This is a sponsored post for Vanish NapiSan.
Vanish NapiSan is launching a brand-spanking new initiative to help people around Australia kick their laundry woes to the curb, which includes a Tip Exchange over on their Facebook page. Here’s a little laundry tale of my own…
Everyone has a talent. My Dad can pull apart a car motor and put it back together, for fun. Just quietly, he’s quite good behind a sewing machine too {but you didn’t hear that from me}. My brother can fix anything. He’s kinda handy to have around. My Big Sis can liven up a party, brighten up a grey day and whip an event into shape. My Lil Sis gets things going, she’s great at managing people and making things happen. I’m good at getting stuff done. Hubby works a mean buffet, and can fall asleep anywhere. Kidding! Well, not really.
Then there’s my Ma. She just seems to have this magic about her. I’m not sure if she was born with it, or if it just comes with years of experience in motherhood. Perhaps you know what I’m talking about? Perhaps it’s a mum thing?
Everything she does, makes or touches seems to have a bit of mama magic. Take her rissoles for example {meatballs for those not playing in Australia}, she’s been making them ever since I can remember. They appeared at our table once a week, every week for our whole childhood and we never tired of them. In fact, if my siblings were to sit down to a meal with my Mum as the cook it’d probably be the meal we’d all request. We’ve all been given the recipe {straight from my Ma’s head} but do you think they ever taste the same? Nope. Neither does her spaghetti bolognese, casserole or any other childhood meal. It has to be made by Ma. She’s got the magic.
It’s not just in the kitchen that she does what she does. She knows how to make a bed perfectly. The other day she made Lacey’s bed and just like magic, our little girl slept in her own bed ALL night without waking once. Magic.
Then there’s the laundry. I’ll put my hand up and say that I’m still wearing my training wheels when it comes to washing clothes. The washing I can do, no problem. I actually love to wash, but I’ve been given a lesson or two by Hubby in how to hang clothes on the line {pegs under the arms of his t-shirts, who knew?}. And until recently I was a total newbie when it came to stains.
You see, I like to live my life. I’m of the school of thought that you’ve gotta wear your good clothes, eat with the good plates and get out the fancy platters. Life’s too short for play clothes. Wear what you want, when you want and then figure out the stains afterwards. Or give it to your mum, cos she’ll know what to do. So every month or so I’d gather a few pieces of clothing that had me stumped that I’d deemed almost un-saveable and I’d hand them over to my Ma to do her magic.
Like magic they came back in perfect condition. I didn’t ask questions. I just accepted the perfect pieces back into our wardrobes to inject more life into them. After turning 30 though, I thought I’d better start learning how to do what my Ma does… as it seemed like the adult thing to do. I was a mum myself. I should know how to make the whites white again, shouldn’t I?
The magic? Well, it comes in a big pink bottle {thank you Vanish NapiSan, I bought you in bulk}. Plus my Ma has a few tricks up her sleeves too. So now I’m only handing over the really hard jobs, and the clothes needing buttons sewn back on, because ain’t nobody got time for that.
Does you mum seem to have a little magic up her sleeves too? What does she do that you just can’t do as well?
Vanish NapiSan has a new home for people to share their best laundry tips. You can visit their Facebook page or their tip exchange site. I’ve shared my {ahem, OK mine AND ma’s} best laundry tips for getting out stubborn stains. You can head over and discover some, or share your own. There are great prizes up for grabs too.
Like yours my mum is a whiz in the laundry and her secret weapon is cloudy amonia, napisan and dynamo!!! she can get any stain out of any material and love her for it as I am hopeless! Wash all colours together and never once had an ‘pink’ load at the end – god knows how I have managed this though…
My Ma used to use Dynamo too! I’ve never heard of cloudy amonia though. Is that bleach?
No not a bleach as great for fat/oil spills on silk tops which seems to be my thing to get mum to fix for me!!!
Cloudy ammonia is what my mum used to put into the dishwashing water, she used to use sunlight soap in a wire cage thing.
seems it has various uses the old cloudy amonia!
oh god I love NapiSan. I think I’m a little bit obsessed. I am forever BRIGHTENING ALL THE THINGS. I put it in everything.
I think its just a mom thing to be a whiz at doing laundry and getting stains out. Once when i had spilled ketchup on my favorite white tshirt, my mom told me to right away take it off and spray some spray n wash on it and then rub salt on the stain. At first i was like “what? Salt? are you joking?” and as it turns out, rubbing the salt on the stain worked, because when i threw the shirt into the wash and pulled it out of the dryer, the stain was no where to be found. My mom learned this salt trick from my grandma, and i have to agree that it works wonders to get the stains out.
I’m a magnet for tomato sauce/ketchup. Thanks for this tip!
Yes Napisan has got me out of a lot of me out of a lot of trouble, particularly when we were toilet training đŸ™‚ Also putting really stubborn stains in the sun really helps too!
Okay, now I’m going to search high and low for this stuff. If all else fails, I’ll buy it online and ship it over to the states. I need some magic too!!
The pink container is pretty cool… especially if you’re a pink-loving freak like me.
And the stuff inside works, which is winning!
I often wonder if it is insulting to ask various mums I know to get my clothes back to white. My poor Berlei sports bras are the worst blue/grey shade. I don’t think there’s any saving them.
I wouldn’t be insulted at all. The bra I’m wearing right now is that grey colour. Nobody sees it {boring breastfeeding bra!} but I should give it some love and soak it or something.