Laundry Striping by Jennifer

*Written By Jennifer **

It was 2007, I had a baby, we lived in the  city and all I dreamed about was having my very own washer and dryer. We ended up purchasing a place, but it was a Co-op- 2 bedroom apartment, 1400 square foot place with one bathroom and NO WASHER AND DRYER. Yup, this is what the 30s had in store for me, big dreams of my very own washer and dryer. Years passed and doing laundry at the in-laws was the exchange for their guarantee that they would see the kids every weekend. Fast forward with some various hurricanes, long commutes out of the city and more in the mix. It was now 2015 and we made the decision to move the kids out of the city for a backyard and some fresh air. We looked at so many houses, but finally found one that we liked, the only issue was that the washer was top loading. I had to wait to get a new one, as our moved cost A LOT! Top loaders were not my favorite because I have many delicate tops and the agitator just is not kind to them. I also heard that washers that do not have the agitator make clothes last longer because the agitator breaks down the fibers in the clothes. When you have kids, you need the clothes to outlast the growth spurts. I finally got a new washer for my birthday-yup these are 40 gifts! I was happier than anything! Time goes by and my husband’s anti-wrinkle shirts that he has been wearing for years has suddenly gotten these splashes of something on them after coming out of the dryer. It was strange, only his shirts and they were in various spots on his shirts, front, side, back,etc. This was not a place that he would manage to get food on him, so I was perplexed, I would spray it with a combination of OXY and Dawn, then rewash and boom, stain removed. It is now 2021, TikTok is all the rage. I am not into the latest anything, by the time I get on them, they are soooo over, but EVERYONE is talking about stuff on TikTok. I am a HUGE daytime TV junkie, yeah I should probably go to rehab, but the noise keeps me company in a quiet house while I work, before the kids were home ALL THE TIME! Drew Barrymore has a new talk show and since I love her so much and I have a connection with her, her business partner is married to Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy and I went to The College of Saint Rose together and he and I actually worked in the same office for work study. When I first moved to Brooklyn, I lived with a girl who was dating a member of the Strokes while Drew was dating the drummer. Two degrees of Drew people, two degrees! Needless to say, I LOVE HER! She is fun loving, personable and down to earth! I have been watching her show since the inception and she has an OBSESSION with stains. I am persistent with my stains as well! Today was an interesting day, I had to get a COVID test in Brooklyn, so I woke up at the crack of dawn, drove down and was back and still no word from my boss, as he was in meetings. I popped on the TV to catch up on whatever Drew episodes I had missed this week being back and forth to Brooklyn so many times this week. She was doing this laundry stripping, yes I had heard of it, but at the same time this is on, I pull a shirt out of the dryer and guess what- these darn splashes are all over the shirts-what the heck. I am done! If Drew thinks we should be stripping, I am gonna strip! Up to the tub we go with lots of clothes. I put the shirts in there and then start folding the white T-shirts and socks that I just washed and was like- why am I settling for these to be not really clean? They look dingy! I do not like to use bleach, as it is harsh and well, it breaks down the clothes and again..I have some delicate tops and sometimes things get snuck in and well..bleach seems to get on EVERYTHING and straight up ruin things. I decide..what the heck- I am going to pop these gross whites in the tub too. It is about noon and I have to take my son to the Chiropractor at 3pm, so the clothes will have plenty of time to soak. Drew recommended that we do washing soda, borax and a cup of your regular detergent. I happen to have the washing soda and borax from various experiments in the house and well, I was making some detergent bombs a while back. Here is what it looked like when I put the stuff in initially…yes I mixed colors and whites. I was like—come on these whites aren’t really white anyway, so does it REALLY MATTER???

After three hours, this is what the water looked like:

 
YUCK! WTH??? This is after I CLEANED MY CLOTHES! I got home about 6pm and decided maybe the whites could use some more timeout time. I threw the shirts into the washer and hoped for the best. They came out without any of the spots that were there and seem straight up – CLEAN!

Here are what the whites look like after sitting overnight:

Now I am sitting here and thinking-how clean are my clothes getting? Good Housekeeping made the cameo on the show and talked about how using too much detergent and not enough rinsing is what causes this.

HMMM…am I using the correct setting on my machine? Why does a washing machine need to be cleaned on its own setting? If you think back to your childhood, did your mom every clean your washing machine on some random setting? I know mine did not and never had these issues. My other question is- how many of my other clothes now need a bath in the tub? I do not use dryer sheets, as my daughter has eczema and I am allergic to everything and so is my son. They say dryer sheets can cause build-up in the fabric as well. Good Housekeeping also mentioned that you can use the washing soda and borax in your machine to get things cleaner in the future. Stay tuned to see what else I will be cleaning. How clean are your clothes? Did anyone else hop on this TikToK phenom and what were your results? Are you doing this on the regular? I am in full swing of spring cleaning and this is just #2 on my list. #1 was steam cleaning my baseboard heating. I am allergic to almost everything. Thankfully not foods. Dust is my nemesis, my son’s too. Dust bunnies accumulate EVERYWHERE.. Unfortunately, a good portion of these bunnies hide in difficult areas. The best investment that I have gotten is a handheld steam cleaner. I can blow dust out of the small areas in no time. I then send my Shark Robot vacuum out to clean  all the dust while I am blowing out all the other units. So this is just the beginning of my spring cleaning. I will be keeping my ear to the ground with the new and innovative ways to Spring clean. I do a deep clean at least 2x a year. I am by no way complete with my first time, but the 1^st floor is looking good. I have managed to purge 5 boxes of clothes from the kids’ closet that will be donated to kids that need it. They have outgrown that many clothes-CRAZY! I cannot believe how much they have grown this year in Quarantine. Now get to cleaning those clothes and let’s see some of your results!

I drained the tub and this is what the clothes look like before I put them in the washer. I changed my wash setting to extra dirty and extra rinse and extra spin.

I drained the tub and this is the dirt that was left in the bottom of the tub- EW- this was in my clothes!

This is the sock out of the washer after it soaked all day and overnight. The white shirts no longer have sweat stains and actually smell-wait for it- CLEAN!!!