Pocket Surprise

After the Crayon Catastrophe I had a few months ago, I have become very diligent about checking pockets before putting clothes into the washer.

Today, while putting in a pair of Little C's super cute skinny jeans, I laughed when I saw what she had stuffed in that oh so small pocket of hers...

A car. 

Of course!  Girls should ALWAYS carry cars around, right?

I think its time I get her some pretend make-up or something.  

The Crayon Catastrophe: Part II

Last week, I told you about my crayon catastrophe and how to clean your dryer.  In that post, I also told you that I had put the clothes in a black garbage bag and stuffed them back into the dryer.  Well, obviously, they came out of the dryer, but until today, they did not even come out of the garbage bag. 

(Yea, I know.  At least I only use the avoidance tactic on my house and not my relationships.)

I am not sure why I stalled for so long, but I was very intimidated by these clothes.  I had asked so many people about solutions for my problem and I heard anything from, "throw them away, you won't get it out" to "use and iron and wax paper to transfer the wax to the paper".   There were so many possibilities so I just decided to ignore it!  ha!

Well, today, I conquered my fear!  I had talked to my sister in law and she suggested using Borax.  Honestly, I had never even heard of it.  After doing some more research, I decided that this was it...I was going to try it!

So, today, I took my garbage bag full of crayon covered clothes,

And my cleaning products,

And prayed for success. 

I put my laundry in the washing machine, put in my normal amount of laundry detergent, a 1/2 cup of Borax, used hot water, AND...

TA-DA!!!

It worked!!!  WOOHOO!  Excited might just be an understatement!  I was worried I'd have to spend countless hours with an iron and wax paper and all it took was adding another ingredient into my wash! 

Needless to say, I will be keeping Borax on hand for the rest of my life!  I bet it works wonders on spit up baby clothes too!  I feel like I have discovered something huge here!

Do you have any other secret weapons that I should know about!???

I Never Thought I'd LOVE My Laundry Room

 A couple of years ago, I decided to read TLC's, Michelle and Jim-Bob Duggar's first book "The Duggars, 20 and Counting". 

I have never been much of a reader but, oh my gosh, I read it in a day!  At the time, I was pregnant with #2 and realizing that in order to have two kids so close together, I was going to have to get organized.  Let me tell you, Michelle Duggar is the QUEEEN of organizing!  I was in heaven reading about her practical recommendations for things around the house.

My favorite piece of advice was her clothes closet.  When they built their new home, they intentionally built an additional room next to the laundry room.  This room holds everybody's clothes.  Putting away those clean clothes is no longer an issue and it simplifies things because its all in one place.

So, once we moved into our new home, I decided I was going to make my own version of this closet.  Unfortunately, I do not have an entire room to dedicate to clothes, but as of now, I only have three kids so I could get creative with the space I did have. 

This is what I did.  Under the wire racks that lined the walls of my laundry room, I took a hanging pocket shoe organizer and turned it sideways.  I then attached it to the wire racks with zip-ties (yes, we are a zip-tie family...my husband is obssessed).  Once I had it up, I designated 4 slots to each child, giving the two big slots to my son. 

Now, when laundry comes out of the dryer, I just fold it and put it into the proper cubby and I'm done.  I keep their pajamas upstairs in their dresser, along with any clothing I have bought for the next size or season, that way after bathtime, their pj's are easily accessible.  In the laundry room, I have a panty/underwear basket for Little P and Little C and then each child also has a container for their socks.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much this system has simplified my life.  I don't climb stairs constantly when getting the kids dressed in the morning, I don't have clothes all over the house from getting dressed and undressed, and MOST importantly, I can keep up easily.  Between this and my clothes buying system, I never get overwhelmed with large amounts of clothes being scattered about the house.  I know exactly what everybody has and it's all in one place...how simple is that!