It Takes Balls to Do Laundry...and Bags

One of my favorite blog reads (you know you're all my favorites, I swear) is always Lady (Buttons) Sings the Blues. She never fails to crack me up. So she was having a wee bit of fun at her hubby's expense on the subject of general lack of cleanliness of the menfolk...complete with haiku. And fun new terminology. I shall now excoriate my hubby to pick up his "gotchies."

And I am so juvenile that I am still giggling over that word. My dad calls them "growlers." Whatever...just don't call them "panties" as my poor mother did the first time M had underwear after potty training - you can imagine my reaction "Agggghhhhh, don't call them panties...undies is ok, but NEVER panties, he's a boy!!!" Ok, maybe I overreacted that time. I mean, the poor woman only had 1 set of twin girls, so she is used to the feminine terminology. (sorry, Mom)

Anyhoooo, so the convo on laundry got me thinking to two new updates to my laundry routine that have actually made my life easier. And I especially want to share because they definitely have a tendency to invoke that "seriously? this really works?" initial response - kinda like smoothie makers - hubby and I scoffed until we really tried it - and they are magic.

Laundry Lifesaver #1 - Dryer Balls! First of all, have you ever heard the tip on putting tennis balls in with comforters, esp down comforters, to fluff them and make them dry quicker? This is like that, to the umpteenth degree. Seriously - they fluff everything - which means no or fewer wrinkles (less ironing, yay) and they dry quicker. I admit that the primary reason I bought these is because I was looking for another item to add to my school fundraiser purchases so the kids had the same number of items ordered. You know how that goes. Imagine my surprise when they actually worked! Small downside - they can make the dryer a bit noisier. But that's why my laundry room has a door on it. If you don't have a Sally Foster fundraiser going on at your school, you can pick up the dryer balls at Bed, Bath, and Beyond...or a billion other random stores like that, I imagine - of course, BB+B does have their lovely coupons.

Laundry Lifesaver #2 - The Bra Bag! Ok, I'll admit it...I'm lazy. I have neither the time nor the inclination to hand wash my lingerie. Into the washer it goes. Sure, I use the super-duper-extra-delicates cycle and I air dry...but still those bras are going in the wash. I tried out that Bra Baby gadget that is the hard plastic shell - and it just didn't work with my bras. Maybe a 36 band size was too big and it works better for training bras, I don't know - but it was a disappointment. And regular lingerie bags just leave them too loose. And then when I was strolling along the Walmart laundry aisle looking for a pet roller to get the lint of my Minnies (long story for another post), I saw these - the Tide Bra Bag. And yes, the link is to Target because I couldn't find them on the Walmart website - like the dryer balls, I imagine you can find this lots of places.

As you can see from the picture at left, it's a 2-chambered bag, so you can wash 2 bras at the same time. I can't really describe it, so I'll use the excerpt from the Tide website:
The padded mesh protects the shape of bras and underwires and prevents delicates from snagging, twisting, stretching or tangling during the gentle wash cycle. The fine weave of our OptiMesh™ material prevents hooks and wires from piercing through, yet allows water and detergent to penetrate for proper cleaning without tangling! All seams and zippers are carefully covered with a smooth nylon material to further protect your fine washables from snags.

Now if someone could just make ironing easier, I would be all there. Gah, I hate ironing... Maybe I should ask Santa for a steamer this year? (the clothes kind, duh - already have the seafood steamer - I do live in Maryland, you know...)