DAY 4 OF THE CONTEST IS TODAY! ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!
Now on with the blog!
When I was waiting tables at a local pizzeria last year I made the mistake of buying a white blouse that I LOVED to wear for work. We had full aprons so I wasn't too worried about stains. I, unfortunately, forgot about the amount of sweat one can make while slinging hash (or pie). This led to horrible ugly nasty stains around the neck and pits area. To the point that the shirt is more or less ruined (Never mind that I was told to buy one shirt because we were going to be getting new uniform with in 2 weeks of my hire... 3 months later of washing and wearing the SAME shirt 6 days a week we finally got those new uniform shirts. Definitely not soon enough to save this little gem). But I LOVE it. It's a cute little swiss dot thing with little puffy sleeves and pintucking. It'll be YEARS before my happy ass can sew anything that nice. I did get it at a thrift store and only paid $2.00 for it so it wouldn't be a huge loss if I had to trash it, even if it is designer (I love Love LOVE thrift stores for that). It wouldn't be a big deal at all if I didn't like it so much. So this left me to ponder over how to re-whiten it. It's yellow and grayed. I tried bleach back when I first noticed, but it was to no avail. This was going to take some experimentation.
I referred back to my upholstery cleaner find and tried to figure out how to use it for laundry. Baking soda, peroxide, and scalding hot boiling water. I decided the longer it could soak, the better it would be. And I needed to be able to keep it hot (hot water is freaking magic. No Lie!) for the whole time.... or at least mostly hot. So I decided to go old school and cook it on the stove. This seriously scared the girlies when they got home from school yesterday and thought I was making soup for supper! *HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA* Booter begged me not to make her eat laundry and Lady Bug just wanted to know why I was cooking clothes. If nothing else comes from this venture, that interaction alone made it worth it. ;-) In with this concoction I added Borax, salt, vinegar, and washing soda. It's should be a pretty potent mix of nature's best.
Whitening Laundry Stew
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1/4 cup sea salt
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup borax
1 1/2 cups peroxide
1 1/2 cup vinegar
2 cups boiling water
Combine all the ingredients above into a large pot and heat to a low boil and turn off heat.
Add shirt (or whatever you are trying to whiten) and push down into the liquid using a wooden spoon and cover with a lid.
Let soak for as long as possible reheating anytime you notice the liquid is cool.
Rinse extremely thoroughly with HOT water until water runs clear.
Launder in machine.
Wear (hopefully).
Hopefully? Yeah, hopefully. I am actually in the middle of making shirt stew right now. I put it on yesterday and am trying to last at least 3 days before I remove it (which is so unbelievably hard....*ohmigawd*....I really really REALLY want to know if it's working or if I am just wasting electricity, energy, and supplies on a lost cause). This means you might not want to try this just yet, or you may be like me and desperate enough to try ANYTHING on a beloved article of clothing to keep from having to toss it's awesomeness away. But, I promised to share each step of this adventure... success or fail. Sometimes we have to take a leap, do the unknown, try something for the sake of trying. We may succeed brilliantly, we may look like a fool. But how will we ever know what we are capable of if we don't push ourselves to find out? I'm just sitting here today hoping I am at least capable of whitening a blouse. *lol*
So today, challenge yourself to do something completely new. Maybe make some laundry stew? It might not seem like much of a step to unprocessing and becoming self sufficient, but it forces you to push your boundaries, your knowledge, your limits. It gives you a chance to learn. And it will definitely challenge you. We, as a species (people), have become soft little marshmallows. This doesn't meant we're weak, just soft. We got that way from taking the easy way. Today, take the path less traveled.... or better yet, strap on your boots, hike up your big kid panties, and forge your own. Isn't that the very definition of what we're trying to accomplish?
Today I hope you are challenged to be more (even if miniscule) than you were before.
*********CONTEST!***********
This is day 4 of my contest!
Starting today (May 13), Follow this Blog
1: Read & Comment on Blog = 1 entry
2: Like & Share Facebook Blog Post Link from Foodies At Heart Page = 1 entry
3: Comment on Facebook Post = 1 entry
I'll take entries everyday until midnight. I will have one of the Girlies draw the previous day's winner in the morning and announce the winner here. Monday through Saturday you win a Mini TOTG Sample Pack and on Sunday I will draw the grand prize out of all of the total tickets accumulated over the week (except for the 6 tickets previously drawn) and will announce the Grand Prize Winner on here next Monday. I will ship everything out the same Monday as the announcement of the Grand Prize Winner.
(Turns out I don't have a follow button.... I'm so unobservant sometimes. Sorry about that confusion.....)
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