Against my better judgment, we did visit around during Christmas week; and then again for New Years. Thus, we are now sick with a cold. Boo.
Usually, I ignore sickness in my home. I know that sounds really irresponsible; but I have always felt that money was wasted on medication as far as cold viruses are concerned because each time you get one, it's different; and at least for me and my babies, it hardly seems to make a difference when I do apply them. Snotty noses run rampant, people are coughing everywhere, and if there's no fever, the best method to me has always been to tough it out.
This week, I am taking a new approach. I've been doing a lot of reading and listening to many people's testimonies with products and thus we have doTerra's OnGuard blend diffusing liberally in the main house, melaluca diffusing with lavender in the bedrooms during sleeptimes as well as in infused bubble baths. It is chicken broth for lunch, and we're keeping a close eye on our liquids intake. One final combative measure we are implementing this time around is the use of elderberry syrup. The kids are getting a small dose every four hours (Katie has only a slight congestion issue; Mason is the one with the snot and the puffy red eyes -- though the weepy eyes are non-existent after our first day in action yesterday). Jacob and I are taking consistent adult doses of the elderberry syrup twice a day as a proactive measure. Moms just don't need to ever get sick, and really, neither do the daddies. Neither of us is really showing any progression of sickness, thus far. I'll give an update at the end of the course of this cold. I'm crossing my fingers for 3-5 days.
ANYWAY, the real point of this post was to offer a recommendation of a new product I began trying last week. (Mom, I can't believe you didn't tell me about this years ago!)
*drum roll.............................................* Charlie's Soap!
It's biodegradable, hypo-allergenic, and leaves no residue on your clothes! Plus, it's fragrance free. *deep breath in* ahhhhhhhhhh!
Let me state here that I don't get any kind of offers or benefits for telling you about this product. I just want to tell you about it because I could cry, I'm so happy with the results.
Most people know this, but if you don't: I'm married to a grease monkey. Jacob has been a diesel mechanic since before he graduated high school. He is also a man. Needless to say, my bathroom and laundry need regular deep cleanings and deoderizings. I have used so much of so many products. Seriously.
I've done buckets of baking soda, gallons of vinegar, boxes of different kinds of detergents -- both powder and liquid -- I have even used borax and Dawn dishsoap, especially to wash Jacob's stuff. Heck, we keep a jug of the Dawn in the shower because that's the best stuff he can find to get the grease off of even himself.
Even after all of this, my family's clothes have never truly come out clean.
Lately, I've been at the end of my rope as far as figuring out the laundry goes. I thought I would just have to settle for sub-par "clean" laundry. And before you say anything: yes, I actually regularly clean my machine itself.
Texting back and forth with my friend Hope a few weeks ago, I remembered that she had mentioned that she orders Charlie's Soap from Amazon to wash her laundry. Since my Gain was running dry and we had just spent a small fortune on buying all of my laundry supplements that have become necessary, I thought, "Why not give it a try?" The bag of powder claimed to give me more loads than the detergent I was currently buying. If that was true, it would work out to be cheaper; so why not?
The new soap arrived the same day Jacob walked through the door after work exasperated because the company that does his work laundry failed to give him one of his jackets back. And in case you're not keeping up with the times, we have had hot-vs-cold flashes here in the South with monsoons of rainwater. The work jackets have become necessary. Thus, he had been wearing the same one for two weeks solid and it was nasty, to say the least.
Normally, I would be shaking my head -- "Absolutely, no way am I washing that grossness in the same machine I wash the kids' clothes in, grease monkey. Too bad, so sad."
This time I thought, "Alright. Let's see if this new laundry powder has the magical capabilities the reviews claim."
I actually threw Jacob's nastiest jacket into my home washing machine with a single Tablespoon of the new detergent on a regular cycle with no presoaking. (This is a big deal, because let's refer back to the buckets and gallons of product I usually have to use just for his clothes; and that includes an extensive presoak.)
1 greasy, oily, black jacket covered in diesel fuel and garbage from the last two weeks + 1 Tablespoon of laundry powder + 1 regular cylce of hot water.
That jacket came out almost as clean as the day they gave it to him brand new. I'm not kidding. It hardly smelled of anything at all; and the lining was so clean and fluffy. We were stunned. Jacob was already in love, but I was still skeptical.
Immediately, I thought of the kids' footie pajamas. Every single set has taken on a permanent odor of rancid diapers, no matter how often I wash, on what cycle, with what product. I was dejectedly planning on trashing all of them and just buying all new sets. $$$
After washing the jacket, I immediately went to the kids' rooms and began finding all of their footie jammies from every nook and cranny -- clean or dirty, they all got collected and thrown into the washing machine. I added a single Tablespoon of the Charlie's Soap and ran them on a warm cycle. They smell like nothing but fabric now.
I love this stuff, and I guarantee you will, too! Heck, if you don't -- I'll buy it off you. I don't even have to use a full Tablespoon on any of my loads; and now I'm not sure what to do with all of these scented dryer sheets that I no longer need.
I also now have all of these gallons of white vinegar to make some more eco and family friendly cleaning supplies for the rest of my house. Which will eventually take up an entire blog post for itself.
Get Charlie's Soap, y'all. Seriously. I'll never look back.
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