done when it’s in your kitchen, or in a hall closet, or even in your bathroom. Most older homes also are not set up with a nice place for laundry.
Before our last move, we were actually turning some wasted space in our basement into a laundry room. We even had it piped for the washing machine before we had to leave. That was going to be an amazing space, let me tell you.

There’s nothing I can do about that now, except wish, and work to make my current laundry room more user friendly. With a quick stroke of brilliance I reused an old Ikea shelf that was on it’s way to the trash and some twist ties to add an extra shelf above my dryer. Check it out!

I’m still feeling pretty brilliant with that quick fix. Mark I do believe is laughing at my twist ties, but I made sure there were plenty on and spaced out enough to really hold and distribute the weight evenly. I wish I could tell you what shelf this is at Ikea, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. Sorry.

So then I got thinking, what would my perfect laundry room look like? How can I make my current hallway laundry room work more efficiently. I of course came up with this fun little board of things I want, and could use now, and in future rooms.

*The following are affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Home Maid Simple.*

A. Lime Laundry Drying Rack from One Kings Lane. I just wish it came in blue. Many clothing items you want to hang up, but have no good place to hang them, so you toss them in the dryer and cross your fingers…or maybe I’m the only one. Too many clothes have been ruined this way.

B. Blomus Intro Pushboy Trash Can from Wayfair. Every laundry room needs a small trash can. I use it mostly for emptying the dryer lint.

C. Lost and Found Sign from Zulily. This is the cutest sign! I don’t know anyone who doesn’t find random items while doing laundry. Having a place to quickly toss them lets you continue sorting, washing, drying and folding.

D. 3 Sprouts Deer Laundry Hamper from Layla and Grace. Don’t like the deer, they have other cute animal print hampers as well. Or find something else to fit your tastes, but a hamper, even small is essential to any laundry room.

I love pinterest for all things home design and tips. These are just a couple of pins from my laundry room board.

I love this DIY Drying Rack from Centsational Girl

Brilliant!!

Source

My dream laundry room would have a sink like this to take care of any handwashing I need to do.

This is just brilliant! A quilted ironing mat for your dryer. Definitely friendly for small spaces. I want one.

This laundry room from 11 Magnolia Lane is so chic. The chandelier would make me feel I was relaxing instead of doing a chore. Don’t you think?

Just from browsing pinterest, I’ve decided to make a laundry room feel less like a chore, it needs some bright colors. Too bad I can’t paint here. One day. One day. Maybe I’ll see if I can make over my mom’s laundry room.

January 8, 2014
Super Boy teams up with Purex Fels-Naptha

*This is a sponsored post. I received product to review. All opinions are 100% mine*

Super Boy has taken up residence in our home this week. With hugs for his family, and blankets for the cold, Super Boy loves taking care of his family. But every super hero has his weakness.

While Super Boy is great at cheering the sad, and cleaning up toys, some monsters are beyond his realm. Purex Fels-Naptha came to Super Boy’s rescue when he was attacked by the evil juice monster.

While Super Boy has been fighting crime since 2012, Purex Laundry Bar and Stain Remover has been fighting stains since 1894. That’s over 100 years of expertise!

We were pretty impressed with this stain treatment. We tried it first on some old stains with not much of a difference. However, when we tried it on a fresh stain, even one as tough as juice, the result was amazing. All you have to do is rub the wet stain with some Purex Fels-Naptha laundry bar, and an almost immediate dulling occurred. After running it through the wash, there was no sign of our evil stain left.

Are you ready to fight stains?

3 readers will WIN a Free Purex Fels-Naptha product coupon

Open to US residents 18+ only. Enter on the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

November 26, 2013
Get Ready for Holiday Guests

It’s Thanksgiving Week! Many of us may have family coming in to stay, while some of us may be the ones traveling to visit. If you are looking to add a special touch to make your holiday guests feel welcome, then I have the thing for you – Cute folded Towels!

We all love a fresh towel in our bathroom, and as a guest somewhere, it can really make the stay extra special. I thought this infographic was the perfect way to bring that extra love to your guest bathroom this season.

The Ultimate Towel Folding Guide by Terrys Fabrics.

What animal will you make for your guests?

November 25, 2013
Stinky Clothes Solution #Giveaway

*I have received product for review as a Purex Insider. These are my honest opinions. No financial compensation has been given.*

Let’s be honest here, we all have stinky clothes. Some are just your everyday wear smell, but others can get real stinky. Especially if you have kids.

Recently our biggest stinky problem has been Princess R’s clothes. For the most part she is potty trained, but some days she doesn’t quite make it, or she slightly misses the toilet and gets the back of her pants, or she just plain doesn’t want to go in the potty and would rather change and hide her clothes than go. It’s the life of a 3 year old after all.

To help combat the stench that started taking over the Princess’ room I decided to try some Purex fabric softener dryer sheets. They smell coming from the box is quite strong, and I was sure it would overpower the other smell. I started by adding one Dryer sheet to Princess R’s clothes drawers, since that is where she likes to hide her dirty clothes the most. I mean Come on Now, child! Those other clothes are clean!!

My next step will be adding them to the kids laundry baskets as well. I do laundry almost daily, but sometimes it’s closer to 2-3 days before I get through all the kids clothes, and by that point the clothes on bottom are really starting to stink. The fabric softener sheets will really help solve this problem.

If you’re planning any last minute summer vacations, I would also take a box of dryer sheets. Just toss it in your suitcase and on your way home, when your pulling dirty clothes with you, a nicer smell will greet your nose back at home. Hold the applause, you can thank me later. But seriously now, I don’t do laundry on vacation, and neither should you. Just take some dryer sheets.

In the past I’ve never really liked to use Dryer sheets in our laundry. I like my clothes smelling fresh all on their own, not scented unnaturally. But then I had another stinky problem – I buy unscented detergent, and the last brand we purchased I’m not a fan of. Our clothes leave the wash still smelling odd, as if they didn’t really get clean. I could have just changed back to my preferred Tide Free and Clear, but I can’t waste detergent.

I was really worried the Purex dryer sheets would leave too much of a scent on our clothes though, and cause some skin irritation. So far, after a few weeks of use, we are still doing great. The clothes come out with just a light hint of Lavender, and all our sensitive skins have been just fine. Hooray!

Another plus, is that it has reduced static cling to zilch, a feature I know Mark truly appreciates with all his button up shirts. It’s made folding the clothes a lot easier as well.

Giveaway

Purex has provided me with 3 coupons for a FREE box of Purex Fabric Softener Dryer Sheets.

All you have to do is enter on the Rafflecopter below.

Giveaway is open to US residents only. All entries will be verified.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*I received product from Purex for my honest review. All clean clothes, admissions, and opinions are my own*

July 31, 2013
Spring Cleaning Day 3 – Clothing

Welcome to Day 3 in the Spring Cleaning Challenge

How are you doing? We started out strong in the kitchen, so today I’ve got an easy and fun challenge for you. Don’t be fooled though, you are still going to accomplish a lot today!

Today’s challenge is going through every one’s clothing. You’ll have everything washed by the end of the day, a pile to donate, a pile to toss, and drawers full of clothing that fits!

Here is your checklist

Gather and Sort

Hallways are a great place to sort laundry, and remember to do it. Go through your house and find all the dirty clothes. Check bathrooms, closets, under the beds, in the car (yes, I find dirty clothes in our van…mostly socks). You don’t want to miss anything!

Start a load right away. You’ll be going back throughout the day to get all the laundry washed, dried, folded and put away.

Fashion Show

This is where the fun begins!

In the central gathering place, create space for 3 piles – one for donation, one for garbage, and one for storage. Clothes that no longer fit, and can’t be passed onto another sibling, add to the donate pile. Stained and holey clothes – garbage. Clothes that will fit another child by next spring – storage pile.

After you have these 3 piles established – create a space for each persons Keep pile.

Have everyone put on an outfit, and gather in a central room. As mom, check to see if things fit right. Are the pants/shirt long enough? Check the shirt sleeves. How easy was it to get on?

Next check for stains and holes. Is it too far gone? Make an executive decision, and send everyone back to put on another outfit.

With little kids, you’ll want to help them to make sure the clothes they tried on get brought back to the central space and put in the appropriate pile. Continue your fashion show until all clothes have been tried on.

Stored Clothes

As the mother of 3 girls, I have held onto every article of clothing from one child to the next. Most parents I know have done the same, as a just in case for future children. Now that you’ve gone through the dressers and closets, it’s time to pull out the stored clothes, and have another Fashion Show! Before jumping into it though, you might want to take a moment and put the Keep piles away. Start with a fresh keep pile from the stored clothing, and continue adding to your donate, garbage and stored piles.

Finish Laundry

Don’t forget to keep an eye on the washer. Keep it moving as the fashion show is going. As the clothes come out of the wash, don’t bother folding them yet. Put them on a clean couch (because hey, you did just clean your couch yesterday). Once the last 2 fashion shows are done – start another one with all the clean laundry. You don’t want to put clothes away that no longer fit.

Finally check underwear, socks and shoes after the fashion show is done.

Clean the Washer and Dryer

Once all the laundry is clean, and the Fashion Shows are over. Run your washer one more time to clean it. This is spring cleaning after all. Give your washer and dryer some love and clean them. Affresh has a Washer cleaner that is simple to use, and leaves your washer cleaned out. We just bought a really nice, but used HE washer. Who knows what kind of laundry had gone through this before we bought it. After I used Affresh, I felt better about sticking our clothing inside. Pretty though, right?

Don’t forget your dryer as well. Along with behind the fridge, your dryer is a huge fire hazard if not cleaned out! They sell brushes for the lint drawer, to remove any lint stuck inside. Also, take the lint trap and run it under hot soapy water. If the water is not running through the trap it is DIRTY, and very unsafe. Products like dryer sheets leave a build up on the trap that should be removed regularly for safety. Don’t let your dryer be the cause of fire!

You did it! Day 3 is done.

Grab your entries into the Spring Cleaning Giveaway!

*I received product for my honest review. All thoughts and opinion are 100% my own.

March 20, 2013
all® mighty pacsTM {Review and Giveaway}

Laundry Laundry Laundry.

It’s the real Never Ending Story.

However, thanks to all® mighty pacsTM, laundry has become quicker and less messy in this home! Wait, messy? yes, messy. Don’t you hate trying to measure out your laundry detergent and getting a sticky mess all over you, the bottle, the machine and the floor? Some people are lucky and have a sink in their laundry room (not so lucky if your laundry room shares the kitchen…but I digress…).

Doing laundry can be messy. The new all® mighty pacsTM have cut out the mess, and virtually shave off some time from doing laundry.

Just grab one of the premeasured dissolvable pacs and toss into your machine. They are safe for all machines, including HE. No more measuring or mess!

In our last house, I had these awesome detergent drips down the front of my machine, and a sticky puddle on the floor. When we moved into our new home, laundry became even more difficult. The machines are in the kitchen, under the cupboards, so I can’t even open the washer all the way. Plus the kitchen is carpeted. So there I am trying to measure out my detergent, not spill any on the carpet, and hold the washer lid open. Then I took the time after every load to wash out the measuring cup so it wouldn’t leave sticky all over the top of the washer…which has doubled as extra counter space. There were days I wanted to throw the machines out, or take a sledge to the cupboard.

Obviously those two solutions would not have been very…..mature.

When I got the all® mighty pacsTM from MyBlogSpark I was so thrilled to try them out! First because I love All detergent. I’ve been using them for quite some time as an inexpensive alternate to my other favorite detergent that is more pricey. Second all® fits in our tight budget and they have a Free and Clear line for people like me and my kids with very sensitive skin.

(stay tuned to win a package like the one I received!)

Now just to add to my praise of the all® mighty pacsTM, let me show you just how good a job these do! Our new home was quite dirty when we moved in. Walls hadn’t been washed in years, and half the house was just closed off. We live near a coal mine, so it’s not just dust, but dusty coal coating the walls and floors. My kids got dirty fast! and not just once, but everyday until I could get things completely cleaned up. I’m still in the process of that.

At the end of the day, this is what the kids pants looked like.

Now that’s what I’m talking about!

I really love the ease of using all® mighty pacsTM. It has made me a little more sane as I continue with the Never Ending Laundry Story.

Enough of my praise, on to the fun stuff!

Head over to the All® Facebook page to enter their contest for a Norwegian Cruise!

AND enter below here to win your own all® mighty pacsTM package like the one I received above. It will include

– One 24-count of all free clear mighty pacs

– One 24-count of original mighty pacs

– A Beach Ball

– A Beach Towel

– A laundry bag

Just use the Rafflecopter to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: The information, products and additional all mighty pacs gift pack was provided by all® through MyBlogSpark

August 22, 2012
Tuesday Tips – Fresh Towels

Tuesday Tip

As I walked into my bathroom this morning, I breathed a sigh of comfort as I noticed the fresh hand towel hanging up. With 3 little kids, our towels are often dirty, or missing. Although I try to keep a clean one hanging, sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

Hanging a fresh towel can add loads to the ambiance of a bathroom. For me it relieves stress, exudes calm feelings, and really just starts my day out right. Now, having a clean bathroom with those towels will add even more! (Which for me this morning was the case, since I just cleaned them yesterday! YES! go me!)

Remember to enjoy the simple things in life – Like Fresh Towels!

March 6, 2012