You can't have a podcast for moms entitled "Again" without discussing laundry! The loads are endless, but the overwhelm doesn't have to be! Listen to Jen and Steph as they discuss their favorite tips for preventing the mountain of laundry!

Products Referenced:

Fels Naptha

Kind Laundry Products

Oxi Clean Stain-fighting Stick

They're the joyful agains our children shout on the swings, the

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exhausting agains of cooking and laundry,

and the difficult agains of discipline.

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So much of what we do

as mothers is on repeat.

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So what if we woke up with clarity,

knowing which agains we were called

5

to, and went to bed believing we

are faithful in what matters most?

6

We believe God's Word is

the key to untangle from the

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confusion and overwhelm we feel.

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Let's look up together to embrace a

motherhood full of freedom and joy.

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You certainly cannot have a podcast called

Again without talking about laundry.

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We do laundry again and again, and

we want to give you some of our

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favorite tips or systems that have

worked well for us in our homes thus far.

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And as we've said previously, we don't

think that you need to do what we do.

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We just hope that we can inspire

you with some tips that are

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practical but also productive.

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Jen, I think this will be great

because you and I have similar systems

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for other things, but we're pretty

different about how we handle laundry.

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What is your laundry philosophy

in your home because I think it

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started when you got married, right?

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Tell us about that.

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Jen: Yes, so Eric loves doing laundry.

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He always loved doing laundry.

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Even as a kid, he wanted

to do his own laundry.

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And so when we first got

married and we started to

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delegate who's going to do what?

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What's going to be our chores

for each of our household items

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that we have to take care of?

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And he said, I'll do laundry.

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So he did my laundry when

we first got married and we

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were both working full time.

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And then I took on other chores.

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But I love it.

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I noticed that his system of doing laundry

was much different than what I needed.

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He would wait until every last

item was dirty and then he would

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do all of it, where I needed some

things Washed more regularly

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because I needed to wear it again.

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So I took over my laundry

then and he kept doing his.

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And then when we started to have kids

and there was a lot of baby laundry,

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he would help out with washing those.

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And so it's been a weird, back and forth.

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I take it, I give it back kind of thing.

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But then because laundry just gets

so overwhelming having six people

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in the home and we host a lot.

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So there's a lot of bedding and

sheets and things that need to be

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changed and towels and all this stuff.

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We decided that we are going to

teach our kids how to do their own

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laundry at their 10 year old birthday.

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So when they turn 10.

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They learn how to do the

laundry themselves, and they

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take care of their own laundry.

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They're not reminded about laundry,

if they don't have something clean

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for church on Sunday you should

have thought ahead of time, go find

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something that's going to work.

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And even their sports

jerseys, things like that.

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If they have a stain, I definitely

help them try to figure out the stains

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and things, but we definitely walk

with them for that first couple of

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months and say, no, you can't just

wash one pair of underwear because you

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needed a pair and no, you can't put

your entire load in all at one time.

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You have to sort it.

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You have to pre treat and

stain it, pre treat the stains.

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You have to manage it and it can't just be

all over your bedroom before you wash it.

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It has to have order.

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So yeah, they do their own laundry.

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It's fabulous.

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Great.

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I

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Stephanie: Yes I can see what

you mean about the hosting.

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That really would add up the

bed making is exhausting enough.

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So yes, you can, delegate

a little bit of that.

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Oh, that's wonderful.

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Jen: Yeah, I typically then will

take the children that are not 10.

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Currently, that's only Kaylee, so

I just have mine and her laundry.

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And we do have a laundry chute because

the kids bedrooms are on the second

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floor, and so the laundry chute

directly goes into our laundry room.

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And So when I open that cupboard, it's

like the cupboard of doom because if

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I haven't opened it for a while and

all the laundry has stacked up, it

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literally just comes flying in my face.

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So it's quite the thing.

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But I then call in the kids and I'm like,

come sort your laundry and they have to

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sort it and inside out it and then put it.

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And then we have in our laundry room,

we have a, Cabinet that is like an

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Ikea cabinet that has shelves on it

big enough for laundry baskets And

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so everybody has their own basket.

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That is their dirty clothes And so it

stays in there after it's been sorted

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and they've inside out it and everything

it stays in their little bin area until

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they do their laundry and they And

we, we have I'm calling the laundry.

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Stephanie: Don't do

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Jen: the dryer for a while.

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I need to dry some

stuff, but it works out.

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It really does.

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And And then I do all the sheets.

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I do all the household items myself.

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And sometimes Eric will

help out if I need help.

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I'll be like, hey,

we've got guests coming.

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We need to wash three sets of

sheets, extra blankets, all that

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stuff, and he'll help out, but

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Stephanie: okay.

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Jen: It works.

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What do you guys do

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Stephanie: great.

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In this, I think I'm a lot like Eric.

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I really do love to do laundry.

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And it just doesn't bother me.

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It really never has, Honestly, I

felt like it was one thing where

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maybe I can sit down and watch a

favorite show when they were younger.

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And I just didn't mind

folding along with it.

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I know we have a friend that was, once

she was talking about, yes, and I pray

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for the kids as I'm folding their socks.

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And I

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Jen: and I

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Stephanie: I'm missing an opportunity

here but it was just a moment for me to.

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Relax and unwind, and so I would

have my night, I would pick laundry

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probably based on the night that my

favorite show was on, and do it then.

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And right now I am training

my 11 year old son.

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To he's helping me with

the laundry this summer.

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He's my laundry assistant.

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So I always have had it where I do it

all in one day and it's once a week and

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when the kids were little I just I never

even announced this to anyone but I had

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my head This is wonder woman wednesday,

and I would do all the grocery shopping

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and all of the laundry in that day.

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And it just You know, it works.

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Like you go out, you come back

in, you switch the laundry.

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And I will say we did cloth diapers

with our kids, which turned out

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to be a blessing financially.

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And it was made them very easy to potty

train, but that laundry was not as fun.

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Jen: Oh,

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Stephanie: We had like

diaper sprayers and stuff.

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And my husband would help with that.

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So I was grateful.

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And then I would make my own

detergents and everything.

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That was the worst laundry,

the rest isn't so bad.

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Jen: I do have to say that

my mom loves doing laundry.

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Like it's her favorite thing.

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It's very therapeutic for her.

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She's very good at it, loves it.

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So as an act of love, whenever she comes,

the kids know grandma loves to do it.

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So they'll pile up their laundry

and they'll have it washed and

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they, and she loves folding it.

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That's like her favorite part.

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So they'll have it washed in baskets.

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Cleaned and dried and waiting at

the living room couch where she

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sits and she'll just sit there and

fold and fold and she is meticulous.

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She folds underwear into these

perfect little squares and then

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goes and puts them in the drawers.

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So perfect and nice and it is so funny

because that is the kid's favorite thing

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when they have these clean little squares.

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Grandma folded laundry clothes.

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It's like such a gift to open the

drawer and see it so nice because

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when they're doing it themselves,

they're not going to be folding it.

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They do put it in the drawer,

but it's just thrown in the

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drawer, and less like for pajamas

and socks and things like that.

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For their pants and shorts, they fold

those and put them in the drawer, but.

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Grandma just does it so much better.

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So when grandma comes it's always

laundry day because they know

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grandma will fold it for them and

they're out of having to do it.

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It's sweet.

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Stephanie: I read the magic art of

tidying up when the pretty little,

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and I do love to a KonMari way

that they stand up in the drawer.

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Not Perfect, and then the boys, they had

and so it just worked well to do that.

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But as they've gotten older

fold I change my It's fine.

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is fine, and I don't really talk about

so, it's going to sound kind of silly

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at the end of co op But,

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for me, laundry

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a lot of

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them on, and, and I just being

washed properly that's kind of why

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I think I still hold on to it, my

kids wear their nicest Mondays,

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the co op, and, I find that I want So

when we get home on a Monday from co op,

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they all

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Change their clothes, sure that

I have in the laundry room.

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And then I have four tall stackable

laundry baskets and I have them

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and then I sort them, and then if

I have a laundry assistant at that

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Jen: Yeah,

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Stephanie: then they'll help me

sort it, and then I just start.

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before I even start dinner, do

anything, I just get the laundry going.

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And part of this is also found that the

night after a co op, everyone's tired,

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that you

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can't have a lot things happening as a And

it used to be my husband's night off, And

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Then after it's dry, it flat

on the back of the couch.

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And there's enough room for all six of

our piles, so I just laying it flat.

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And then, after dinner's made

and everything, I've got all the

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colors and whites by that point.

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The kids can help me fold

it while we're watching And

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then I pause it and say, Okay,

go put away your laundry.

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Jen: Ah, good incentive.

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Stephanie: We're not going to press

play until all the laundry is put away.

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That has been really effective.

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And then, maybe then I do the towels

and the delicates after movie.

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So, it really gets done

and start the week fresh.

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But I find there's just a lot

to and, with homeschooling and

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everything, it just works to have

that in night, or in one day.

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I like to do it all

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I think the best laundry tip that I've

ever heard, and I don't even know if

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it's really a laundry tip, but Marilyn

Boyer, is a homeschooling mom of, and

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she had 14 children, and she said that

on Fridays she would do a drawer check.

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She would just say, Drawer check!

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Actually, she wouldn't even tell them.

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No, I do that.

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I

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Jen: drawer check.

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She

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Stephanie: didn't, I think she didn't

let them know it was coming, but they

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would know it's coming on a Friday.

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So mom's going to check the drawers

and whoever has the neatest drawers

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is just going to get a Hershey

Kiss or something in their drawer.

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Now you would think, are

they really going to care?

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They care.

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They care so much and it's really funny.

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So all I have to say is drawer

check and all of my kids will run

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upstairs and start refolding things.

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It's just a funny thing.

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And I think it's a good opportunity too,

for them to go through their drawer and

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be like, Oh, it's not all fitting well,

which things should I get out of here?

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And it's just a little check to make

sure they're stewarding it well.

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It's very silly how far

Hershey's Kiss will go,

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Jen: That's great.

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Stephanie: works well.

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What are your go to

favorite laundry products?

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Detergents, Stain treaters.

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Jen: I like Borax for some of the laundry.

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I often will use the like, dye

free, all the things free laundry.

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So sometimes wherever I'm

shopping, whether it's at.

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Costco is typically where I end

up buying it from, but I will

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always put in where the laundry

softener portion of the laundry is.

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I always put vinegar in that, white

vinegar or distilled vinegar.

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I'll put that in that portion and

then I always put, I don't know

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how much, just a large scoop of

baking soda in the actual bottle.

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tumbler of it that I have found has

helped so much with the musty smell

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that can build up in the laundry.

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So I do that for every load.

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And then every single time that

I take a load out, I take a paper

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towel and I clean inside the rubber

band portion that like, the rubber,

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Stephanie: Okay, because you have a front

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Jen: I have a front loader.

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Yes.

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And they can get, gunky if you

don't take care of it, so I pull

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it back and I clean it every single

load and that has Helped so much

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when we first got the front loader.

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I did was like what is

going on I don't get this.

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So I do that and for stain treating

my favorite is the Hydrogen peroxide.

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I'll put that on there.

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If it's not a color, sometimes it

will take out some of the color.

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So I'll do that.

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But my ultimate go to is my sister.

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I used to make so much

fun of her for this.

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But,

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she

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taught me to put things

in the sun to bleach it.

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It is the natural bleacher.

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And so if I have a stain treat or

something that needs to be I just put it

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outside, wet, in the sun, the heat of the

day, and almost always it's cleaned off.

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Lots

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Stephanie: stains, lots of,

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Jen: heat, the sun

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Stephanie: can really get

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out a lot of things.

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You just have to make

sure it doesn't blow away.

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Yeah,

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Jen: exactly.

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Yes, but I do have to give a shout

out to my sister on that one because

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I, when I was a teenager and she was

married and she would be putting things

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out, I was like, what are you doing?

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And she's I'm bleaching it.

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I was like, what?

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What do you mean?

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And now I do it myself.

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Stephanie: Yeah, I also, I use free

and clear and I'm not as picky about

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where I'm buying that from and I did

use Borax when they were young with

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the, making my own and now I use

hydrogen peroxide with Dawn dish soap.

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That is a pretty epic

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Jen: with an he, I'm so afraid

I'm gonna make it bubble over.

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Oh, okay.

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How do you do that?

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Stephanie: so, you can

mix them beforehand and

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Jen: Oh, okay.

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Stephanie: but I find they have

those squirt bottles of Dawn now.

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So then I just squirt the

hydrogen peroxide down, squirt

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a little Dawn on and scrub it.

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And that's it.

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I think having a good laundry

scrubbing brush is half the battle

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really scrubbing out the stains.

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It just needs

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Jen: agitation.

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Yeah.

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Do, okay, two things.

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Do you what brush do you use?

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Is it an actual laundry brush?

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Stephanie: Yes, I think so.

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It's just, it's a white Libman, I think.

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Okay.

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Not that I've tried a

bunch, but it's nice.

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Yeah.

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That's cool.

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Yeah.

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Nice.

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Sturdy bristles.

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Yeah.

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For baseball pants and things like that.

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Ah.

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Fels Naphtha is like a family.

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See, it's so funny because so

rarely do people know what that is?

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Yeah.

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Jen: Menard

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Stephanie: it.

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Yeah.

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, right?

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I got a four pack on Amazon or something.

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Oh.

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And.

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Yep, so that one is amazing, And so you

put it on and then you just let it sit.

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That one can have a little bit

of a bleaching effect, too,

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so you want to be careful.

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Have you found that?

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I not yet, but know.

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Subtle.

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Lightning effect, I should say.

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Yeah.

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and I actually have a

kind of funny story, and

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the child this is about prefers

that I don't share who this child

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is, but it's too good to not share.

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So when my kids were younger, my brother

and his wife came over and their daughter

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and my mom was there and so we were

playing a game of cards and the kids were

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playing and my mom just wasn't as used

to having toddlers around and she had

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left her purse where it was accessible.

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One of my children, Got into her purse

and took out a tube of lipstick and

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covered their face to the point where

you could not see any skin between their

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eyeball and like it was in their lid.

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It was covered with lipstick everywhere.

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Their face.

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And they walked into the room and everyone

looks at me like, what's she going to do?

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And I just burst out

laughing and I couldn't stop.

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It was so funny.

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And then we went into the playroom

and realized that the cream carpet

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also had lipstick all over it.

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Now it's old carpet.

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It was, it's original to the house and

it, but still you don't really want bright

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red lipstick all over a cream carpet.

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I started wiping down this

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Jen: child, and

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the

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Stephanie: process they had a

onesie on, and things like white.

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pants or something and they look

like an Oompa Loompa in the pictures.

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Jen: it was

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Stephanie: funny as we're washing it off.

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So I'm washing them off and my mom took

care of the stain on the carpet, so I

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never really saw how bad it was, but

she used 12 Snaptha and it all came out.

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So she is a pretty epic stain treater,

stain fighter, and, but it came out.

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Jen: Wow, that's

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Stephanie: Yep I was able to test

a product kind laundry products.

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They sent me a box to sample of

different things and they have sheets

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where, you just take a sheet out

and you throw it in the laundry.

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And it is, it was so

convenient and so nice.

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And I loved at the end, just recycling

that box and Even when you recycle,

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people would say that sometimes

a lot of these laundry bottles

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are not ending up being recycled.

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They're going into the oceans

or filling up landfills.

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So I really loved that it's just

zero waste and it was so simple.

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It's like it, it's not hard to fill

up that cap of laundry soap, but

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it was so easy to use the sheet.

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So I did like that.

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They also have these scent boosters,

but they're non toxic ingredients.

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So it's just like little.

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Like tiny smaller than Dippin Dots,

but just little tiny balls like that.

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And they sent two cents, so you

could just add a little bit of

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that in if you needed a booster.

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I

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found for me personally it

felt, it was pretty fragrant

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and I didn't need very much.

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But I can imagine for someone

who grew up using some of those

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fabric softeners and is Hey, my

laundry doesn't smell good anymore.

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That would be a more natural

product you could turn to.

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And get the natural boost

without the toxic ingredients.

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They also sent a stain stick

that I was very impressed by.

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Kind Laundry, their stain

stick was fantastic.

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My boys ended their baseball

season and then we all got sick.

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And so we had stained baseball pants

in the laundry room for, a couple days.

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And I was like, I just can't do it.

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And the season's over, of

course I want to take care of

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them, but I was just too sick.

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So a couple days later when I finally

got to it, I used their stain stick

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and it all came out, like grass

stains, mud on baseball pants.

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Jen: Wow.

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Stephanie: And then I was cutting

a pomegranate recently and

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trying to be careful and doing

it underwater and everything.

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It's possible.

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Jen: Yeah.

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It's going everywhere

no matter what, right?

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Yes.

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Stephanie: So it's spraying and all

of a sudden I'm like, oh bummer.

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So I went and treated it.

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Everything came out.

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That was fantastic.

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Then my daughter Adeline was eating

a cherry the other day though and

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she got a little bit of cherry juice.

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Right away I treated it and that

did have a little remnant but

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really overall I was quite impressed

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Jen: That's cool.

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Stephanie: that stain, treating power.

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And now a word from

Aunt Betsy, our sponsor.

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We have, We have

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OxyClean MaxForce gel stick.

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She says that this works really well.

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And I see you probably don't even,

maybe you don't even need the

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brush because it has, as they say,

precision stain scrubbing nubs.

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Jen: Haha.

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A

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Stephanie: the little bumps on the top.

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Yes, it's

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Jen: That's great.

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Stephanie: maybe this is too

much information about the

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inner workings of my mind, but.

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I feel like one of my laundry tips is

don't have to go to the bathroom when

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you start treating a stain because after

a while and you're like scrubbing and

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the water's go you keep turning the

water on and you're like now your hands

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are all soapy and you don't want to

stop in the middle of the process and

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I actually sometimes I get like these

if there was ever like a Christian

415

you know like Saturday Night Live

what would that I just think of this.

416

skit of the mom's stain treating and

she's I can't stop she's not gonna go

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to the bathroom till the stain is out.

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And then by then she wets her

pants just as the stain comes off.

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Jen: off.

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Yeah, right.

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Stephanie: so I think, getting it,

getting those stains right away

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is probably the best thing to do,

but sometimes it's hard as a mom.

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Just, there's so many things

and if there's a shirt.

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to scrub, then that also

means that there's a toddler

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with the mess all over them.

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And which one do you pick?

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And then also the high chair to

wipe up and the floor to mop.

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And you have to start somewhere and you

only have so much bandwidth to get to it.

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But really the sooner you get

to it, obviously, the better.

430

I feel like some people are listening

to this and thinking, why aren't they

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talking about doing one load a day?

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Or or even, I've heard the method of,

you take one person's room per day

433

and just do that person's laundry.

434

I think we both care a lot about sorting

laundry, so I've always That method just

435

doesn't quite resonate with me, and I

also have three boys that share a room.

436

For us, like I said, I just like

having it in one day and getting it

437

done, but I also see that spreading

it out throughout the week can work

438

really well for some people, too.

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Jen: too.

440

Yeah, I think that's why I like my

family plan because everybody does it.

441

It ends up being about, every day

the laundry is going, but it's not me

442

having to remember to do it every day.

443

But I often, if no one is using the

laundry, I will often just be like,

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oh, I can put a load of towels in or I

can squeak something in, in the middle

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here, so I do probably end up doing

a load a day just because of all the

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sheets and the bedding and the Blankets

and everything that has to get done.

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Stephanie: Yeah, I should say

that I hold bedding for a weekend.

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That would be a Saturday morning thing.

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And I used to, when the kids were little,

say, bring down all your sheets and your

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pillowcases and everything, and then

you can have pancakes for breakfast.

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And I'll have been making those and wanted

to get them involved in the process since

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I had to have the work out of putting

the sheets back on all the bunk beds.

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And I thought this was a great tip.

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My washer does not have a timer, but

our friend Sarah said that she makes

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sure that the washer is loaded when

she goes to bed, and then she sets

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it to wash at six in the morning.

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And so when she come or between

four and six, she said, so she comes

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downstairs in the morning and she

can already switch it to the dryer.

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And.

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That's making it really

easy to do one load a day.

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If you found.

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Hope peace or encouragement

through this podcast.

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Would you share it with a friend,

either share this episode, share

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the show or go and write a review.

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So other moms can find it too.

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Thanks for listening.

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We know you're busy, Mama, so

we are truly grateful you joined

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us for this episode of Again.

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If you're looking for more information

about building your home on the

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foundation of Jesus Christ, head to www.

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EntrustedMinistries.

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com to learn more about our study for

moms, Entrusted with a Child's Heart.

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This scripture saturated study

has blessed families around the

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world, and we want it for you, too.

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Before you go, I want to pray

this benediction over you

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from 2 Thessalonians 1, 11 12.

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We're rooting for you.

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To this end, we always pray for you,

that our God may make you worthy of His

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calling, and may fulfill every resolve

for good and every work of faith by

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His power, so that the name of our Lord

Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in

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Him, according to the grace of our God.

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And the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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Until we meet again.