I was so excited when Carbona.com reached out to me to be one of their #unstainers and offered to help us help our G3 girls with the task of learning about laundry!
Why? Because helping our girls tackle the world of dirty laundry is a life skill. As important as our other G3 skills are (finance, negotiation, conflict resolution, eye contact and conversation skills to name a few) it’s my goal that our girls would be able to fly the nest ALSO with the ability to feed and clothe oneself… in clean clothes.
Before we get started, let’s define L-A-U-N-D-R-Y:
Laundry is… clothing that has been worn that is dirty and found its way to the laundry bin.
Laundry is not… a method of cleaning ones’ room by swiping up all clothing that has been dropped on the floor and “cleaning” it into the laundry basket. Now that we have that settled, let’s get down and dirty with a few tips and trick for helping your girl get started.
What Age?
5 – 8 – Kids can learn to sort whites, colors and darks, sort, fold and put away
8-10 Kids can begin using a washer and dryer … folding AND putting away.
First, let’s equip them with necessary laundry supplies:
- Detergent for wash
- Carbona Stain DEVILS for Everyday: Blood, Dairy & Ice Cream, Chocolate Ketchup & Mustard, Ink Marker & Crayon, and Nail Polish Glue and Gum
- Carbona Color Grabber: Perfect for not needing to carefully sort the colors
- Carbona Super White (bleach free): keeps uniforms, towels and sheets white
Sorting
Starting at age five, our kids can learn to learn the importance of sorting whites, colors and darks to keep fabrics and clothes lasting as long as possible. Undestanding whites, colors and darks.
Typically you should try to sort by whites, lights and darks. What I love most about Carbona Color Grabber is my girls don’t have to sort as closely because of the color grabber technology. These microfiber sheets are designed to attract loose dyes in the wash so to protect our colors. All you do is put in the clothes, pour in detergent and toss in a color grabber sheet. You’re girls will be empowered and you don’t have to worry
Super White is a convenient laundry sheet that helps keep whites bright was after wash with Carbonas OptiBright Technology, which is their advance optical brighter. I love this because it’s a bleach-free solution and/or a safer alternative to bleach. There’s not risk of kids splashing, dripping or accidentally putting bleach rather than detergent (this did happen in our house) or bad odor involved (unlike bleach…woo, Super White!).
Stain Fighting
Let’s spill some dirt here… our kids, even teenagers are messy. Wether its a ketchup spill, blood stain, ink pen or dirty uniform, stains happen and Carbona has developed nine (9) stain-removing Stain Devils to help in all occassions.
Each of these stain Devils is specifically forumlated to treat a specific stain. We picked a few of those little devils that can plague our teens and tweens and will be testing these on our instagram stories over the next week so tune in!
What says tricky teen stains like nail polish, glue AND GUM…
ink, marker and crayon…
chocolate ketchup & mustard…
blood, dairy and ice cream?!
Tips on Temperatures
Hot
For whites, typical dirty clothes use hot water (130°F or above). Hot water is best to remove germs and extreamly dirty fabrics. However, hot water can shrink, fade and damage some fabrics, so be sure to read your clothing labels before selecting the hot option.
Cold
Washing clothes in cold water, colors last longer and clothes retain their size and shape. … many opt to wash in warm or hot water because of the roles it can play in cleaning your clothes.
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Join me in thanking Carbona.com and the #unstainers team for sponsoring this series and helping us help our G3 girls with the life skill of laundry. Don’t forget to add laundry to this week’s chore in your planHER and tune into The Gracious Girl’s Guide stories on Instagram for tips and tricks!
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