“Mom, why can’t we have a dog?” My son begged.
I gave my standard answer. “Because between you, your two brothers and sister, I already have enough butts to clean up after.”
“But mom,” he beamed as if he’d solved cold fusion, “dogs totally lick their own butts!” It will speak to his faultless reasoning skills, or my exhaustion, that I actually considered it for a moment before remembering this is the same child who suggested I buy a box of cereal because “it only has 6 pounds of sugar in it.”
Butt wiping aside, the mess promulgated by 4 tiny kids is astounding – it’s like living in a frat house: underwear on the table, food on the floor and enough pee on the bathroom walls you’d think we’d have just installed wall-to-wall urinals and been done with it. Thankfully they’re short so the pee stays below shoulder level. But by far their most high maintenance habit – after their 2,000 piece Lego minefield – is the amount of laundry they generate. So when Arm and Hammer asked if I’d try out their new stain fighting gel detergent I knew I’d have plenty to test it out on. They were particularly interested in seeing if their stain-fighting powers were up to my family’s love of the great outdoors.
To see all the embarrassing evidence of my less-than-stellar housekeeping, how Arm & Hammer helped me clean up my act and HOW ONE GFE READER WILL WIN $200 click through to my giveaway page! (Leave all contest entries in the comments of THAT post. Contest winner will be announced Monday March 29.)
Written By Charlotte Hilton Andersen for http://thegreatfitnessexperiment.blogspot.com only! Not to be re-published without permission.
At least a real dog won't wear clothes to add to the laundry. The only laundry our dog adds is the mud towel in the spring when he has muddy paws.
Besides, my wife makes me pick up the dog bombs in the yard and give him a bath when he gets nice and funky smelling.
The biggest problem with our dog is that he's so good that he's ruined us for any other dogs that will come into our lives in the future!
great giveaway 🙂 i can handle the yellow pits, it's just that some of my tops won't stop smelling!!
My biggest workout laundry woe is from a very bad habit I have. Whenever I run, my nose runs too, and after years of stashing kleenex in my shorts (and then watching them disentigrate in the washing machine)I finally gave up. As unlady like as it is, I wipe my nose on my upper right arm for convenience. ALL of my shirts have bloddy and yellowed remnants of my snot on them, and its not pretty. No matter what I use I have had no luck getting them out. I may not be lady-like, but I can run fast without having to fish out a kleenex to slow me down!!
We're not big on dogs either. My biggest complaint is that I don't need something else following me around.
Anyway, my biggest laundry stains come from landscaping. We tore up our backyard last summer and after working outside digging out sprinkler lines, trudging through dirt & mud, cutting down trees, and having a campfire every night, my husband's clothes were disgusting. Especially his socks. I did not enjoying doing laundry then. It would be nice to reuse the landscaping clothes (and socks) again this year.
I'm dealing with the baby functions messing up my clothes. Baby puke, mastitis-induced fever-sweat at all hours, toddler poo… The baby alone goes through two to three outfits daily, so we put our detergent to the test regularly!
Charlotte,
I love the pictures of your kids dirty clothes! Makes me feel right at home, hahaha. Today is laundry day in my house and if I had the capability, I would post some of my best shots, but alas I am not that techno savvy! So you will have to survive on this one fact alone .. I live in the South. The land of RED CLAY. I can not tell you how many socks, shirts and pants (especially the bottoms) my children have managed to ruin by staining it with red clay. It is so bad that my children not only have 2 sets of clothes (the show-me set and the show NO ONE under penalty of punishment set) but they also have to have 2 sets of socks! Socks for playing outside, socks for wearing to school. Short of bleaching them, I have not found anything that gets red clay stains out of clothes and even the bleach isn't 100%.
I have to comment on the mud flaps. We get those too! The kids think it's so funny to ride their bikes in the gutters.
My biggest problem is a stripe up my butt/back, similar to your son's, from long bike rides on rainy/muddy days. Or even the day after a rain, when grit still kicks up. I really DO need mud flaps! On those same rides, I get gritty socks–sometimes so bad I take photos. They make me laugh later when I'm warm, dry, and smelling of clean laundry. 🙂
We go through a huge amount of laundry, without children, thanks to my 6 workouts a week habit! My ever patient boyfriend has laundry duty and is pretty sick of treating my stains for me, plus, hello, girls aren't supposed to be smelly or dirty, right? Maybe arm and hammer will preserve our relationship!
Oh man – I live in a wintry city, so for *sure* it would be salt stains on my pants! During the winter, at least – after that, it's grass stains. Those are brutal!
Man, I could use that $200! Well, since you already know about how I never buy clothes for myself & I constantly try to get on What Not to Wear, my clothes have more stains & marks than I can count! And yes, the workout ones, permanently yellowed under the arms & not gonna explain here what is the prob with the workout tights! My socks are dingy along with everything else! Our washer is old so it has it probs as well & curious if this detergent can help that too! If it can help you, it can help me!
I have not even got to my hubby's clothes but I think mine says it all! 🙂
My laundry woe? I have a 10 year old boy. he likes to play outside. Alot. But what he REALLY likes to do more than anything else outside, is ride through mud puddles on his bike. You think the rooster-tail mud-track (that's what we call the spray) from your son running through mud was something, you should see what happens when a kid rides through mud!
He comes home with a single stripe of mud from butt to top of helmet and stright up the middle of his front (face, too). I have not yet found a single detergent, spot remover, or stain lifter that can get out the center stripe from the bike tire streaks. I've had to throw out every shirt he's done that to – at least a few every summer.
He does look funny, though, and unbelievably happy, when he does it. Which is the only reason he gets away with it.
This is a great giveaway!
Let’s pretend this happened at a picnic and not every day inside or out. So my biggest laundry woe is the grease and spices that streak my husband’s pants. Apparently no one has told him about napkins because whenever he eats potato chips with some deep red coating (think Old Bay or barbecue or nacho or any other fake flavor) he wipes his covered fingers all down his shirt and pants. And in case you’re wondering, I’m not married to a 10-year-old. He only acts like one. So, yeah, Arm & Hammer would come in real handy.
Outdoor-related laundry woe…let's see. I'm a gardener, so it would have to be the stains I get from the red clay soil in my back yard, especially on socks and white t-shirts. That clay never seems to come out completely.
Charlotte, I hate to tell ya, but with boys, washing the bathroom walls continues for many years. Mine is 11 years old and I'm still washing walls!
My 4 year old son loves to crawl around on his knees and drive is matchbox cars around outside. So you could only imagine what his pants look like in the spring time…
My number one outdoor problem is definitely mud. I have seen the mud spray up the back before. And if you've found something to make socks white again, I'm sold!
Laundry Woes
I too have 4 kids-3 boys and a girl. To keep the boys from wrestling all over the house, we bought them a trampoline (with safety net). When the mayhem starts (every night after dinner), I demand that they "take it outside". And then the caveat as they skamper outside – "shoes on or socks OFF". Imagine the amount of nasty dirty stinky grass stained dirt encrusted socks from 3 boys as they walk to and from the house to the trampoline! It makes a mother cry.
larsen_astrid@yahoo.com
It's just my husband and I, but I've seen lots of the mud spray from bike rides. There was also the time that my husband washed some dark blue and black mittens with his khakis, then ended up with large dark blue spots on his khakis and on one of my favorite new sweaters – good times. Six washes later, the khakis were good as new and my sweater was never the same…
My Numero uno laundry woe originates in the person of not my two sons, but my husband. He is a maintenance officer at a detention center, and therefore does a whole lot of dirty work-plumbing (yes, including unclogging toilets), heating and air conditioning (ever smell what fuel oil does to your laundry?), cleaning up dead bird carcasses (don't ask). And he just doesn't understand why I segregate his work clothes.
runnersue8@verizon.net
I'm a runner, everything smells. And when I run during lunch at work and then stuff the clothes into a bag along with my running shoes, everything smells and is covered in dirt. And then I get home and forget to unload the bag and my cat climbs into it and curls up ('cause she's kind of gross like that) everything smells, is covered in dirt and also cat hair.
Like you, I have my FAVORITE workout clothes that aren't replaceable. I sweat like a smelly pig, too. I will cry when I have to give up my favorite nike drifit tank with built in bra, and it's almost that time due to the pittage.
My current laundry woe is baby food stains. She just discovered the great outdoors though and nothing makes her happier than toddling through mud and falling in mud over and over and over again. I'd love to try the arm and hammer.
My worst dirt woe is mud stains from our mountain biking trips. The dirt flings up from the back tire and gets everywhere!!
Christin
This is not outdoor related (or not specifically), but my husband is an artist, I work with him, and much of my clothing has paint stains.
No detergent will help the older ones, me thinks, but a strong detergent will usually get the clothes clean (if I wipe the blobby oil paint off 1st).
So a strong detergent would help.
Oh, and my trail-runners need some definite help.
Mine biggest woe is clothes that keep that workout smell… ick. I have an expensive running jacket that I use through the winter (tons of reflective stripes and neon yellow) and I have to hold my breath every time I put it on.
My number one outdoor-related laundry woe is when I travel. Either I'm hiking outdoors or I'm backpacking in some foreign country. I pack as little as possible and if there's an ocean nearby, I'm in trouble. I HAVE to swim if I'm near an ocean. At least once a day. In no time, a rank damp ocean sweat smell builds up in my backpack and is impossible to get rid of while travelling and even once I get back home. I rewash and rewash and still that mouldy wet salty smell is there. It would be great to have 1) a biodegradable wash in sink or open water travel solution that is soft on hands that could cure my stinky outdoor travel woes.
My biggest outdoor laundry issue is dealing with dirt and grass stains from yard work. I'm running out of old "yard work clothes" that can be thrown away! And of course neighbors take the opportunity to stop by and chat when you are out there sweating, stinking and looking “earthy” because the earth is literally all over you.
Love your laundry pics, guess I'm not the only one!
Pit stains are my biggest problem. I don't even sweat all that much but I guess my sweat is more acidic than normal.
hmm…no poo-scented clothes but i hate it in the winter when the black, gross snow-filth that lines Chicago splashes up onto my pants and then dries to a crusty white (thanks to the salt). And pit stains stink, too. Where's your Franky Says Relax shirt?!
Leslie http://www.ivillage.com/neversaydiet
PS for some reason, your new comment box will not let me post as Name and Website, which is why I've been pasting it in here and posting as Anonymous.
Ours is socks. It doesn't matter how many times I ask my children to wear shoes they won't but they never forget the socks. Our socks are always caked, yes CAKED, in mud or else they are green with grass.
This post sort of depresses me. Seriously…I have mounds of laundry waiting. 😉
I'm doing my first giveaway on my site. Please so go enter so I don't feel like a total _________. 🙂 Oh my was that totally pathetic? 😉
Well, thankfully I'm poo free, but my biggest outdoor complaints are that when I ride my bike I get a lovely stripe up the back of whatever shirt/jacket I'm wearing from the rain and mud. I also get muddy pant cuffs from walking through the slush to the bus on my morning commute.
Add to this the fact that occasionally my cat decides that the dirty laundry basket would make the perfect litter box…If this soap takes out cat pee without having to wash things 2 or 3 times in a row, I would be deleriously happy.
We have the 5 year old who insists he should use the bathroom all by himself all the time and then "Forgets " to wipe half the time. Skid marks for sure! I love that you are trying the detergent cuz I am sick of stained gross clothes! Love ya! Anna!
My biggest outdoor-related laundry woe is the same as your son's- the mud up the back of the shirts and pants! i have speckles on nearly all of my clothes because I love a good romp through the trails.
I'm in your camp with the workout clothes. I like to buy new ones, oh, every 3 years or something ridiculous, when I wear them and sweat in them for hours a week. Some are starting to, shall I say, stay ripe even after a trip through the chugga chugga whir whir (spin, thunk, thunk, thunk, rebalance, etc etc). I need this! These are even my fancy on-sale-from-academy-not-even-from-a-thrift-store stuff! 🙂
HMM..After thinking really hard about this I could lend you our 83 pound yellow Lab Tucker, aka as Gomaz. He comes Ready to lick up anything fallen on the floor, and walls within reach. He's been known to lick a few faces from time to time. AND if you like him you may keep him, but just don't tell my Riley!
Shannon Hagen
My tanktops smell like poo, dog, or popcorn. (My kids LOVE popcorn, and I find kernels of it in the darndest places…). And since I live and work in my workout gear, well, it doesn't always smell like a spring meadow.
OK, so biodegradable, gets stains out, AND smells yummy?! Sign me up!!!!!
My workout socks have turned a nasty gray color, and in fact, so have all my white underthings. But the worst is the pit stains. You say yours are yellow stains? Mine are definitely brown…dark brown. It's pretty disgusting and I can only wear those particular shirts when I work out in private.
I just threw away my most trusty workout shirt this weekend because the stink was finally too much. The minute I started sweating, all odors were activated, and I had to tolerate my own stink for the next 2 hours. It was horrible! Now I need to find a new trusty workout shirt (you know the type, right?).
I get the yellow pits too. I've read that baking soda and vinegar help. I've tried with moderate success. This is why I have a never ending parade of white wife beaters. They are almost disposable.
I admit that if I wear something-even workout gear- and it's not white (those need washing asap or the yellow is worse), I will re-use it unless it's really sweaty. (not undies, natch). I try to re-wear so that we only do laundry once every two weeks. Sorry, you hate my cyberguts now don't you.
It's just me and a furry child and a larger, older furry child (aka a husband) in the casa, so I have it easy. I re-wear jeans, etc and tops too. Silly to wear something once then wash it! Waste of water, electricity etc.
Great giveaway!
okay there must be something wrong with my family because I only have two kids and one husband but I think my laundry pile is as big as yours. I too suffer from shirts that have yellow pits and I want them to go away!
I hate socks. They're constantly dirty and harbour germs. I wash my workout socks constantly and that is my biggest woe.
My biggest laundry woe is trying to get the bugspray smell out of my clothes after a good long hike. The sweat and the mud come out okay – but always that bugspray smell!
My favorite pair of running pants. They are funky…even after washing…even after washing in sports detergent. Sigh. Can Arm & Hammer help?
I stepped in a puddle on mile 4 of a 20 mile training run yesterday…leaving me with blisters on my toes that bled and now I have bloody socks that need cleaning! Please help Arm & Hammer!
pit stains. 🙁
For the three males in the house, it's definitely pit stains/stink. For me, it tends to be the accumulated grime from anything when I wear jeans…being short means that the hems usually hit the ground and anything on it.
My biggest woe is pit stains. Not the smell really but the discoloration!! 🙁
I too get pit stains… bad! It's so sad when you finally find the perfect workout top – wicking, long enough in front, cute color/design, even with a pocket in back – only to have it rendered too-embarassing-to-wear-outside-the-house within just a few workouts. So sad.
Another pitfall… heh heh… a runny nose! My nose runs more than I do.
decrustifying my husband's socks. why are they always crunchy?
My number one outdoor related laundry problem: Muddy pawprints up the front of my pants! Step one-dog goes outside to potty after rain or melting snow event, Step 2-dog gets so excited to be outside with you that he runs around like a demon, Step 3, Dog makes eye contact with you, zeros in and runs at your full speed, Step 4-Dog jumps up on you and creates spotted pants where there were regular khakis before! He's a corgi so the spots are only from about the knees down, I think that makes it even worse! Why are your pants half spotted?
My #1 problem is definitely mud and grass stains from my boys who cannot bear to stay out of the puddles, grass, mud, dirt, you name it when they are outside.
I'll see you three sons and one daughter and raise you a dog and a garden. My laundry woes? EVERYTHING.
My boyfriend has a love for cars — he is constantly working on any and everyone's! His clothes are filled with grease, sweat and grimmy car waste! (Whatever it might be). He also gets tons of dirt and whatever else might be on the ground from laying on his back underneath the cars. Love him but hate the mess he leaves on the clothes…. and he magically somehow expects me to remove all the stains!
Well sign me up. My OCD requires this product post haste to my dirty house!
I play a very, dirty, sweaty, smelly sport…Rugby and all of my dirty laundry problems arise from this.
Trying to get mud, grass, blood, and sweat stains out of those clothes is a full time job…
But the worst thing is definitely my rugby shorts…
I've had the same pair of Rugby shorts for the past 3 years…a quality pair isn't cheap…they've survived 2-hr long practices (3x a week), mud puddles, beer being dumped on them, and being jammed in a damp gym bag for the long trips back to campus after a game…needless to say they've permanently soaked up some of the worst odors imaginable…
perhaps that's why people are so hesitant to tackle me…
I love me some Arm and Hammer clean!
My outdoor stains are all from running. Sometimes the final 2 laps on the track are more than I can bear in shoes, so I kick them off. Sad thing to do to $10 running socks, but I can't help it. 🙂
My winter parkas get brown at the cuffs and pockets – they look crummy long before they wear out.
My kids play with dandelions and smash them all over. The problem with that is the juice from the flowers doesn't show up on the clothes until it is dried!! So you don't even know where to pre-treat them. Argh!
I'm training for a marathon, which means logging way too many hours running. It's hot in SoCal, so that's a lot of sweating. This sweating tends to accumulated in alarming rates on my back, which leads to weird stains on my shirts, and freakish stains on the back tops of my running pants. Ug. Since I run outside, alone, I tend to ignore the smell, but rest assured, there is a smell to ignore. Hahaha.
I play tackle football. So, not only am I regularly covered in mud and grass stains, I also sweat gross amounts and regularly soak through my sports bra and under shirt to the shoulder pads.
With 5 kids and another soon to make his appearance, I don't think there is anything laundry-wise I haven't seen. We definitely have a mud problem around here, even though we live in the desert. My favorite are food stains though. I keep a roll of paper towels in the middle of our table when we eat, and they still would rather use their sleeves (except my 3 year old, she's so polite!) The best is when they wrap some random piece of fruit (bananas are the best) with their favorite shirt and toss it under their bed for a couple of days. Always thrilling to have to pull a major scrub brush out for laundry!!
The pit stains on my husband's undershirts are horrid. This is the sole reason he needs to buy new ones so often. It drives me bananas!
My 4 year old son loves to crawl around on his knees and drive is matchbox cars around outside. So you could only imagine what his pants look like in the spring time…
I have finally given in to buying a few nice shirts and shorts to work out in now that I've joined a nice gym. The gyms I went to in college—didn't care too much about wearing my old bball gear and rocking out the pit stained tourney tees. I also like that when I wear some "cute" gym stuff on the weekends, I don't have to change necessarily if I want to run some errands–I normally just wash my face and re-do my ponytail.
HOWEVER, after thinking all was good with buying the new outfits, I have now pitted out all these great shirts and tanks! 🙁 I can't wear them to any place other than the gym and get embarrassed doing my shoulder presses, pull-ups, hanging ab raises, etc. when I expose these yellow stains.
Arm and Hammer, help me!
Garden dirt and dog foot prints on my pants are my main issues. The garden dirt no so bad but OMG what the dog steps in God only knows. She loves to "play" by running right at us and sucker punching you in the abdomen, or in my BF's case sensitive areas. Good thing we aren't trying to have kids right now…
Charlotte, I don't have to tell you why this superhero of a detergent might come in handy for me. I think that's what I'll buy with my $200… a shit load of Arm & Hammer.
I work in the field as a biologist and the dirt in the desert does NOT come off!
My biggest laundry woe — I'm in a running group where there are two people who draw the trail on the ground in chalk and/or flour. The one time I was the person drawing the marks was that nasty ucky day back in October when it snowed and sleeted. Dressed entirely inappropriately for the weather in Vumawear flower workout paints and a long-sleeved white shirt, I got mud and dirt ingrained in my pants (which, because of the water, threatened constantly to fall off), and chalk all over my white long-sleeved shirt. It took four washes to get everything out of the pants, and the shirt is still multi-colored.
I'd love that visa card! *knock on wood*
I soooo hear you girl! With 4 of my own who apparenty think that the laundry basket is where all clothes go when they're cleaning, I do TONS of laundry…whether dirty or not 🙁 Sigh!
aboyn3girls!
Oh, by the way Charlotte, you totally shoulda used yesterday's post picture of Micah for this story…Adorably filthy! 🙂
aboyn3girls!
it's like living in a frat house: underwear on the table, food on the floor and enough pee on the bathroom walls you'd think we'd have just installed wall-to-wall urinals and been done with it.
OH YES YES YES.
Outdoor related laundry woe – sap. Laundry woe in general – having to touch the dirty stuff while loading it. Blecch.
I know what you mean by it feels like you live in a frat house! I always tell people I can't keep the house clean for more than a few minutes when you have a dirty husband, a toddler, a big dog and a cat! I pick up after them all and when I turn around it seems to be all out again. And I swear my husband goes through more clothes then me and his little girl! So needless to say we have a lot of sweaty, dirty clothes that this can be tried on! Not to mention muddy towels from the dog!
running crusty armpit areas. So gross. So true. So impossible to get out.
My launday woes? It just never ends. You think your done, and then you have to start over again. My kids produce so many dirty clothes it's amazing. I'm always behind. Someday…maybe?
While I care for 4 dogs during the day in addition to our two lazy labs, it's our indoor cats that actually create the greatest need for expert laundering. Take one 13 year old boy who leaves his clean and dirty clothes on the floor, add two 15 pound cats, one 19 year old cat, and the net result is cat vomit and hairballs (why do they call them balls?)the stains from which refuse to come out of his one-time white socks. Somehow it's the bile in vomit (is this too descriptive? sorry, it's my life) that is the hardest stain to remove.
When my husband needed an example of "infinity" in a philosophy class he used laundry.
I cloth diapered for 2 years. I used re useable cloth nursing pads. Mama rags. you name it, I have "bodily function'ed" on it. Sorry, TMI, but true!
And thanks for the last comment you left me, at least you're eating great new stuff, despite going to the groc alot 🙂
xoxo
Living in North Carolina, this is the time of year that the red clay turns into red clay mud. Our dog, Hank, likes to run around outside (like all dogs) then jump up on us and place his muddy paws on our tummies (like all poorly-trained dogs). Red clay doesn't come out of white or light colors easily.
Also, Cameron and I sweat into our running clothes. A lot.
I haven't been trail running recently, because I live in the city now, but back in upstate New York, we'd run on trails ALL the time. The backs of every. single. one. of my running shirts are marred with seemingly un-removable (is that word? irremovable? non-removable?) dirt and mud splotches. Le sigh.
I do all my strenuous activity inside so i don't have any outside woes, but my biggest inside woe is the stain on my neon orange workout capris (they were on clearance, give me a break!)This is going to be TMI, buuuut, my butt crack (hehe) gets SOOO freaking sweaty and it stains, guess where, on my capris. I'm embarrassed to wear them at the gym. They're the BEST to workout in, but why oh why couldn't the black capris been in my size??? Anything to hide my sweaty posterior!!!
Maybe this will get the job done
Two words…grass stains.
e.estt[at]yahoo[dot]com
My biggest outdoor-related woe is… myself. I'm liable to fall down in mud, spill stuff all over myself, or wander outside wearing a white jacket when it's raining (BAD IDEA. Trust me on that one).
Today I spilled tea all over myself and shortly thereafter I was spilling beer all down my front (I maintain that there was a hole in the cup!).
Also, I'm a poor student. Therefore, money to buy cleaning supplies is always necessary 😉
That is the funniest thing I've read in a long time–and it's all TRUE!! For some reason, "washable" markers don't come out of my kids clothes. Wonder if that is a misprint on the marker label? Chocolate stains and red wine stains are murder, too, especially when they are both on favorite shirt!
Only one laundry woo? Gosh, I don't even know where to begin.
Let's see. I'm a long distance runner living in South Carolina where even running before the sun comes up entails running in at least 70 degree weather. All of my clothes have runners stank!
Add to that the fact that my husband, in his sleep deprived state, tried to wash our cloth diapers, not realizing that they get washed separately. Now, every step I take smells like baby poo and BO. I imagine I smell like that car from Seinfeld.
We are in the wonderful season of "mud" here. Cool enough to snow one day, then warm enough to melt it the next. The kids love playing in it and thus my laundry pile grows and grows. sigh.
My children tend to get homemade playdough stuck in their clothes. I do make intense colours, I like bright! And my young children like lightly coloured clothes…
Ugh, like you, I sweat bucketloads and I have yellow pit stains to prove it. I never ever wear white to the gym! Gosh, I can barely wear white as normal day wear because I'll cause pit stains anyway!
Oh, do I understand the pit stain issue. Every season I buy a new round of white shirts. Even the ones I just wear to work. I won't even discuss what the white ones I wear to the gym look like. And I've tried all the tips to help remove some of the stains. Any suggestions?
My biggest laundry challenge are "skid marks". Ewww. I have 2 little boys.
mami2jcn at gmail dot com
As a fellow mom of 4, I'm livin' it too. Last night my husband walked in and said, "What happened in here?" at the same time I said, "Thank God you're here," while the baby screamed over the both of us. Thing is, house looks like that everyday, I just usually can get most of it picked up before he gets home. Off to do laundry…
I also have a big pit problem, but my stains aren't yellow, they're white. That would be OK if all my shirts were white, but they're not. I have a few old favorites that I'm getting ready to toss because of this very problem.
First, do not get a dog – been there, done that, have 4 of them and although I love them all (most days), they are a pain in the neck (which I feel terribly guilty saying because, I love them).
I will need to get some of that detergent this weekend. I was ironing my eldest school shirts and noticed that her new, jcrew, very expensive dress shirts are getting yellow pits! During the winter they were under a navy blazer or solid colored sweater (yes, worn with a kilt) but with spring here, on non-dress days those shirts will be worn freely for all to see – oh no. With graduation less than 3 months away (sniffle, sniffle) I am not buying her new ones – no college kid needs that many solid dress shirts. Maybe this detergent can resurrect them (typing with fingers crossed).
p.s. I just love your writing.
Getting outdoors in Florida means a lot of sweat, and a lot of sweat towels. Sunblock and deoderant can leave interesting stains when mixed with massive amounts of sweat.
Also, the ground is so flat that biking is super easy, but then there's the risk of bike grease on clothes (and all over the walls if my husband had anything to do with it).
Thankfully though, the soil is too sandy to worry about mud.
My biggest woe??? The backyard brook. My children LOVE to hunt for frogs, lizards, rocks and any other "interesting" thing they can pull from the bed of running water. Unfortunately, the water is not always running so beautifully. This leaves my children trudging through muck and mud. Of course wiping their hands on their clothing is most convenient. Finding a rock to sit on is to hard to do, plus the muddy bank provides a much more comfy place to rest their curious behinds. This leaves palm-sized streaks of mud on the thighs of their clothing, heinously dirty tushes, and shirts splattered with mud-staining splatters from their hunting expeditions. It's all in good fun and great appreciation for the outdoors! Now, maybe I'll go pick up a bottle of this new A&H gel detergent to try out.
Failing to keep my four monkeys clean,
Autumn
My biggest outside laundry challenge? Deer poo! It smells terrible (worse than any other animal poo) so of course my dog rolls in it whenever she can find some (resulting in a bath for said water-hating dog) and my clothes resulting in smelling like deer poo.
Wow, a chance to complain about how hard life is when you have an older pet who decides it's too much trouble trying to deal with all those silly 'not-on-the-carpet' rules. I've taken to laying down rugs in the laundry room so she can sleep somewhere warm — and because I'm doing a WHOLE lot more laundry than I used to.
Oh my goodness, if you could only see my husband's running pants and socks after a muddy trail run. I NEED this detergent in my life! Great giveaway Charlotte. Thanks!
For me it's dingy white tanks. I love working out in a good tank top but they always end up looking yellow and icky!
Great giveaway girl!
I have two laundry woes – one has to do with having a crummy washing machine – no detergent can fix that. The other is happening inside my son's underwear. He hasn't gotten the hang of wiping until the poo is gone, it's one and done for him. Not long after I find him sitting on the floor, dragging his bum on the ground, trying to find relief from the itchies!
My favorite is the four pairs of pants from one kid. I have one of those, too. I also, however, have a 13-year-old who insists on wearing socks to the point of no return. She gets stinky feet from her dad, too, so there are times when I literally have to send her into the bathroom to wash her feet and just *sigh* throw the socks away. Great giveaway, Charlotte!
Makeup stains — Worst. Stains. Ever. *Grr* Hate those "ring-around-the-collar" smudges. Maybe I just need to wear a bib while applying (or wearing) makeup!
Now that winter is over, my laundry pile will go down considerably. But now I just have to worry about getting grass stains out of the clothes of my five children!
Well, my list starts off innocent enough: sidewalk chalk, dirt, grass stains and the like. The real mess begins at grandma's house where manure and dog poop seem to be the run of the mill knee stains. Ew. I know. If they didn't like the farm so much this wouldn't be an issue, but I need something that makes ME feel like they're clean!