Traditional Homemaking Skills - Page 29

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

Ok, I think I have the simplest system. We do lights and darks. Neither of us wear enough white to ever justify a full load of whites, and usually towels and sheets wind up in the lights. Once this kiddo is born, I'm certain diapers will be their own load.

Currently darks are cold, lights are warm.

[SquishyBuggles]

Originally Posted by takebirthback

The big laundry question:
How do you do your wash?
I do whites, colors and a seperate load of reds. As well as a seperate load of towels and cloths. As well as a sep. cloth diaper load. I do all wash in cold, except I am only comfortable doing the diapers on Hot.

But how do you seperate the whites or do you? My son has so many shirts that have blue sleeves underneath a white shirt for example. Or there is red around the color. What do I wash this with? White or colored wash?

And what do you do with light colors like yellow? I put them in the whites usually.

These are my laundry questions that I continually debate every day every week. So I put it to my TH mamas. How do you do it?

I have 3 separate baskets, one for whites/lights, one for colors, and one for towels. Sometimes I'll separate the pure whites from the whites with colors because my H likes them to be bleached (once in awhile, def. not every time.) If it's a bright color mixed with white I usually thrown them in with colors. Light yellows go with whites/lights, bright yellow goes with colors. I also do separate loads of rags, because they usually involved pet mess or kid puke! Those I do hot, everything else I do cold.

[marimara]

Ok everyone~~~~I got my aprons today!
I don't want to interrupt the laundry questions so please do let me interfere with but I wanted to put this here before I forget it.

Here is the link with the photos; http://www.flickr.com/photos/tvena/s...7612870497788/

They are vintage terry half aprons like my grandma use to (still does) wear! I love them! Got them on Ebay for a song! score! :
ETA: these are perfect for me since I am a child of the 70's
Question: the pink/psychedelic one came with 2 different round washcloth thingies with rickrack sewn on them. Maybe to tie on to the waistband of the apron and use as an extra towel when cleaning or something? potholder? What are your ideas?
I love vintage-y stuff!
Oh and those 2 books are my new faves, best recipes ever in the one book and the eat, pray, love is just plain good reading.

Back to laundry talk now,

[sofysmommy]

Originally Posted by tumblingstar

Ok everyone~~~~I got my aprons today!
I don't want to interrupt the laundry questions so please do let me interfere with but I wanted to put this here before I forget it.

Here is the link with the photos; http://www.flickr.com/photos/tvena/s...7612870497788/

They are vintage terry half aprons like my grandma use to (still does) wear! I love them! Got them on Ebay for a song! score! :

Question: the pink/psychedelic one came with 2 different round washcloth thingies with rickrack sewn on them. Maybe to tie on to the waistband of the apron and use as an extra towel when cleaning or something? potholder? What are your ideas?
I love vintage-y stuff!
Oh and those 2 books are my new faves, best recipes ever in the one book and the eat, pray, love is just plain good reading.

Back to laundry talk now,

they are really cute!

I found this blog about aprons

[marimara]

aww, that was so sweet!

Oh, and my dh said his idea for the round things is that maybe they are pie warmers?!?

[CultivatingMyRoots]

This is my first post, but this thread is why I joined Mothering! I read through the whole thing, and in the process vaccuumed, did laundry, organized, and packed (we move next weekend!) and have been less stressed than ever.

I think most of it is feeling less lonely (as mentioned earlier in the thread, that's a HUGE downer) both from hearing of everyone else's motivations and inspirations, but also because I'm inspired to find other moms in the area we're moving to (Roseville,CA). Where we are now is smalltown, and the population is older. I am a young mom (pregnant with our second, who will be born less than a month before my 21st birthday) and older parents don't always relate well to alternative parenting, or sometimes to my age to begin with.

I feel for you moms who are lonely at home with the kids, thanks for keeping me afloat, and keep inspiring!:

[marimara]

Originally Posted by CultivatingMyRoots

This is my first post, but this thread is why I joined Mothering! I read through the whole thing, and in the process vaccuumed, did laundry, organized, and packed (we move next weekend!) and have been less stressed than ever.

I think most of it is feeling less lonely (as mentioned earlier in the thread, that's a HUGE downer) both from hearing of everyone else's motivations and inspirations, but also because I'm inspired to find other moms in the area we're moving to (Roseville,CA). Where we are now is smalltown, and the population is older. I am a young mom (pregnant with our second, who will be born less than a month before my 21st birthday) and older parents don't always relate well to alternative parenting, or sometimes to my age to begin with.

I feel for you moms who are lonely at home with the kids, thanks for keeping me afloat, and keep inspiring!:

Welcome to MDC and to TH!!!

[mamaheids]

:
Hello everyone! Well it took me 3 days to get through all the posts in this very awesome thread,: and I would love to join your discussion.
I currently am figuring out new ways to serve my family as I have pretty much been relegated to the couch/bathroom for the past two months with morning sickness. (Baby coming in early August). I is really hard for me to make this adjustment, as I am experiencing fatigue like never before. (Even when pg with DD.) I've been able to do a little bit of knitting and have delegated to DH but I just can't wait to get back to the things I love about homemaking like cooking, sewing, organizing/decorating. (I got a brand new serger for Christmas and I haven't even sewed a stitch! Ugh!) I feel completely lost and out of my element right now, and didn't actually realize that I had taken on the homemaker role as seriously as I had until I all of a sudden couldn't do those things anymore!
So for now, I'm getting ideas, information gathering for when I do feel up to resuming my role. I'm really enjoying this discussion.
As for laundry- we have one huge laundry pile. It drives me nuts, but at the moment it is survival mode. We do darks (cold), whites/towels/sheets/rags (hot) lights (warm), reds (cold) and every so often a delicates cycle (cold).
I do occasionally (once every two weeks) HAVE to use chlorine bleach on the whites/rags because if I don't our F/L washer starts stinking. (Even if I leave the door open between washes.) Laundry is seriously the bane of my existance- just because of the sheer volume of it. I actually don't mind folding/putting away a load or two. But we have WAY more than that.

[boigrrrlwonder]

Originally Posted by CultivatingMyRoots

This is my first post, but this thread is why I joined Mothering! I read through the whole thing, and in the process vaccuumed, did laundry, organized, and packed (we move next weekend!) and have been less stressed than ever.

I think most of it is feeling less lonely (as mentioned earlier in the thread, that's a HUGE downer) both from hearing of everyone else's motivations and inspirations, but also because I'm inspired to find other moms in the area we're moving to (Roseville,CA). Where we are now is smalltown, and the population is older. I am a young mom (pregnant with our second, who will be born less than a month before my 21st birthday) and older parents don't always relate well to alternative parenting, or sometimes to my age to begin with.

I feel for you moms who are lonely at home with the kids, thanks for keeping me afloat, and keep inspiring!:

I'm surprised that you find it more difficult to find older parents who are into NFL/AP. I find that older parents tend to be more into that kind of thing than younger parents.

BTW, have you seen the younger mama tribe?

[MyLittleWarrior]

Hey Ladies!

Well it's a full month after the holidays, and things are finaly starting to fall into a nice routine here. I think that and also blogging about my HMB has been helping me actually use it. I'm now thinking it's time for another major clutter purge though. I always have a box going for donation stuff, but I think it's time to ramp it up. Clear out the Christmas presents that were just off base, and any stuff that was replaced or duplicated over Christmas, as well as going through the kids and my clothes again. I can hardly walk through the basement, because "stuff" just keeps ending up there.

Slightly off topic, but since it was talked about earlier in the thread I'm going to share anyway...

I finally got my new tattoo yesterday! I love it. : It makes me really happy. Pictures here.

[marimara]

Originally Posted by MyLittleWarrior

Hey Ladies!

Well it's a full month after the holidays, and things are finaly starting to fall into a nice routine here. I think that and also blogging about my HMB has been helping me actually use it. I'm now thinking it's time for another major clutter purge though. I always have a box going for donation stuff, but I think it's time to ramp it up. Clear out the Christmas presents that were just off base, and any stuff that was replaced or duplicated over Christmas, as well as going through the kids and my clothes again. I can hardly walk through the basement, because "stuff" just keeps ending up there.

Slightly off topic, but since it was talked about earlier in the thread I'm going to share anyway...

I finally got my new tattoo yesterday! I love it. : It makes me really happy. Pictures here.

I love it, it looks so good!
I've been doing some de-cluttering lately too, as I also always have a box going. We donated a few boxes a couple of weeks ago and now are ready for another run.
Lately, I've just been trying to get my life orderly. I've been cooking tons lately. Tonight I'm doing Asian Stir Fry with rice noodles and chicken. I am on this kick to be really healthy because of my migraines. So I'm trying to eat more organic and cook from scratch.

I've been staying on top of laundry!!! I have to do one load a day or more depending on the week.

I still use my HMB but found that I"m not writing in it anymore. The dry erase marker thing wasn't working for me. Until I get a working printer, I am not able to really "use" my checklists for chores and projects. Instead I'm just doing it in my head, referencing the list the reminders. I'm still getting everything done, it's just not written down. Though, the rest of the HMB has been tremendously helpful to us. Having important #'s/addresses, stamps/envelopes, as wells as financial stuff all in one place is great. It's been keeping me way more organized.

Hmmm...what else? Well I've also redecorated recently, more of a tropical/garden green theme. Love it : I usually redecorate once or twice a year to keep things fresh around here. What I mean by redecorate, is, since I mostly have neutral everything (couch, linens, furniture), I just add splashes of color with some valances, shower curtain, shams (instead of a whole new set I have a beige quilt, cream sheets and then I add colorful shams on top to go with the current theme), throw pillows, and throws. Of course my greenery (houseplants) add to the tropical garden them around here

Speaking of, got a new one today, a kalanchoe I think. It's gorgeous.

Well, that's all I have for now, how is everyone doing? Settled down after the holidays?

Question: Do you all do spring cleaning? or spring decorating?

[Brown Lioness]

*subbing*

[Periwinkle]

Originally Posted by takebirthback
The big laundry question:
How do you do your wash?

All laundry is washed on COLD in the Heavy Duty cycle, unless it's been peed, pooped, or thrown up on, in which case it's washed on HOT.

I separate out things likely to bleed and/or things likely to fuzz up the rest of the laundry. Other than that, it all goes in together.

We just started making our own laundry detergent. Prior to that we used BioKleen or Seventh Generation.

Everything gets dried on Medium heat, and folded as soon as it's dry. If I can't fold it right away, I hang shirts and pants or other things likely to wrinkle over the back of a chair, and just leave things like towels, socks, tee shirts, etc. in the laundry basket.

[Periwinkle]

Oooh another thing about laundry. I definitely do NOT have a "laundry day". I find it easier to do 1-2 loads a day.

[LeighB]

I do all the towels, dish rags and socks in one load. All the rest of the clothes I just throw in on cold. I usually hang everything up and fold it when the baby is napping.

Anyone know a good way to clean wooden cutting boards? I have a great one that I just got and I'm paranoid to use it for anything but kneading bread.

[marimara]

Originally Posted by LeighB

I do all the towels, dish rags and socks in one load. All the rest of the clothes I just throw in on cold. I usually hang everything up and fold it when the baby is napping.

Anyone know a good way to clean wooden cutting boards? I have a great one that I just got and I'm paranoid to use it for anything but kneading bread.

I've used my wooden board for years without nothing more than a hot soapy wash and dry out. Though I never cut raw meat on it. Occasionally, I would spray it with vinegar. Now I use a bamboo one and treat it the same. I just cut raw meat on a plate and then it goes into the dishwasher. When I cut onions or garlic on it, sometimes I don't even rinse it off. Just brush it off. My grandmother told me it kills the germs to do it that way. I don't have a problem with other stuff smelling like onions or garlic either. BTW, if you wet it with water before cutting onions or garlic it won't absorb the odor.

[boigrrrlwonder]

I want to have a spring cleaning this year. My home could use it!

[SquishyBuggles]

Originally Posted by tumblingstar

I've used my wooden board for years without nothing more than a hot soapy wash and dry out. Though I never cut raw meat on it. Occasionally, I would spray it with vinegar. Now I use a bamboo one and treat it the same. I just cut raw meat on a plate and then it goes into the dishwasher. When I cut onions or garlic on it, sometimes I don't even rinse it off. Just brush it off. My grandmother told me it kills the germs to do it that way. I don't have a problem with other stuff smelling like onions or garlic either. BTW, if you wet it with water before cutting onions or garlic it won't absorb the odor.

Ditto this. I use my wooden board for everything but meat. I have a glass one for meat, I hate using it but I'm paranoid.

[Toolip]

Originally Posted by LeighB

Anyone know a good way to clean wooden cutting boards? I have a great one that I just got and I'm paranoid to use it for anything but kneading bread.

Don't worry. There's really no reason to be concerned, it's just easy to convince yourself that wood is going to harbor things. In reality wood has natural antibacterial properties as well as the porous nature helps to get bacteria of the surface and then it dies inside. There are several articles about it. This is something I just found but there are many other studies.

I just wash is with soap and water generally. If I just cut a bunch of garlic I will sometimes use salt and lemon to help get the smell out - I don't know if it really helps more than washing but it's fun I use wooden cutting boards for everything!! I LOVE good, sharp knives and good, solid, wooden cutting boards

[SAHDS]

I'm in the middle of laundry day right now. YEA...

I separate loads, whites, pastels and darks. I also put dish towels/towels/ linens in a separate load. Everything gets washed and rinsed in cold water (besides the dish towels) and dried on medium with hot to finish (my dryer has that cool-down and it drives me batty, I don't know why).

As for cutting boards, I'd never use my produce board for meat and vice versa. Never.

What else... OH, I made the best cake ever. It was for my son's silent auction and was chosen first (the winning table paid hundreds). I was so proud but sad that I had to watch them eat it. The one we got was good, though. I'll be making it again Sunday when we have friends over. YUM!

And I have to give DH credit, he tilled the garden (and is prepping it for the Spring) PLUS he planted 160 new bulbs (tulips - my fav, daffodils and something blue)! I love fresh cut flowers when it's nice out!

OH, load is done...