Lucretia channels a fifties housewife

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Those who know me know that I do many things well, but housework ain’t one of 'em. We don’t live in filth, or anything, but them dust bunnies can get mighty big sometimes, and things aren’t exactly what you’d call organized around here. So, when I do manage to pull off something domestic, I take a somewhat unwarranted amount of pride in it, and since my neighbors would think me a bit strange if I knocked on their doors to tell them about my moments of house-wifelyness, I thought I’d share it with you guys.

When the semester ended, I set to work tackling the ski-slope of laundry I had piled in my laundry room. After a few loads of whites, I noticed that traditional bleach was making hubbies t-shirts and the kids socks kind of yellowish, rather than that snowy hue I was aiming for. “Huh!” I say, trying to think of other laundry-whitening methods I had heard of. I knew that hanging the clothes in the sun might do it, but that’s not really practical where I live. Then I remembered reading about blueing somewhere in the dim past, which substance our great-grandmothers apparently set great stock by in doing laundry.

No time to waste, off to Google! And sure enough, in about 60 seconds I had the website of a company that still makes laundry blueing. One credit card number and one week later, and I was the proud owner of three 8-oz. bottles of Mrs. Stewarts blueing, which should last me something like 10 years, considering I only use about 1/4 teaspoon per white wash.

Anywhoo, after a little experimentation, my white laundry method is now this. I start a load like usual, adding the bleach when the machine begins to agitate. Then, during the second rinse, I add the 1/4 tsp. of blueing, diluted in about 16 oz. of water. (This, of course, assumes that I remember to pay attention to when the second rinse starts, which doesn’t always happen). And, ta-daaa! Whites that even Mrs. Cleaver would approve of.

Now that I’ve enlightened you all to the secret of truly white whites, (please, no applause), I have the urge to go put on my pearls and heels and break out the vacumn. And them maybe make some lemonade and cookies for the neighborhood kids!

…strolls off to find some plastic slip covers for the living room furniture…

2

Good job! A word to the wise, though. Keep that bluing WELL out of the reach of the kids. When I was about three, I pulled a bottle off a shelf. My clothes were ruined and the stain stayed on the rug until we replaced it.

3

Just warn your family if you are going to put the ironing in the refrigerator: my grandmother - the quintessential 50s housewife - always did this. No idea why she did, but it was really eerie seeing shirts rolled into a plastic bag sitting above the crisper.

(I still use borax - works for my laundry.)

4

ummm, Lucretia, I’m a little slow with written directions - could you drop over and show me how it works???

I didn’t think so… <sigh>

5

Screech-owl:

If you put damp clothes in the refridgerator it makes them much, much easier to iron. This works particularly well for 100% cotton shirts. I did this up until I decided that I could afford to take my shirts to the laundry (which is very bad for the shirts, but much easier on them than I am with a hot iron).

6

Bluing is great!

Mr. S has done all our laundry since we first moved in together

<pause to let all the married gals turn green with envy>

since he’s more picky about how his clothes get done; we just agreed that he would do it. One time a red sock somehow slipped into a load of whites and ruined three brand-new white T-shirts of mine; they had artwork on the front from various events and were basically irreplaceable. We bleached them in color-safe bleach and then used the bluing. Good as new!

I’m too lazy/busy to go dig out the bottle, but I remember that it also gives hints for brightening your white hair and pets with white fur. :eek: