First, I visited a local children's clothing resale shop last weekend - a place that I've been meaning to check out since we moved here 10 months ago. For our area, they had a more-than-decent selection, and I commenced to race home & pull together 2 bins of clothes to take there on my next free day (September? January?).
I know, not terribly impressive, but it freed up about 1/3 of the space in my laundry room. And note to self: Do not buy 8 pairs of jeans for a girl who wants to wear skirts every day.
Categorize this under Useful.
Next, I have a useful + beautiful item to share with you. I had heard about these special hair elastics that are supposed to be comfortable, colorful, AND leave no crease in your hair. As I spend at least 64% of my time with my hair off my face, I thought they were worth looking into. My first impression was that they were a bit pricey, but one afternoon I found a discount code in Lucky magazine (June issue). I hied myself on over to etsy & placed an order. 3 weeks later, I am here to tell you that they are WORTH IT. I ordered a 10 pack of different solid colors, and they threw in an additional 5 (thank you!). I spent about $9 in all, and I love them. They are comfortable, bright, don't stretch out, and don't leave a ponytail crease. I have hair that is thick, but fine, and these hold my ponytail securely. This is the etsy shop I purchased from: No-Tug Hair Ties. While I wouldn't buy them for my 8 year old (who goes through a pack of Goodys in about 2.4 days), I am definitely worth this little splurge. Santa, feel free to leave more in my stocking.
Finally, I want to know if you have smelly towels. I do. Mine are about 10 years old (some even a bit older), and it seemed like I could never really get them smelling fresh + clean. Do you know what I mean? That sort of musty, moldy, not-at-all fresh smell?
Yes, I've heard you can dry them in the sun & lessen this problem. But that's not a good option for me, and so I was stuck. Thankfully I Pinterest'd an idea that really works. I think it's important to share these things because I have pinned my share of stuff that turned out to be a big dud.
Here's what I did: Load the towels into the washer. Place 1 cup of white vinegar in the fabric softener or bleach tray of your washing machine. A cup was too much for my fabric softener tray, so I dumped the remainder into the detergent compartment. Wash the towels in Hot water - WITHOUT soap. Once this is done, add 1/2 cup baking soda to the load (I just sprinkled it on top of the wet towels), and wash again in Hot - WITHOUT soap. I dried as usual, and more than a week later those towels are still smelling fresh and CLEAN.
Did you already know how to keep your towels fresh & clean? Sometimes I feel like I missed out on the Happy Homemaker tips & tricks that were supposed to be mailed with my marriage certificate. That's what I get for being the only child of an Undomestic Diva.
This post is part of The William Morris Project, begun by Pancakes and French Fries. Check it out, and then come join us!
Amended 6/21: Apparently the hair ties are made from fold over elastic, which a quick internet search (I'd probably buy it on etsy) shows to be very inexpensive. While I feel a little foolish now that I paid "so much" for what I got, I am still happy with them & even more stoked now that I know I can make my own in the future!
6 comments:
Those hair ties are cute! However, for future reference (and maybe you know this and if so then ignore me) they are just Fold Over Elastic (which is CHEAP) tied in a knot. You can get it any fabric store, or they have a bunch of it cheap on Etsy.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/92610775/15-off-summer-sale-diy-foe-elastic-for?ref=sr_gallery_6&ga_search_query=foe&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_search_type=supplies
Great tip! I had no idea what the material was, and now I can make my own! Thanks!!
Perhaps we could trade--I have the daughter who won't wear skirts. She has a couple nice BRAND NEW skirts that have never been worn.
Thanks for the musty towel tip! It happens to me sometimes, though not as often as it used to. Maybe because I started using less detergent?
I have never heard of this "doesn't leave a mark" hairbands. Do they hold your hair tightly?
Off to try to get the musty scent out of our towels.
I really like this kind of newsy post. And I want to check out the fold over elastic--that's a brand-new one for me.
I take it then that you must feel foolish and ripped off every time you purchase a shirt or a tank top or another piece of retail merchandise because it cost the manufacturer/store less than a $1.00 for that $20.00 top you just bought. That's pretty much the way it is in everything. The Elastic is the raw material, this person took it and repurposed and packaged it and from the pics you posted it looks like he/she did a good job at it, and that takes time. Some people, myself included don't have the time to track down 10 or 15 20 colors to make hair ties, it comes done for you already, how convenient. Cotton a yard is 2 bucks, I bet I can get 3 shirts out of it doesn't mean I'm going to go buy it and make my own tops. Just saying. And if you want to talk about paying much check out Emi Jay hair ties, now that's ridiculous!
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